Coastal price surges forced these families to go bush - and they couldn't be happier

Coastal price surges forced these families to go bush – and they couldn’t be happier

Karly Gravestein wasn’t expecting to move to rural NSW, but, driven by affordability and the desire for more space, she stopped looking along the coast and looked inward.

Initially, Gravestein was looking for a home to settle down in with her family, and she wanted to stay near the Sunshine Coast because she loved the water and the village feel of the area.

“We were getting priced out by all the people with big city money during COVID. We were in our mid-20s, had just had kids, and we settled for a unit.”

After having another child, Gravestein wanted to upgrade her home for more space.

“After months of searching from Mooloolaba through to Noosa, it became clear that the coastal market wasn’t aligned with what our family needed. Beautiful as it is, the available space within our budget felt increasingly limited.

“We felt like our only options were to go inland on the Sunshine Coast, into a lower socio-economic feeling area where you lose the coastal charm, and you lose your space. It just felt like those mass-produced villages that developers were kind of pumping out.”

As the Sunshine Coast’s rising property prices pushed her out, Gravestein reevaluated her love for the area.

“It just lost that small town vibe that we loved so much,” she says.

Instead of compromising on the Sunshine Coast, Gravestein moved her family down the coast to Kingscliff to explore more rural options, where she discovered Tumbulgum, just under an hour from Byron Bay. 

“We’ve traded tight coastal blocks for open surroundings where our children can grow, explore, and enjoy a little more of the outdoors,” she says.

“It was the best decision we made when finding a house, even though it wasn’t originally somewhere we initially thought we’d ever live, but it’s actually just been the best thing we’ve ever done.”

At the start, Gravestein moved to Tumbulgum to find a house within her budget. Now, even if she were offered money to buy on the Sunshine Coast, she’d refuse it.

“We’d stay in Tumbulgum. We love it so much,” she says.

Gravestein isn’t the only person to leave the hustle and bustle of a big city for a quieter area.

Misty Kelly also uprooted her family from the inner Gold Coast to the slower and quieter suburb of Worongary, 10 kilometres inland from the CBD, to build her dream home within her budget.

“The pricing along the coast is just unbelievable. So we bought a block of land for probably what we would have for a one-bedroom apartment in just a regular suburb on the Gold Coast,” Kelly says.

“It was absolutely all bush. There was nothing done to it whatsoever.”

There, Kelly built her dream home from the ground up.

The only thing Kelly misses from living in the Gold Coast is all the Uber Eats options.

“We don’t like going to the city anymore. We like our kangaroos and our wallabies,” she says.

While some people might find the silence or isolation depressing, Kelly thrives in it.

“It’s just nice to be able to come home and escape into our home where we don’t have to listen to everybody else’s drama, but we can have fun and have parties and things where we want to, but also be really withdrawn and calm as well.”

For those hesitant to make the tree-change, Kelly suggests taking the plunge.

“Pick your architect, pick your builder, and do it,” she says.