Time for a Seachange

[HappyHammer]

The time has finally come and I've handed in my notice at the bank and I'm off up the coast to enjoy semi retirement.

Oh yeah, if you hadn't guessed I'm feeling pretty good about it, bye bye Sydney hello Port Macquarie !!

HH.

[Wongo]

All the best my friend

[Jack E]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!

An Australian has retired and he is not coming to Queensland

Enjoy!!!

Cheers, Jack

[craigb]

You should look up Hovo.

[HappyHammer]

Thanks Wongo.

Jack, We looked all the way up from Sydney to Noosa but decided on Port.

HH.

[Jack E]

I quite like Port Macquarie myself, unfortunately my semi-retirement is a fair way off yet :mad:

[TassieKiwi]

Tirty-noyne an' off to t'beach. What's ya secret? Enjoy.

[HappyHammer]

Tirty Sex actually and I've worked my nuts off for twenty years although only really saved any money in the last 10. I'll still be working but the aim is for it to be less stressful. I'm happy to work 5 days a week but at a more sedate pace than I've been used to.

There's no real secret you've just got to want to do it badly enough.

HH.

[TassieKiwi]

Fek it, can't read.

I've done a bit of the same, left Auckland nuttiness for Tassie calm - just before a financial and building boom! Still, the trip along the NW coast to work beats any journey in Auckers, any day.

[silentC]

Good on ya. Glad to see you're heading north, we've got more than enough of you seachanger city folk down here

Be prepared for a tough time initially though. Not saying it will happen to you but my missus took about 18 months to settle in. Until then, she would gladly have hopped on a plane and headed back to Sydney at the drop of a hat. Don't underestimate the lonliness aspect if you or your missus are used to having lots of people around. Country towns (although I suppose Port is more of a small city) can be a bit cliquey and it can take a while to get 'accepted'. It never bothered me but I'm a hermit by nature.

Stick it out and it will be well worth it. Once you eliminate the city-imposed desire to earn wads of cash and compete with the neighbours, it all suddenly becomes clear that you have been wasting your time.

[HappyHammer]

Thanks SC,

SWMBO and the kids have been up there since May and I've been driving up on weekends. Because the kids are young we've met other parents through kindy, swimming and playgroups. There seem to be a lot of people up there around our age with kids who've also moved up from Sydney, we've been invited to our first party this weekend so I should get a chance to have a proper chat with a few locals.

People have told us that more and more families are moving to Port and the average age of the population is dropping.

HH.

[Ashore]

Well done , and enjoy .

As you say you just have to want it hard enough .
I had to wait till I was 45 , but it was worth it
Have a few friends who went to the port and they love it, even one who moved to Qld. then after 2 years moved to the port and has been there ever since .


Rgds
Russell


Thought for the day


About a third of all Americans flush the toilet while they're still sitting on it.

[zenwood]

Semi retirement? Think I'll be doing a Peter Costello: work 'till ya drop.

Look after yerself, HH.

[knucklehead]

HH, a guy once told me something that has rung true over the years.

There are 2 ways to get rich:
1- Accumulate a lot of money (normally by working until old age)
2- Want less

Number 2 sounds simple but can be quite hard to achieve. We are conditioned to think of wealth and happiness as having lots of "stuff".
Sounds like you have been brave enough to go for number 2.
Well done!

[HappyHammer]

I hear what you're saying knucklehead but I think in a way I was driven by wanting more, but not more stuff, I want more time with my kids, more time with SWMBO and more time for myself to go fishing and play with my tools.......I can't wait.

And to be honest as part of the move we've paid off almost all of our debt and to achieve the same level of material lifestyle we have to earn a lot less than we had to in Sydney to service our debt.

HH.