The only thing more certain than death, taxes and the inability of anyone to find the size shoes they want in a stocktake sale (how can they all be the wrong size?) is that arterial roads out of our big cities will be absolutely jammed at the start and finish of every long weekend.
Why do we all rush for the urban exits when there’s a chance for family time?
It turns out we all have an innate wish for the nurture of nature, according to US research, which found that daily exposure to nature significantly improved the mood of adolescents, irrespective of gender or social background.
The news that there is now a proven linkage between exposure to nature and better moods will be no surprise to the hundreds of thousands of Victorians who risk sclerotic roads and outrageous service station queues just to get their brood into the countryside when any little gap opens up in their calendar.
We all like getting away to the country – and an increasing number of people are deciding that they can make a better life for themselves by moving permanently to rural Victoria, with a particular focus on families with young children.
The US study examined more than 150 adolescents from a range of backgrounds in the US, to examine links between exposure to nature and mood. They fitted GPS trackers to the study participants over four days, identifying where each child went, so they could accurately identify how much time each spent in the great outdoors.
The results, published in 2018, showed that there was a significant link between greater exposure to nature and better moods – regardless of gender or socio-economic background.
Read more about some of the people choosing to move to country Victoria