The families escaping for a life in the snow

By Catherine Lambert August 5, 2021 â€" 11.11am

Tree changes have been popular in these past 18 months of upheaval, but some families have taken the trend to even greater extremes by moving to the alpine regions.

The clean air, beauty, community lifestyle and joy of seeing children play outside at every opportunity holds great appeal, despite the freezing winter temperatures.

Michelle Lovell, Lyndon Mitchell and their 10-year-old son Grady Mitchell moved to Falls Creek.

As Michelle Lovell, 43, explains her son Grady, 10, has had very little time to play on his devices since she and husband Lyndon Mitchell, 48, shifted from Geelong to take ownership of the Lakeside lodge in Falls Creek in March.

“He absolutely loves it here,” Lovell says. “He’s getting ridiculously adventurous, teaching himself to snowboard and building igloos. It’s such a safe little village, so he walks to the supermarket himself where they know his name and we all look out for each other’s children.”

Life has only got better for Grady in winter. When 1.5 metres of snow falls daily, landing right on his front doorstep, he skis to school where there’s a total of 15 other students and spends three afternoons a week perfecting his downhill skiing, snowboarding and cross-country skiing. When he arrives at school every morning he removes his snow shoes and wears slippers in the classroom. When he gets home in the afternoon, more snow activities await.

The stressful Victorian lockdowns interrupted the family’s lodge business but they loved being able to exercise together in the snow.

“We decided we wanted to do this five years ago and it’s taken this long to find the right property but were set on the idea of having a hotel or lodge,” Lovell says.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data released this week shows many city dwellers have made the shift to the country. In the three months to March, a record net 11,800 people left the nation’s capital cities, mainly from Melbourne and Sydney.

And the snow regions are proving popular. The June Domain House Price Report shows that the median property price has surged 33.7 per cent in the past year in Victoria’s Alpine Shire Council, and 32.3 per cent in NSW’s Snowy Monaro Regional Council.

Christie Hampton, 40, her husband and two children, aged five and seven, moved from Sydney’s Northern Beaches in December to settle in Jindabyne at the base of the Snowy Mountains.

Christie and Matt Hampton with kids Jack and Ashleigh skiing at Perisher.

They own ski and snowboard stores in Japan, so when COVID-19 hit last year they bought a caravan and travelled around Australia to decide where they wanted to settle.

“We thought [Jindabyne] was fantastic and had everything we wanted,” Hampton says. “The primary driver was to bring the children up in a more rural lifestyle similar to what my husband and I had without taking away too many advantages of the city. We’re extremely keen skiers, very outdoors and love mountain bike riding so, here, we can spend more time doing the things we love with less traffic and noise.”

COVID-19 restrictions in NSW have only confirmed their decision to move because they’ve been able to maintain their outdoor activities, as much as they feel for their community’s downturn in business. “We’re all hoping for a better spring,” she says.

While they also loved Sydney, miss friends and some of the cultural benefits of city life, they have been warmly welcomed by neighbours and are thrilled with their children’s school, with the kids walking home from the bus stop every day.

“We feel very comfortable, safe and the transition hasn’t been hard at all,” Hampton says.

Nathan Fenton has lived in Bright, in Victoria’s alpine region, for 10 years with his wife and three children, working as Dinner Plain marketing and event manager, and he’s noticed an influx of city folk moving to the region in the past year.

“It’s the genuine appeal of living in these spectacular places, it’s a more quiet lifestyle though that is changing as more cycling events take place and people holiday here in summer and Easter,” Fenton says.

“The community in mountain towns is really close-knit. Everyone supports each other and the opportunities for families are so good. Even if you live here for a short period, it’s an experience you won’t ever forget.”

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