Change of Life

[north-north-west]

Always been a gypsy at heart. Been stuck here in Melbourne for too long, for the wrong reasons, acquired too many toys. It's time to pack up and make a change, at least of place and maybe of lifestyle.

[perfectlydark]

The things you own end up owning you

[Hallu]

I reckon you'd be miserable in Karratha and Exmouth. The bushwalking is really limited unless you go off track for 2 weeks expeditions, and both towns are awful, nothing to do. If I had to go North, I'd actually choose Darwin. The city's not pretty, but the landscape and the bushwalking are more varied. And for more isolation, Kununurra would be nice, and you'd be close to some serious wilderness.

[wayno]

at least you can walk in tas year round... summer is great for walking there. no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing....

[anne3]

I lived in Esperance WA for a year, it is a beautiful place.........but I missed the trees we have around the Baw Baw's. Stay in Vic but get out of Melbourne, have a tree change.

[ofuros]

Become a yachty & cruise the Indonesian archipelago, Papua New Guinea or Pacific islands...you can pick
up work around the top of Australia in weipa, groote, gove, darwin.
4wd around our continent...working along the way.
Volunteer work in under developed countries....
Scuba diving instructor.....

[neilmny]

What about Albury/Wodonga, puts you close to a lot of mountain country.
Jindabyne or Cooma on the dark side? (of the boarder)

[TerraMer]

Exmouth, get a dive job and be a bum for most of the year

[GPSGuided]

Reverse migration, New Zealand!

[north-north-west]

Exmouth, get a dive job and be a bum for most of the year

I'm a retired Instructor - retired because of the deafness. There are a lot of job options closed to me due to that one teensy little issue.

I reckon you'd be miserable in Karratha and Exmouth. The bushwalking is really limited unless you go off track for 2 weeks expeditions, and both towns are awful, nothing to do. If I had to go North, I'd actually choose Darwin. The city's not pretty, but the landscape and the bushwalking are more varied. And for more isolation, Kununurra would be nice, and you'd be close to some serious wilderness.

Kununnura sucks. and there's nothing close except Lake *&%$#! Argyle, which nearly had me in tears - great country, but what they've done to it . . . Karratha's not too bad if you keep away from Dampier and the mines, and it's reasonably close to Karijini & Millstream/Chichester, which have some really good off-track stuff as long as you avoid the mines. Exmouth is also not a bad town, great diving, decent off-track walking on the Coast Range, and not that far from Karijini and the best of the Pilbara.
I don't need anything to do in town, just a base.
I love Darwin (even the weather as humidity doesn't bother me) but Kakadu is too hard to walk in - it's almost impossible to get permission for off-track treks on the scarp, and if you're found in there without permission it's serious trouble. And there's no tracked walking up there I haven't done.

I lived in Esperance WA for a year, it is a beautiful place.........but I missed the trees we have around the Baw Baw's. Stay in Vic but get out of Melbourne, have a tree change.

Esperance is lovely, great diving, and I don't need trees, but it'd too far from the serious walking. No mountains. I definitely need mountains. But Victoria has had its go. I've been here too long.
Done the Alps north to south and east to west. Eden is possible, or even north NSW not too far from the coast, but the diving's pretty boring up there.

Reverse migration, New Zealand!

It's a serious consideration, but there are too many mountains in Tassie on my hit-list to shift over the Ditch. And the weather's even worse than Tas (if possible).

It's a hard decision. There's so much of the MacDonnellss I want to do, and I've barely started on the Flinders & Gammons, and both areas have wonderful off-track stuff (as long as you keep the gaiters on). But Tassie's still calling, and I only have one lifetime and too much of that's been used up already . . .

[Snowzone]

Sounds like you know in your heart that Tassie is where you want to be. Thats where I'd move to if I had a choice.

[phan_TOM]

or even north NSW not too far from the coast, but the diving's pretty boring up there

You can't be Serious NNW? I've dived all around Australia and in many other countries including numerous locations in QLD, NSW, TAS, WA, I should mention numerous times to the Barrier Reef, Japan, NZ, Indonesia, the Philippines - places like Manado on the northern tip of Sulawesi, Bunaken Island etc etc and Northern NSW has some of the best diving that I've ever done. Places like Julian Rocks just off Byron where the temperate and tropical waters meet to provide one of the most biodiverse dive sites anywhere not to mention the underwater landscape, or South West Rocks, or the Solitary Islands Marine Park, or Seal Rocks... I could go on

[LandSailor]

What about taking 6 months off and doing something like the Pacific Crest Trail?

[Hallu]

As a base in Tassie, I'd love to live in Stanley. Great food, lovely location. Not too far from bigger cities such as Burnie for buying stuff, great to explore the Tarkine, Cradle/Walls of Jerusalem. If you're more interested in the South-West, Maydena, Dover or even Bruny Island for the isolation. On the East coast, I'd love to settle somewhere around White Beach. I'm not a big fan of bigger cities such as St Helens, Launceston or Hobart. I liked Arthur River too, nice piece of wild coast, but you wouldn't like the weather I guess. The North coast is more protected, hence Stanley.

[north-north-west]

or even north NSW not too far from the coast, but the diving's pretty boring up there

You can't be Serious NNW? I've dived all around Australia and in many other countries including numerous locations in QLD, NSW, TAS, WA, I should mention numerous times to the Barrier Reef, Japan, NZ, Indonesia, the Philippines - places like Manado on the northern tip of Sulawesi, Bunaken Island etc etc and Northern NSW has some of the best diving that I've ever done. Places like Julian Rocks just off Byron where the temperate and tropical waters meet to provide one of the most biodiverse dive sites anywhere not to mention the underwater landscape, or South West Rocks, or the Solitary Islands Marine Park, or Seal Rocks... I could go on

I would suggest that you dive The Rip. For variety of colour and form in the invertebrate life, it's better than any coral reef, anywhere, plus a bit more of a challenge. Bare rocks and a few fish get pretty boring after that. Guess it's just how you see what's there.
Besides, I'm a bit of a tech-head. Ah lurves muh caves and wrecks.
(I'm leaving SWRocks out of this. It's too far from the area I'd like to live to be practical for really regular visits.)

Sounds like you know in your heart that Tassie is where you want to be. Thats where I'd move to if I had a choice.

It's where I want to be mostly, but . . .
. . . but The MacDonnells. The Flinders. The Gammons. The Pilbara. The blue skies of the north . . . .
What I really want is to be able to afford to head north when it gets too miserable down south to cope, and head back south when it's too hot up north. It always comes down to having the money to support the lifestyle.

[Eremophila]

Cheaper to live in Tassie, and cheaper to get away than the other places. Depending on where you live in Tassie, that is...