Melbourne lawyer Alicia Chisholm was about to travel to the United Kingdom to broaden her career in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic crashed her plans.
Instead, she decided to try regional living and moved to Burnie in north-western Tasmania, where she works as a Crown Counsel with the Office of Public Prosecutions.
She says the move has given her professional opportunities she could only dream of elsewhere.
“Nowhere else would I be at my career level doing what I do,” she says.
She and her partner Paul Cenoz have swapped a two-bedroom inner city apartment for a three-bedroom house with a basement gym, a backyard and a view of the ocean and they save $150 a week on rent.
“We’ve saved a huge deposit for a property,” she says.
Alicia now walks to work and doesn’t think she could ever go back to a city commute.
“Instead of being exhausted on the weekend, I have energy to explore this amazing place and do things like rock climbing, white water rafting and hiking,” she says.
“There’s a great community of young professionals. As soon as I arrived, people from other law firms said, ‘you’re new, how about we catch up for a coffee?’”
“People here have time for you,” she says.
