My Tree-Change OR Escaping the City

For twenty-one years I worked in an office in the heart of Sydney, Australia. I battled with other commuters to and from work on public transport, worked my way up the corporate ladder and spent many of my days-off finalising papers that simply had to be finished to meet an urgent deadline. Sound familiar?

During these years there were many occasions when I would dream about loading up the car with a few of my belongings and driving out of the city to start a quiet existence in the country. Many of my colleagues had similar dreams but were content to count down the days until their retirements to go in search of “a better life”.

I, on the other hand, was not so patient. Like my colleagues, I had a million excuses why NOW wasn’t the right time to make the change, but I simply could not put my dreams on hold until retirement. So one day, some 5 years ago I walked away from my city life to turn my dreams into REALITY!

My Journey

It took two and a half years of searching to realize my dream but finally I did. My partner and I purchased a 100 acre farm in northern NSW where we built a café and guest cabins and started breeding alpacas.

Now the trials and tribulations of setting up a café and bed & breakfast is a whole other story in itself, and one that I will write about in the coming weeks. However now, three years on, our alpaca herd numbers 27, we have 2 lamas, five sheep, two miniature ponies, two maremma dogs, two pigs, one miniature house pig, silky bantam chooks, a Scottish highland steer and a hand raised Quaker parrot. We are also making a living out of the café and cabins.

Yes, the learning curve has been very steep – I have had to learn how to build fences, mend water pipes, plough fields, drench animals and all the other things farmers have to do, as well as run the café, clean the cabins and look after our guests - and the experience has been amazing!

Is it What I Expected?

Absolutely not! It has far exceeded my dreams – and I absolutely love every minute of it. Life now is never dull or routine! Even on the most stressful of days when an alpaca is having a difficult birth, and the pigs escape out onto the road, and the lama decides to jump the fence into the neighbouring paddock, and a six foot brown snake slithers quietly under the house and out of sight (yes this all did happen on the same day) – it simply does not compare to the meaningless pressure of city living.

The Facts About My Tree change

• Days off? Never: there is always something that needs fixing, paddocks that need slashing, animals that need drenching, guests to be fed and cabins to be cleaned.
• Holidays? Rarely: animals don’t understand holidays and demand constant attention.
• Control of your own time? Absolutely impossible: every day there is always some unexpected circumstance or unplanned project that needs immediate attention.
• Reduced working hours? You’re joking: I’ve never worked so hard or such long hours in my life.
• Do I have any regrets? I occasionally miss the restaurants and going to the theatre but I wouldn’t swap my new life for anything. Gumboots have replaced high heels; well-worn jeans are now my “corporate uniform” and the people (and animals) I interact with accept me for who I am not judge me by what I am wearing.

What my tree change has taught me is that if you are following your dream and doing something you love it isn’t called “working” it is called “living” - and isn’t that what we all desire anyway?