Our home is officially on the market, and a lot of people have asked us “why are you moving?” – so I figured this is the easiest way to explain the whole story to anyone who asks.. 🙂

We have lived in our current home since 2008.. so 14 years in total and coming up to our 15th year. This house has been our first owned home, the only home my kids have ever known and grew up in. So, the decision to move wasn’t a decision that we made lightly.

As a little backstory, my husband has worked as a seconded contractor for the past couple of years to a company that is based in Melbourne CBD but has a gas plant near the Great Ocean Road region. During this time, his work involved either commuting back and forth to the city (3 hours return travel time each day via public transport) or regular travel to site (on average, he is away from home a week each month and sometimes more) and that travel involves a 4 hour drive each way. The only break he ever had from commuting was during Covid, and trust me.. he loved not commuting and being able to work from home lol.

But now, he has started working for this company directly as a full-time employee and has the option to actually work at the gas plant permanently. We knew we couldn’t afford a nice place to be closer to the city and save on his commute time, but it was time for us to explore the possibility of moving closer to the gas plant.

Long story short, we spent a few months house shopping in the Great Ocean Road regional area – and very quickly decided that we needed a new home that was close to his work, but also large enough to have extra rooms for guests – so family and friends could come and visit us whenever they like. We were also looking for a complete change in lifestyle.. I mean, there’s really not much point in leaving our perfectly fine suburban house to go and live in another suburban house. If we’re going to move to country, let’s do it properly and go for a complete change in lifestyle, let’s buy a farmhouse!

And so, we did. We found a gorgeous farmhouse with over 6 acres of land, a house with 6 bedrooms and well maintained gardens and multiple large sheds for miscellaneous projects and storage. The property also happens to be 9 mins drive to hubby’s work, and 15 mins drive to a good country public school. Shops for our basic needs are only 10-15 mins away, and if we need anything else our closest cities Colac and Warrnambool are only 40-45 mins away. I like to tell people another fun fact – Coles delivers to our new home! So that’s my weekly shopping sorted haha.

Our local beaches include the Twelve Apostles and Port Campbell foreshore, where we did a lot of fishing whenever we were visiting during the holidays. We have spent many long weekends and school holidays in this region, and have always loved the peace, beauty and tranquility of this area – and I am personally excited to be closer to places we have yet to visit e.g. Warrnambool, Port Fairy, and then keep going towards Adelaide!

It’s a very exciting time for our family – we have very mixed emotions about the whole move, but mostly excited to start this new chapter of our lives. Follow my Instagram (@kimbasliving) for updates as we go on this journey!