During the pandemic, many Victorians relocated to Queensland in a well documented migration trend, but a Gold Coast man has made the less common move south to live in the North East.
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Bucking the trend, former Gold Coast resident Michael Smith moved to Mount Beauty about a month ago.
"I was always up for a change, and I think I just made my mind up, but COVID made a huge [impact] in my life to make a difference, to change my career," he said.
Mr Smith is among many others across the country, who due to large scale COVID-19 disruptions have rethought what they want out of life, whether that be making a tree-change or seizing new business opportunities.
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Mr Smith sold his share in his shopfitting business, bought and renovated a van, then made the decision to come to the North East.
Having grown up and lived in Cobram until he was 15, he was attracted to the idea of getting closer to home after many years away.
"I've got some great contacts in Mount Beauty and Falls Creek, so I took that advantage and packed me and my dog Stitch and we ended up in Mount Beauty," he said.
"The first thing I did when I came back was go to the Murray River, because it feels like, well it is a part of my life and my family's, so I camped on the Murray just out of Wodonga and loved that.
The first thing I did when I came back was go to the Murray River
- Michael Smith
"Then I came up here and I didn't realise how beautiful it was up here, with streams and the mountains and everything was so green, so I was very impressed and still am."
Like many people living regionally, Mr Smith said finding accommodation had been difficult, but he'd managed to organise quarters through a mutual contact.
"I'm very lucky," he said.
Mr Smith will work the winter in Mount Beauty, helping a retail business with the influx of customers over the snow season.
"If I like it here there's a really good bike shop," he said.
"And that's totally different to what I do for my job, which is what I'm looking for ... but if I like what I'm doing and I want to travel I was thinking of looking at houseboats on the Murray.
"I could buy a little house boat that needs a little TLC and I could buy it and do it up and maybe live on the water for a while and then just see what happens."
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Victoria Ellis
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
