[00:00]
Ellie Dave and violet you moved where and today so you move from Canberra to the tiny little place of dalgety, which will learn more about in a second. Now Ellie you’ve lived in Melbourne and Canberra. Did you have much Regional experience prior to this move none at all pick? So it was it was a pretty big change for us. So I spent my childhood in Western Sydney and then Canberra and then a few beautiful years in Melbourne and then back to Canberra to you know started again with Dave and violet and then we found this place in jail Getty. So this is my first taste of country living
[00:41]
Amazing. So the decision to move was because of a house. How can one house have such persuasive Powers? Well, it’s it’s a lovely absolutely we love it. We were originally we were looking. Ah, we love the area so much the Snowy Mountains area and we were thinking oh, maybe we should get just a little block because we did have you know, the usual backyard things of chickens and bees and and you know, vegetable gardens and looking to take it to the next level love the area and then this place came up and yeah, we decided we were gonna try our best to make it happen. And yeah sell up and move Dave you are also have always traditionally always lived in the city as well, right? Yeah. That’s right. Yeah, I grew up in Canberra. Yeah Melvin for a short spell but yeah, then back to camera and violet you were.
[01:41]
Amber as well before you moved out here. Is that right? I was about Melbourne.
[01:47]
Right. Yeah.
[01:51]
So a city slicker into the country as well. Now we talk about timing a lot on this podcast. So people who dream about doing this kind of move for years, but wait for the right timing when did you know as a family that it was the right time to switch your city life for the country Dream? Well, I I think I knew as soon as we saw the house.
[02:14]
So that was kind of me. Like I guess I was probably the first to know wouldn’t you say Dave? That’s probably yeah, probably probably accurate. I probably was the first to kind of realize. Yeah, I think this place is is right for us. And as Dave said we’d come in thinking about it and having it as a wooden it be nice.
[02:36]
And when we actually looked at kunala our home we the timing was wrong. I’ve remembered thinking what a wonderful house what a wonderful place to live.
[02:48]
if you know it feels so right and so much like home, which I’ve never really been that kind of a person before I’ve never really felt that way about anywhere else, but then I kept on thinking but the timing is just not right, you know the house that we were living in Canberra wasn’t on the market, you know, it was going to be a really tight turnaround to to sell and then buy and then to buy and then sell and then settle, you know, it was gonna be really tricky and but
[03:19]
We just kind of couldn’t.
[03:21]
I couldn’t let go of the idea.
[03:24]
And I think the more that we talked about it the more it started to make sense to you. It was mad how quickly returned if you really really was when I think about it because so we saw the house early March it was the day after my birthday party we drove out and sorry for ourselves and you know had this amazing connection to the place.
[03:47]
And then the auction was early April.
[03:51]
So we had a month to make a decision about where we going to be on cable up.
[03:56]
And I think the auction for the Canberra house was early May.
[04:00]
So I don’t think at that stage we hadn’t listed at all. Did we had just listed it right when we bid on Coon Beulah. Yeah. So it was it was it was White Knuckle timing quite a few points where it all could have not worked out and you know, I’m sure that your listeners who are thinking about making a big leap or have made a big leap will kind of remember those. I guess those inflection points where you know, if you hadn’t have won the auction you’d be like, oh gosh. Remember that crazy time. We thought we could move to the country, but we won the auction and so we moved to the country and how did it feel to win the auction? Were you like expecting to or was it stressful? Like what was that? Like, I think we were really hoping hard. Yeah, but you know, we were kind of prepared for it not to come off and that we bite our time and and you know, look at things a bit more slowly. I remember at that point in time. I hadn’t given birth and I remember watching Dave to the auction.
[05:00]
Thinking this is how Partners must feel when they watch their partner birth. This intense kind of feeling of like pride and all because I couldn’t have done it. Dave was cool with the Cucumber just pushing through these beds and he had his strategy or worked out and it was I was in awe. Um, thanks very nice. Oh, I did tell you that. I forgot. Oh and so you win like it’s that thing isn’t it when you’re like, okay. This is what we sort of intended obviously because we bid and then you have that moment where you’re like, oh my gosh. This is the reality and like you’re saying the house wasn’t listed at that stage in Canberra. So all of these things start to like play on your mind huge decision. How did you work through that and then eventually find yourself like in the environment that you now call home. We did work with a really good real estate agent in Canberra who think kind of understood that this was a passion.
[06:00]
Move rather than a sensible move. So I just think they were a fabulous team and we we worked ourselves to get the house ready to get everything sorted and you know, we I think timing was smiling on us because we were able to move in between two lockdowns in 2021 because if we had of left it a couple of weeks either way we wouldn’t have been able to do the move. So really we we kind of got very very lucky as well as worked very very hard to make it come off and then we we landed in dalgetty early July.
[06:38]
And violet started school at the local public school a couple of weeks after we moved so she was there for 10:30. And yes, so it was it kind of
[06:49]
Worked really well in the end but there was a lot of a lot of Blood Sweat and Tears in that short time frame wasn’t it? And then like you’re on the ground and there’s further transitioning so much as you know adjusting to the schooling and the social trying to lay down some Network and elements of social fabric. How did you navigate that? I think we were really lucky that we made the decision to put violent in the local public school because that meant that even though the town was in lockdown is most of New South Wales was for a large part of 2021. We kind of had, you know, and kids are fantastic in country towns for getting you connected with other people who have kids. So we got to know the family who were at the local school and we even had a family who were from Sydney but living in the area for the period of lockdown living in one of the cottages on our Farmers as well, which was a really lovely
[07:49]
Of violet to have a little friend called Ariana who was her company for lockdown. Yeah. She was a really good friend. But really it was school really pulled us in at a time when otherwise if we hadn’t have had a kid in a local I think we would have really struggled to meet people don’t you think Dave? Yeah, and I remember I remember thinking that in the four years were in that house in Canberra. I think we ended up knowing more people more of our neighbors here within you know, four weeks and that was four weeks with a lockdown. Yes. Wow. Yeah.
[08:24]
Yeah, it is that being like far apart but closer together and you’ve just talked about a brief Glimpse in to the homestead. Can you please tell us the history and just described it to us? So it is an Old Stone Homestead. It was the first part of it was built in the 1840s. We don’t know exactly exactly the year kicked off that part. I’m still stands and it’s the old dairy and the old Bakery. So there’s all Stone like bread oven in there which we still use for pizzas and things like that on occasion. Yeah, and then there’s the other part of the house which we live in was was built.
[09:08]
I denied 20 years after that so that I mid-19th century and then it the two buildings have kind of been extended.
[09:17]
Towards each other so they all meet up. The newest bit is about 1950s. I think. Yeah, so it’s various generations of Adam little bits to it over time. But yeah, it’s it’s just gorgeous. It’s the older parts are made from like local Granite. Lots of granite around here many of the places that are this age like the school of violet goes to now is a similar vintage. It’s you know, probably made many of the many of the bits are made by the same people because you how many people would there have been to make skirting boards in and you know, I think one of the things that probably made such an impression on me about the house is that it is this really old home, you know, it’s a really old structure but it has it’s really elegant building. It’s just very simple. It’s very clean and it’s very classy and a very usable family home if that makes sense. Like it’s just a really well designed.
[10:17]
home
[10:19]
Just simple and it’s calm and cohesive and I loved that about it when we walked in and obviously the previous owners had to decorated in their style and they weren’t a young family. So they had, you know, quite a different aesthetic to us.
[10:34]
But it just it’s always just really felt like a really great container to have a good wife in.
[10:41]
And that’s been a really lovely thing about it. I was actually gonna ask because often when people buy a home that they’re not building they’ll walk in and there’s sort of things that they look at that. They think are we want to renovate this or change this or do that? What elements do you need to kind of assess that you thought I will make this a priority in the first phase and what did you decide that you thought needed to be changed or adjusted in the home? Well, I mean it wasn’t it wasn’t the size because the I remember when we there’s a brick Stables here that’s bigger than the house we came from so that’s certainly will wasn’t a problem that the things we’ve done since we moved in have been what did lots of really practical things. Yeah more about the infrastructure. Yeah. She was solar whether the two things that we did because we are in quite a dry area where we’re on the is it the leeward side that hey the side of the mountain that doesn’t get right, you know water was an issue. So we’ve done a big project to and Dave do a lot of amazing.
[11:41]
Back with the local plumber to really start getting as much water as we could because we’re not on Town water. So really working on our collection and storage which is boring and not interesting. But when you run out of water when you’re nine and a half months pregnant, you know, that water security is the most important thing about a home and literally everything else can wait.
[12:05]
Absolutely and violet you talked about or we talked about your school. So how many people are in your school? Yeah, I’ve had four schools.
[12:18]
And running Canberra. I went down just after like a year after school. We got there. Yeah, that was a big sad and then I went to snakes.
[12:35]
She’s like you’ve had to go into four different classrooms, mate.
[12:47]
Lots of different people what have you done to adjust every time you’ve gone to a new school three of the schools were actually Stillman community.
[12:58]
But the other school chemicals grammar was just that was a preschool that I went today, but then when we got to now getting public it was probably because our classes three kids.
[13:13]
It was me and Ariana and we were in candy and and then there was one to cry and he was in year one, but not we had to take from this tiny and she was the best teacher of she was fabulous it helps. If you’ve got a good teacher doesn’t it both Ellie and Dave view or so hot to have a bit of change obviously within your career giving them the move talk to us about we’d love to hear from both of you how you transitioned your work when you moved I was working remotely with five years of the point that we moved. So I wasn’t and we could get the good internet though good satellite internet at that point in time. So it wasn’t really that much of a big deal for me.
[14:03]
And the office is a couple hours up the road. So I go in every every few weeks.
[14:11]
So yeah, not to not too much of a big deal. You have learned how to be a cattle farmer though. That’s a bit of a career change that you’ve you’ve had since we moved. Yeah, and what’s that been like for you? That’s been fantastic. It’s interesting when we when we first looked at the place because where we are we’re kind of on the border of the planes the Monaro finds and the Snowy Mountains.
[14:34]
So you’ve got cattle and sheep country on one side and you’ve got ski resorts on the other side. And and when we first moved we were really looking towards the mountains, but I think now we we really look towards the plans a lot more when when we were first looking at this place. It was was a bit of eyes, it’s nice that there’s land but it’ll be difficult to manage it and that’s sort of thing and now it’s I mean, that’s certainly not my passion Now is working on that on land and working with the stock up big learning curve to go up but you know lucky enough to have lots of great resources available in this day and age and
[15:21]
I love that. So you’ve changed your totally changed your career at this point in your life is brilliant and also for you Ellie what happened in your case? Well, so I was working as a therapist in Canberra initially when we first started to sort of plan to move. We had thought that I’d be able to keep my job and I could work remotely but unfortunately that wasn’t gonna work out. So I was I kept my old job part-time and was commuting up a couple of days and I started a private practice for the other days of the week and gradually over time. I started to really drop off doing the work in Canberra because the commute was was you know, it was quite a lot and it was tricky and it just kind of made more sense to go into private practice a bit more. So I’ve been running my private Counseling Practice, which I do exclusively remotely. So I just do Telly health. I do my tooth fine calls.
[16:18]
For about three years now and it’s been it’s Again State learning curve, you know quite a thing to start a small business at the same time as having a young family and having a baby so we welcome Susanna just over a year ago.
[16:36]
And he’s so you know that’s been tough, but it’s definitely been a really interesting and really good way of working and for a while there. I was running out airbnbs, but just kind of taking over that now so we had one of the small cottages on our play set up as an Airbnb and Dave kind of does a great job of managing that at the moment. It’s definitely been a steep steep learning curve. And I I also do some work with the stock with you Dave sure. Do I was out mustering cattle three and a half weeks post C-section which again staying here probably not the best idea really considering everything but oh so it happened. We got it done. Wow, a lot of learning across the board and you just talked about where you’re located. So you’re near the snow feels and you’ve got that beautiful cold weather that you have to adjust to as well. You sound very
[17:36]
Easy, so I’m not sure if you get much of a chance to tap into the snow and the beautiful landscapes that we hear so much about you know, the Snowy River made famous by lots of poems and stories. What are some of the other Adventures of where you live, you know, because that’s such a an iconic kind of part of Australia look. So we as you said we are super busy. We don’t have a lot of time to get up to the snow. We we do throw some wickets snowballs every now and then Violet at all the schools that she’s been to in the area. They have to vary in degrees. They do know Sports as part of their sport curriculum. So, how is actually the the skiing champ of our family? We’ve done quite a few really beautiful hikes. So I I love hiking when I get a chance, which is not very often at the moment. I’m done a lot of hiking internationally and so we’ve done a few kind of family friendly hikes in because your screen
[18:36]
National Park, and we’re hoping to do some more as Susanna. She’s she’s already a very very quick and reliable Walker, you know, we’ll hopefully get her out on the tracks. Maybe this coming summer ya know you’ll be able to do a short shorts.
[18:58]
She just loves to move but yes, I guess that’s being our main thing is is doing you know, the odd snowball fight and lots of hiking and my dad who’s a very keen fisherman has dropped a line in the snowy a few times when he’s come to visit because it’s literally we drive across the Snowy River most days. It’s pretty we had the Platypus pump Plunge at the show. This year was pretty special if you want to talk about that by that what you do is you where do you go? You could buy a small 3D printed platypus and then everyone put them in the river. But yeah.
[19:34]
you
[19:34]
and you ride?
[19:36]
It and you make it bright colors and then they put it on the river.
[19:41]
So then it’s like rice or when they mean the one that we get to 200 dollars.
[19:49]
The learning comes to complies get to 100 dollars. Wow, and does everyone get really excited about the Platypus plunge, like who’s gonna win it next year and like get ready for the Platypus plunge. Yeah. We need to make us more Park.
[20:09]
And it turns out that the people who won were actually people at my school and also friends that went to my went to delegate public and also go to that sounds brilliant. What a fantastic event. And what is Dale getting like, I believe it’s very small just around 200 people. What’s the community of dalgetty? Like, it’s great. It’s yeah. It’s got a really thriving local pub. Doesn’t it? Like I stopped out. I stopped in there the other day and on our first day after and I think in I remember thinking I know like 90% of the people here right now. Not the same in Winter, of course.
[20:50]
Those blow-ins. Oh, sweetie. Yeah, everybody knows everyone they help out as well. We have we have a neighbor across the road actually lives right on the Snowy River, you know, we’re good friends with him and we
[21:10]
Here, we’re always helping each other out with various things. He’s got a he’s got lots of big machinery and know-how and I can help him with this phone. So that’s that’s been pretty good. He’s also taught you a lot about cattle. Yeah, that’s what I mean. Yeah. It’s that reciprocity, isn’t it? That’s just so well kind of oil within their country and you can tap into those skills and resources and equally they can benefit from what you bring into the community. What are some of the things that you think you’ve been able to contribute coming from the outside in that’s really good question actually and Dave definitely can help people unlock locked phones accounts and work out very valuable it is. Yeah. It really is I think maybe what we bring is I think an appreciation for what’s here.
[22:05]
I think when you leave in a community like these for your whole life, you might you might not appreciate it in the way that someone coming in from the outside appreciates it and kind of really enjoys things that you take for granted when you’ve lived in a small town your whole life.
[22:20]
You know, so things like the show or the pub that is really, you know, an extension of everyone’s living rooms or you know, having a school bus driver who knows your kids and keeps an eye out for them and whose number I’ve got so I can say look she’s not on a bus today. She’s sick or is she being a toy rag? Please tell me I’ll take it up that kind of stuff that for people who’ve been born and bred to this like is second nature for us. We really appreciate that and maybe holding that appreciation up as a merit to the community is is something valuable that we bring we come here and we say this is a great way of life. Yeah, and we love it.
[23:00]
You know, yeah, I just know the first time violent puts a cigarette to him. Now. My phone will start 100% You’ve got surveillance all around in the very sorry, but you’re not gonna get away with anything. Now, I believe that you got married in the very romantic setting at the homestead under the strawberry tree. Can you tell us about your wedding and have you ever considered about becoming a wedding venue? We have had this conversation and we concluded that it’s not conducive to a house with small children.
[23:49]
Wedding day usually if it’s not your own home, you want the setting to be pretty pretty Schmick pretty clean. Minimal Lego. We got married in October 2022 and we had a beautiful beautiful wedding and it was lovely that it was our home was the setting
[24:07]
and yeah, it was pretty pretty special pretty romantic.
[24:11]
I remember kind of standing on the Verandah and looking out at all. The guests gathered under the strawberry tree and that was that was pretty special.
[24:20]
That was kind of magic and it was it was so lovely that we could share our home with our wedding guests as well. And I was the flower girl you and they had black confetti. That’s right. You were also the MC. Yeah. We told some jokes. Yeah, they were great jokes really warm to the crowd up good on you Violet gosh already wearing many hats and you haven’t even hit teenage years and your family has grown hasn’t it? Susanna has joined you as he mentioned before what’s been like in terms of support system with a newborn that’s been tricky. I think we’ve really only kind of hit our stride with that quite recently. So we had, you know, we were cared for by our local hospital in cooma and we’ve got a really great GP who was also our obstetrician first is Anna’s birthday.
[25:19]
That was great. You know, she literally she delivered Susanna. She did all my antenatal care. She she’s literally known her since before she was out in the world, which is a really special special relationship to have we have had been really lucky that my folks are in Canberra. So two hours up the road and my mum has been a really huge support for us sure has been amazing. She’s called Hetty because we have a lot of grandparents in our family. And so she kind of thought well, I won’t try and be Grandma here. They’re all just be hitty so hit and ask that’s my parents have spent a lot of time staying at the homestead with us, you know helping with cooking helping with settling a very I don’t want to speak badly about Suzanne asleep. I don’t know. She she’s like me. She’s not a great sleeper and so mum’s been fabulous because you know, there’s been some nights where we’ve we’ve just really needed some help and mum’s been
[26:20]
And she’s also been a wonderful support for Violet. So, you know taking Violet to school helping violent with her homework just being an extra pair of you know, trusted hands dad’s been amazing. He’s attempted to build a lot of Ikea furniture for us, which has been lovely he succeeded as well. Yeah, we’ve violets help you guys made the table, didn’t you? Yeah. Yeah, they give us a lot of help with things like the garden and babysitting and the really being amazing. So we’re really lucky that we’ve had some great support from my family and where also extremely lucky that we’ve got a beautiful family three minutes up the road who have four kids kind of in between Violet and Susanna, so our girls are the bookings and they’re for the lovely books in the middle and there have been times when we have really truly cold Lauren and three minutes later deposited Violet on her doorstep and rushed Susanna into you know, an emergency or the other way around and you know that
[27:20]
kind of
[27:21]
Support is invaluable. And you know, it’s it’s that sort of you know, Lauren’s seen as at moments where our family’s been pretty tricky and you know, it’s just that that way of living where you just there to help each other and you don’t ask questions and you just get on with it. We really appreciated that and I think my parents both grew up in the country and that kind of values system is a big part of you know, how mum was raised in Scotland in a small village and had dad was raised in Central West riverina New South Wales. It’s just really those kind of values of just being a good person and looking out for each other that kind of shine through
[28:02]
and we’ve certainly appreciated and needed those when we’ve had a little person who
[28:08]
is a wonderful and hard work and very rewarding like all the little people are.
[28:13]
I completely understand. I’ve got a little 11 month old Poppy and three-year-old. Sorry, you’re speaking my language. I understand you’re talking about. What is it like for you now when you go back to the city giving you’ve got this incredible and extremely different life in the country. I can’t talk anymore.
[28:32]
No, I just it completely I can’t get between the lines. I just have to give up. I have to go around the block into like and find a park that I can just slide into look. I do love going back to the city. I really enjoy the best bits of the city, but I’m always so glad to come home. I never feel.
[28:53]
like it’s
[28:55]
a range to leave the city. It’s always like I’ve had a great time going to see a show or I’ve had a great time.
[29:02]
Doing some shopping. I can’t do here. I’ve had a great time catching up with people, but I’m really glad to be coming home. The only thing I miss is.
[29:10]
If I want to bubble tea at two in the morning with the city I can get it. But yeah, that’s that’s about it. And finally, it’s been such an amazing chat and I would just love your thoughts on you talked about those White Knuckle moments like where that fear does set in its such dramatic change like it has been for you guys. What advice would you give to people who sort of don’t know like a dancing around that timing there might be thinking about leaving that fear might kick in what in your opinion is a way to kind of get over that hump to the other side so you can set up a life outside the city. I mean, the first thing I kind of want to say is leap in the net will appear right, but then I also kind of think the net takes a lot of hard work at the same time. I kind of think looking back on it. It has been a lot of hard work, but I am so glad we’ve done it and there’s more
[30:10]
Hard work ahead. And so I think what I would offer is a suggestion is that you know, if you thinking about doing it, yep, it’s gonna be really hard and there will be times when it’s just he didn’t baby screaming and you’ve got you know, eight year old. He’s trying to do their homework and you’re trying to get dinner in the oven and you really would just love to order some kebabs for everybody and having sharp and 15 minutes but Uber Eats.
[30:33]
you know those times will be really hard and there’s nothing that’s going to take away the fact that it’s hard but
[30:40]
If you give it a go, you will probably find that you can actually get through the hard times.
[30:45]
It’s not a matter of it’s hard. I shouldn’t do it. It’s a matter of it’s hard and that’s a reason to give it a really good. Try having a good.
[30:56]
And pushing yourself out your comfort zone and meeting new people. There’s how I met.
[31:02]
Next turn is just to find some of those.
[31:17]
Yeah, so doing a bit of looking and then you find your friends.
[31:21]
That’s a great way to approach socializing in a new setting. Thank you so much Ellie David for your thoughts and sharing your story with us today. It’s amazing. What an incredible journey that you’ve been on and that you are continuing to take on. Thank you very much for chatting to us today our pleasure back. Thank you for having us. It’s been lovely to talk to you. It’s very much.
