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Secret ingredients for a generation of classroom fun

After introducing thousands of children in northeast Victoria to the language, culture and of course the food of Indonesia, Carmyl Winkler has condensed her most

Read More »

If our future is going to be fair, you need to stop and look at this iced coffee.

Every seat in the prodigious Tallangatta Bakery was occupied through most of Saturday, as the North East Victorian town’s star attraction gave every cent of

Read More »

Girl Gang transforms networks in rural community

In a generation, the traditional rules and social circles that took root in rural communities, binding together the community have been broken and new networks

Read More »

Paradise turns out to be pretty nice

If you follow the long, straight road, there is a special quality of light when you reach Paradise. Just half an hour north of the

Read More »

Lakeside lifestyle awaits in thriving Colac

It’s a mecca for twitchers, gastronomes and romantics all at once, but the pink-tinged waters of Lake Corangamite still remain a hidden gem for most

Read More »

Buns to Buses – how Chris and Di look after the good folk of Stawell

Each morning at 3.30am, Chris Anderson drives the three minutes from his house to his bakery business, switches on the lights, and starts proving dough.

Read More »

A desire named street car

He built his first car as a young man on his family farm near Swan Hill, cutting down a model A Ford into a Hot

Read More »

Happiness Heading Back to Yack

The bushland behind the Yackandandah house that she rents is about as far from the Eiffel Tower as you can get, but Parisian Cecile Legrand

Read More »

Alpine region relishes a bright future

It wasn’t long after Bright was named Australia’s best Autumn town that reporters had Alpine Shire Mayor Ron Janas on the phone, quizzing him about

Read More »

Wimmera’s tourism drawcard

The Silo Art trail has resulted in a tourist boom through towns that were previously little-visited in the Wimmera and it all started with a

Read More »

Loving peak hour

  The school run is exactly 7.5 minutes from home to drop off for Ashley Smirl. After living in Melbourne and then a remote NT

Read More »

The dream factory

  Moving to a dream home in the country remains just that for many – a dream. Craig & Phil from Swanbuild want to change

Read More »

Stawell proves it’s a town of many gifts

Running a sports shop in a town synonymous with Australia’s premier athletic event seems like a recipe for automatic business success, but ultimately Shane and

Read More »

Lifting the Vale

“I was a motor mechanic in Melbourne and I worked with a guy who came from Charlton. He said ‘I’ll take you up one weekend,’

Read More »

Australia’s premier pumpkin patch

Once famous for bushrangers and picturesque pub, the hamlet of Ovens is now becoming famous as Australia’s epicentre of pumpkin seed production. Sharan Rivett’s Slovenian

Read More »

Victoria’s hottest new destination

  Sea Lake is one of those towns with a great name that not many people knew about – until recently when the giant waterbody

Read More »

Grain and brain boom underpin Birchip’s renaissance

On Tchum Lake, just outside of Birchip, there can be 15 or 20 speedboats plying the waters of the farmer-constructed waterbody, when the Summer sun

Read More »

Lal Lal’s gift

Despite the torrential rain I get out of the van and splash across the grass to an excessively fenced off ridge line, where you can

Read More »

Maternity leave leads to a buzzing business

Maternity leave usually comes to an end with a new addition to the family, but Laura Eddington ended hers with a new business as well.

Read More »

Home delivery

Bel and Jordan found each other in a Ballarat mail sorting room. Bel had grown up in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, studied photography and

Read More »

Time to escape with Kate

When people think about escaping to the country, they aren’t really just looking for four walls and a roof, according to Kate Ashton. They’re not

Read More »

Bealiba’s new (quiet) boom

The discovery of yellow metal at the foot of Mt Bealiba in 1856 created a town of 12,000 desperadoes, but when the gold rush left,

Read More »

Picture this – the man who became mayor

For decades, the cold winds of stasis blew along Clunes’ historic main street. Gold fever had deserted the town in the 1890s, leaving a small

Read More »

Living the journey from vine to wine

On a rainy Friday night, when you hear the crack of a metal cap and the familiar glug-glug-glug noise of your favourite beverage burbling into

Read More »

Are these Australia’s best mushrooms?

Nobody knows exactly why the hilltop area around the southern Victorian locality of Caveat has the potential to become Australia’s new gourmet mushroom mecca. The

Read More »

Welcome pack provides instant ‘family’ in rural community

Small towns are renowned for being friendly, but when representatives of the townsfolk of Tallangatta gathered in the Memorial Hall for a discussion on ways

Read More »

Cellarbrations for all in Camperdown

  When they moved from Sydney to Geelong and then to Camperdown in South West Victoria, Aaron and Michelle Newick’s friends asked if they were

Read More »

Cultural melting pot forms fresh bonds in the north east.

Lives have been irrevocably changed for the better in a small northeast Victorian town through an innovative program that turns a spotlight onto the cultures

Read More »

Northern destiny

  “I was visiting northeast Victoria for work and when we drove through Tallangatta, I said to the woman driving, I reckon I could live

Read More »

Thought for Food in Kilcunda

Some stories just beg to be told. Udder & Hoe is an artwork in retail charm, an authentic food and beverage repository carefully crafted within

Read More »

Flight time

After spending more than 15 years servicing helicopters around Australia and even in Antarctica, Hylke Kijlstra has got to a point where he no longer

Read More »

Merchant of Mansfield

Five years after moving to Mansfield, Mat Picone and his wife Lee have opened three businesses had two children and bought themselves a beautiful home

Read More »

Warm welcome guaranteed in Woomelang

You know a community has pulled out every possible stop to try to attract people to their town when they keep a guest book in

Read More »

Creating new spaces to belong in a town of innovators

If you want to live in a bustling city, then Rupanyup is not the place for you, but if you like the idea of belonging

Read More »

Thousands of visitors each week can’t be wrong: Why The Mill is booming

He is careful with his words and spends most of the interview trying to avoid taking credit for the success of The Mill, Castlemaine’s hottest

Read More »

Saving Taradale – how one school grew from two students to 75 in just seven years

Just months after he landed a part-time teaching job at Taradale Primary School, Chris Burgess was handed the job of acting principal, in charge of

Read More »

The data harvester

A smart farm management system which give farmers the ability to measure soil moisture and precisely calibrate how much irrigation water they use has been

Read More »

Dreaming without sleeping: how Jasmine lives two lives at once

It’s not easy, being Jasmine Mansbridge.   Having an easy, successful life is the one image she wants you to discard. She has made an art form, literally, of not

Read More »

Australia’s new queen of natural skin care

Most days you see a story that is too good to be true. The bank CEO who only goes to work for the love of

Read More »

Gunbower Butter Factory

“It was a little bit horrible” Letitia Edwards says. The realestate.com ad for a derelict butter factory in Gunbower, 25 minutes North West of Echuca,

Read More »

Filmset farm offers million-star retreat

Glamping is the wrong word for what Sharon Maloney offers in a cluster of majestic tents next to a serene mini lake just outside of

Read More »

Rosedale is wired to boom

A new cable manufacturing facility in Rosedale, in the heart of Gippsland, may be the vanguard of a trend where Australian companies choose to revive

Read More »

No celluloid required

It was a big transition to move from an inner-Melbourne terrace with a courtyard to a sprawling modern home in the middle of a spectacular

Read More »

A home amongst the gum trees

  When Corinda and Jordan Grant decided the best school for their daughter Rosie was on the other side of town, they had to commit

Read More »

Daily dose of nature proven to improve moods

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

Read More »

Building a hometown

He’s paid by the brick, and when you see Mick McLean in action, it’s a pretty impressive sight. Any thoughts of trying to lay bricks

Read More »

Market puts Violet Town on the map

On the second Saturday each month, between 3000 and 5000 people descend on Violet Town, patrolling the labyrinth of stalls that make up the town’s

Read More »

Long trail leads to Sale

After four months, Jacqueline Southall asked her four year old, Quinn, if he liked living in Sale and the answer was, ‘Yes, I like Ariyah’

Read More »

Lifestyle boom in proximity to Prom

For half an hour, you drive through a long swathe of ti tree and gum, interrupted only by the occasional vision of a wayward Winnebago,

Read More »

Riding high in Korumburra

A man who has made bicycles for the CEO of BHP, the chair of Qantas and numerous world champions seems like an unlikely candidate to

Read More »

Garlic gurus bring a breath of fresh air to Meeniyan

Eight years ago, David and Kirsten Jones lived busy lives in inner Melbourne, with each appearing externally the epitome of success in their respective careers

Read More »

Marlo Magic

Overlooking an iconic vista where the Snowy River broadens in an expanse of shallow fingers to meet the sea, Marlo has been attracting visitors for

Read More »

Finding a new Eden

Working in Washington DC, contributing to the rehabilitation of impoverished communities while his wife contributed to national health initiatives, Jake Lynch could be excused for

Read More »

Bruthen ready to boom

With a popular brewery and multiple fine food outlets, Bruthen is rapidly earning a place on the itinerary for many East Gippsland visitors – and

Read More »

The dynamo that every rural town needs

  Behind the facade of the sleepy coastal idyll, far from the headlines of rural decline and decay, there are really exciting innovations underway in

Read More »

Pie king and queen building pies and lives in Yackandandah

Maybe life wasn’t meant to be easy. But it probably wasn’t meant to be this hard either. The only time Sebastian Nedziak becomes serious is

Read More »

Gippsland hub set to reclaim limelight

The largest town in South Gippsland has just landed funding to build a new secondary school, boasts excellent health care facilities, a thriving retail heart

Read More »

Apollo Bay’s worst-kept secret

The dream of a seachange doesn’t usually include spending your days in an industrial estate at the back of town. In Apollo Bay, where the

Read More »

One hour from the CBD and my neighbour is a cow

Animals not only need to sleep, eat and find water each day, but they also have little regard for weekends. Every waking day, the 1000

Read More »

From home brew to high brow – living the dream at the foot of the Grampians

Adam Atchison had all the classic ingredients of a construction industry champion in his 20’s. In between building sites, dabbling in different potential careers, and

Read More »

Making the most of Moyston

When Julie-Ann Rose was looking for a place to set up a business, she had never heard of Moyston. It may be the recognised home

Read More »

The brain trainer

Nigel Kain is the teacher you wish your own kids had. Experienced from a career built in seven schools, articulate and able to teach across

Read More »

Small business success with no strings attached

Kaniva, on the bustling – Melbourne-Adelaide route, has many attractions, but the one that sets the town apart sits beneath a jaunty red awning on

Read More »

The life we all want to live

They have views across about 20 miles of hills, no utility bills, paddocks rich with blueberries and vegetables, a human tapestry of visitors from around

Read More »

Boomtime for lakeside haven

Nagambie has been well and truly discovered. Once known as the town with the lake that you kept on driving through on the road from

Read More »

Health is at the heart of a town that cares

It’s a town of just over 1000 people that few have heard of and even fewer have visited, but it only takes five minutes in

Read More »

Ultimate smashed avocado draws crowds to Kyneton

As the perfect flat white slides onto the table, just ahead of a plate of smashed avocado with feta so smooth you’d swear it had

Read More »

Crafty Haven from the Highway

More than 3,500 vehicles pass the unassuming façade of Lowana Crafts each day, but for the small proportion that stop, a feast for the senses

Read More »

Is it home time?

Many people who grew up in country Victoria in the last decades of the 20th century have built great careers in the city – but

Read More »

Job boom in world’s most liveable community

With beaches on two shores, an idyllic heritage-listed streetscape, iconic festivals and multiple awards, it’s pretty obvious why you’d want to visit Port Fairy. But

Read More »

Tom Roberts would be choking on his paintbrush if only he could see Alexandria King now

Way out in Victoria’s west, headed as far across the plains as one can be before you hit the South Australian border, the little town

Read More »

Leap from city unlocks new storyline

It’s an enviable plot for a life. Girl meets boy in cozy Irish pub in Melbourne. They quit their comfortable jobs and inner-city lifestyle to

Read More »

Heroes of the butcher’s backroom

If the average human diner occupies around half a metre of table space, then Brendan Bouchier’s annual ham customers would stretch well over 15 kilometres,

Read More »

Portland pulls out all the stops

Portland locals are puzzled. There are hundreds of unfilled jobs awaiting families in the coastal community, around four hours west of Melbourne’s CBD and local

Read More »

Nelson: Little town on the Glenelg

It’s as close to fishing heaven as you could imagine. For the price of a single space car park in Melbourne, you can buy a

Read More »

Rodeo resurrection for tiny Wimmera community

It’s been a quarter of a century since the tiny Wimmera town of Goroke has seen the stamp of a hoof in anger, but next

Read More »

Finding home

Felicity Little sweeps the path and then the kitchen floor between questions, makes a coffee while the camera is being set up, then strides off

Read More »

Waiting to be discovered – some of Australia’s best trades jobs

They could possibly be five of Australia’s best trades jobs – but so far, they remain undiscovered. Attractive pay, diverse range of projects to work

Read More »

Discover your new home in the country

For years people have tried to convince Victorians it was a good time to move to the country, but as job numbers soar and house

Read More »

Bright job prospects in rural Vic

There is a common misconception that rural work typically involves driving a tractor or chasing a sheep through a dusty paddock, and while there is

Read More »

Piece of bitumen or piece of paradise – you choose!

Right now, you can buy a stunning boatshed complete with a vintage 16-foot cray boat in the idyllic hamlet of Nelson, on Victoria’s pristine southwest

Read More »

Girl Gang transforms networks in rural community

August 5, 2019

In a generation, the traditional rules and social circles that took root in rural communities, binding together the community have been broken and new networks

Read More »

Paradise turns out to be pretty nice

July 31, 2019

If you follow the long, straight road, there is a special quality of light when you reach Paradise. Just half an hour north of the

Read More »

Lakeside lifestyle awaits in thriving Colac

July 29, 2019

It’s a mecca for twitchers, gastronomes and romantics all at once, but the pink-tinged waters of Lake Corangamite still remain a hidden gem for most

Read More »

A desire named street car

July 22, 2019

He built his first car as a young man on his family farm near Swan Hill, cutting down a model A Ford into a Hot

Read More »

Happiness Heading Back to Yack

July 20, 2019

The bushland behind the Yackandandah house that she rents is about as far from the Eiffel Tower as you can get, but Parisian Cecile Legrand

Read More »

Alpine region relishes a bright future

July 18, 2019

It wasn’t long after Bright was named Australia’s best Autumn town that reporters had Alpine Shire Mayor Ron Janas on the phone, quizzing him about

Read More »

Wimmera’s tourism drawcard

July 17, 2019

The Silo Art trail has resulted in a tourist boom through towns that were previously little-visited in the Wimmera and it all started with a

Read More »

Loving peak hour

July 9, 2019

  The school run is exactly 7.5 minutes from home to drop off for Ashley Smirl. After living in Melbourne and then a remote NT

Read More »

Stawell proves it’s a town of many gifts

June 24, 2019

Running a sports shop in a town synonymous with Australia’s premier athletic event seems like a recipe for automatic business success, but ultimately Shane and

Read More »

Lifting the Vale

June 20, 2019

“I was a motor mechanic in Melbourne and I worked with a guy who came from Charlton. He said ‘I’ll take you up one weekend,’

Read More »

Australia’s premier pumpkin patch

June 19, 2019

Once famous for bushrangers and picturesque pub, the hamlet of Ovens is now becoming famous as Australia’s epicentre of pumpkin seed production. Sharan Rivett’s Slovenian

Read More »

Victoria’s hottest new destination

June 18, 2019

  Sea Lake is one of those towns with a great name that not many people knew about – until recently when the giant waterbody

Read More »

Grain and brain boom underpin Birchip’s renaissance

June 17, 2019

On Tchum Lake, just outside of Birchip, there can be 15 or 20 speedboats plying the waters of the farmer-constructed waterbody, when the Summer sun

Read More »

Lal Lal’s gift

June 13, 2019

Despite the torrential rain I get out of the van and splash across the grass to an excessively fenced off ridge line, where you can

Read More »

Home delivery

June 8, 2019

Bel and Jordan found each other in a Ballarat mail sorting room. Bel had grown up in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, studied photography and

Read More »

Bealiba’s new (quiet) boom

June 6, 2019

The discovery of yellow metal at the foot of Mt Bealiba in 1856 created a town of 12,000 desperadoes, but when the gold rush left,

Read More »

Picture this – the man who became mayor

June 4, 2019

For decades, the cold winds of stasis blew along Clunes’ historic main street. Gold fever had deserted the town in the 1890s, leaving a small

Read More »

Living the journey from vine to wine

June 3, 2019

On a rainy Friday night, when you hear the crack of a metal cap and the familiar glug-glug-glug noise of your favourite beverage burbling into

Read More »

Are these Australia’s best mushrooms?

June 2, 2019

Nobody knows exactly why the hilltop area around the southern Victorian locality of Caveat has the potential to become Australia’s new gourmet mushroom mecca. The

Read More »

Welcome pack provides instant ‘family’ in rural community

June 1, 2019

Small towns are renowned for being friendly, but when representatives of the townsfolk of Tallangatta gathered in the Memorial Hall for a discussion on ways

Read More »

Cellarbrations for all in Camperdown

May 31, 2019

  When they moved from Sydney to Geelong and then to Camperdown in South West Victoria, Aaron and Michelle Newick’s friends asked if they were

Read More »

Cultural melting pot forms fresh bonds in the north east.

May 31, 2019

Lives have been irrevocably changed for the better in a small northeast Victorian town through an innovative program that turns a spotlight onto the cultures

Read More »

Northern destiny

May 30, 2019

  “I was visiting northeast Victoria for work and when we drove through Tallangatta, I said to the woman driving, I reckon I could live

Read More »

Thought for Food in Kilcunda

May 30, 2019

Some stories just beg to be told. Udder & Hoe is an artwork in retail charm, an authentic food and beverage repository carefully crafted within

Read More »

Flight time

May 30, 2019

After spending more than 15 years servicing helicopters around Australia and even in Antarctica, Hylke Kijlstra has got to a point where he no longer

Read More »

Merchant of Mansfield

May 29, 2019

Five years after moving to Mansfield, Mat Picone and his wife Lee have opened three businesses had two children and bought themselves a beautiful home

Read More »

Warm welcome guaranteed in Woomelang

May 28, 2019

You know a community has pulled out every possible stop to try to attract people to their town when they keep a guest book in

Read More »

Creating new spaces to belong in a town of innovators

May 27, 2019

If you want to live in a bustling city, then Rupanyup is not the place for you, but if you like the idea of belonging

Read More »

Thousands of visitors each week can’t be wrong: Why The Mill is booming

May 24, 2019

He is careful with his words and spends most of the interview trying to avoid taking credit for the success of The Mill, Castlemaine’s hottest

Read More »

Gunbower Butter Factory

May 12, 2019

“It was a little bit horrible” Letitia Edwards says. The realestate.com ad for a derelict butter factory in Gunbower, 25 minutes North West of Echuca,

Read More »

Filmset farm offers million-star retreat

May 12, 2019

Glamping is the wrong word for what Sharon Maloney offers in a cluster of majestic tents next to a serene mini lake just outside of

Read More »

Rosedale is wired to boom

May 11, 2019

A new cable manufacturing facility in Rosedale, in the heart of Gippsland, may be the vanguard of a trend where Australian companies choose to revive

Read More »

No celluloid required

May 8, 2019

It was a big transition to move from an inner-Melbourne terrace with a courtyard to a sprawling modern home in the middle of a spectacular

Read More »

A home amongst the gum trees

May 7, 2019

  When Corinda and Jordan Grant decided the best school for their daughter Rosie was on the other side of town, they had to commit

Read More »

Daily dose of nature proven to improve moods

May 6, 2019

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

Read More »

Long trail leads to Sale

May 3, 2019

After four months, Jacqueline Southall asked her four year old, Quinn, if he liked living in Sale and the answer was, ‘Yes, I like Ariyah’

Read More »

Lifestyle boom in proximity to Prom

May 2, 2019

For half an hour, you drive through a long swathe of ti tree and gum, interrupted only by the occasional vision of a wayward Winnebago,

Read More »

Riding high in Korumburra

May 1, 2019

A man who has made bicycles for the CEO of BHP, the chair of Qantas and numerous world champions seems like an unlikely candidate to

Read More »

Garlic gurus bring a breath of fresh air to Meeniyan

April 30, 2019

Eight years ago, David and Kirsten Jones lived busy lives in inner Melbourne, with each appearing externally the epitome of success in their respective careers

Read More »

Finding a new Eden

April 28, 2019

Working in Washington DC, contributing to the rehabilitation of impoverished communities while his wife contributed to national health initiatives, Jake Lynch could be excused for

Read More »

Bruthen ready to boom

April 27, 2019

With a popular brewery and multiple fine food outlets, Bruthen is rapidly earning a place on the itinerary for many East Gippsland visitors – and

Read More »

Gippsland hub set to reclaim limelight

April 9, 2019

The largest town in South Gippsland has just landed funding to build a new secondary school, boasts excellent health care facilities, a thriving retail heart

Read More »

Apollo Bay’s worst-kept secret

April 5, 2019

The dream of a seachange doesn’t usually include spending your days in an industrial estate at the back of town. In Apollo Bay, where the

Read More »

One hour from the CBD and my neighbour is a cow

April 4, 2019

Animals not only need to sleep, eat and find water each day, but they also have little regard for weekends. Every waking day, the 1000

Read More »

From home brew to high brow – living the dream at the foot of the Grampians

April 2, 2019

Adam Atchison had all the classic ingredients of a construction industry champion in his 20’s. In between building sites, dabbling in different potential careers, and

Read More »

Making the most of Moyston

April 2, 2019

When Julie-Ann Rose was looking for a place to set up a business, she had never heard of Moyston. It may be the recognised home

Read More »

The brain trainer

April 2, 2019

Nigel Kain is the teacher you wish your own kids had. Experienced from a career built in seven schools, articulate and able to teach across

Read More »

The life we all want to live

April 2, 2019

They have views across about 20 miles of hills, no utility bills, paddocks rich with blueberries and vegetables, a human tapestry of visitors from around

Read More »

Boomtime for lakeside haven

April 2, 2019

Nagambie has been well and truly discovered. Once known as the town with the lake that you kept on driving through on the road from

Read More »

Health is at the heart of a town that cares

March 29, 2019

It’s a town of just over 1000 people that few have heard of and even fewer have visited, but it only takes five minutes in

Read More »

If our future is going to be fair, you need to stop and look at this iced coffee.

February 17, 2020

Every seat in the prodigious Tallangatta Bakery was occupied through most of Saturday, as the North East Victorian town’s star attraction gave every cent of

Read More »

Buns to Buses – how Chris and Di look after the good folk of Stawell

July 26, 2019

Each morning at 3.30am, Chris Anderson drives the three minutes from his house to his bakery business, switches on the lights, and starts proving dough.

Read More »

A desire named street car

July 22, 2019

He built his first car as a young man on his family farm near Swan Hill, cutting down a model A Ford into a Hot

Read More »

The dream factory

July 5, 2019

  Moving to a dream home in the country remains just that for many – a dream. Craig & Phil from Swanbuild want to change

Read More »

Stawell proves it’s a town of many gifts

June 24, 2019

Running a sports shop in a town synonymous with Australia’s premier athletic event seems like a recipe for automatic business success, but ultimately Shane and

Read More »

Lifting the Vale

June 20, 2019

“I was a motor mechanic in Melbourne and I worked with a guy who came from Charlton. He said ‘I’ll take you up one weekend,’

Read More »

Australia’s premier pumpkin patch

June 19, 2019

Once famous for bushrangers and picturesque pub, the hamlet of Ovens is now becoming famous as Australia’s epicentre of pumpkin seed production. Sharan Rivett’s Slovenian

Read More »

Grain and brain boom underpin Birchip’s renaissance

June 17, 2019

On Tchum Lake, just outside of Birchip, there can be 15 or 20 speedboats plying the waters of the farmer-constructed waterbody, when the Summer sun

Read More »

Maternity leave leads to a buzzing business

June 9, 2019

Maternity leave usually comes to an end with a new addition to the family, but Laura Eddington ended hers with a new business as well.

Read More »

Living the journey from vine to wine

June 3, 2019

On a rainy Friday night, when you hear the crack of a metal cap and the familiar glug-glug-glug noise of your favourite beverage burbling into

Read More »

Are these Australia’s best mushrooms?

June 2, 2019

Nobody knows exactly why the hilltop area around the southern Victorian locality of Caveat has the potential to become Australia’s new gourmet mushroom mecca. The

Read More »

Cellarbrations for all in Camperdown

May 31, 2019

  When they moved from Sydney to Geelong and then to Camperdown in South West Victoria, Aaron and Michelle Newick’s friends asked if they were

Read More »

Thought for Food in Kilcunda

May 30, 2019

Some stories just beg to be told. Udder & Hoe is an artwork in retail charm, an authentic food and beverage repository carefully crafted within

Read More »

Flight time

May 30, 2019

After spending more than 15 years servicing helicopters around Australia and even in Antarctica, Hylke Kijlstra has got to a point where he no longer

Read More »

Merchant of Mansfield

May 29, 2019

Five years after moving to Mansfield, Mat Picone and his wife Lee have opened three businesses had two children and bought themselves a beautiful home

Read More »

Thousands of visitors each week can’t be wrong: Why The Mill is booming

May 24, 2019

He is careful with his words and spends most of the interview trying to avoid taking credit for the success of The Mill, Castlemaine’s hottest

Read More »

The data harvester

May 21, 2019

A smart farm management system which give farmers the ability to measure soil moisture and precisely calibrate how much irrigation water they use has been

Read More »

Dreaming without sleeping: how Jasmine lives two lives at once

May 17, 2019

It’s not easy, being Jasmine Mansbridge.   Having an easy, successful life is the one image she wants you to discard. She has made an art form, literally, of not

Read More »

Australia’s new queen of natural skin care

May 14, 2019

Most days you see a story that is too good to be true. The bank CEO who only goes to work for the love of

Read More »

Gunbower Butter Factory

May 12, 2019

“It was a little bit horrible” Letitia Edwards says. The realestate.com ad for a derelict butter factory in Gunbower, 25 minutes North West of Echuca,

Read More »

Filmset farm offers million-star retreat

May 12, 2019

Glamping is the wrong word for what Sharon Maloney offers in a cluster of majestic tents next to a serene mini lake just outside of

Read More »

Rosedale is wired to boom

May 11, 2019

A new cable manufacturing facility in Rosedale, in the heart of Gippsland, may be the vanguard of a trend where Australian companies choose to revive

Read More »

No celluloid required

May 8, 2019

It was a big transition to move from an inner-Melbourne terrace with a courtyard to a sprawling modern home in the middle of a spectacular

Read More »

Building a hometown

May 5, 2019

He’s paid by the brick, and when you see Mick McLean in action, it’s a pretty impressive sight. Any thoughts of trying to lay bricks

Read More »

Market puts Violet Town on the map

May 4, 2019

On the second Saturday each month, between 3000 and 5000 people descend on Violet Town, patrolling the labyrinth of stalls that make up the town’s

Read More »

Garlic gurus bring a breath of fresh air to Meeniyan

April 30, 2019

Eight years ago, David and Kirsten Jones lived busy lives in inner Melbourne, with each appearing externally the epitome of success in their respective careers

Read More »

Marlo Magic

April 29, 2019

Overlooking an iconic vista where the Snowy River broadens in an expanse of shallow fingers to meet the sea, Marlo has been attracting visitors for

Read More »

Finding a new Eden

April 28, 2019

Working in Washington DC, contributing to the rehabilitation of impoverished communities while his wife contributed to national health initiatives, Jake Lynch could be excused for

Read More »

The dynamo that every rural town needs

April 26, 2019

  Behind the facade of the sleepy coastal idyll, far from the headlines of rural decline and decay, there are really exciting innovations underway in

Read More »

Pie king and queen building pies and lives in Yackandandah

April 23, 2019

Maybe life wasn’t meant to be easy. But it probably wasn’t meant to be this hard either. The only time Sebastian Nedziak becomes serious is

Read More »

Apollo Bay’s worst-kept secret

April 5, 2019

The dream of a seachange doesn’t usually include spending your days in an industrial estate at the back of town. In Apollo Bay, where the

Read More »

One hour from the CBD and my neighbour is a cow

April 4, 2019

Animals not only need to sleep, eat and find water each day, but they also have little regard for weekends. Every waking day, the 1000

Read More »

From home brew to high brow – living the dream at the foot of the Grampians

April 2, 2019

Adam Atchison had all the classic ingredients of a construction industry champion in his 20’s. In between building sites, dabbling in different potential careers, and

Read More »

Making the most of Moyston

April 2, 2019

When Julie-Ann Rose was looking for a place to set up a business, she had never heard of Moyston. It may be the recognised home

Read More »

The brain trainer

April 2, 2019

Nigel Kain is the teacher you wish your own kids had. Experienced from a career built in seven schools, articulate and able to teach across

Read More »

Small business success with no strings attached

April 2, 2019

Kaniva, on the bustling – Melbourne-Adelaide route, has many attractions, but the one that sets the town apart sits beneath a jaunty red awning on

Read More »

The life we all want to live

April 2, 2019

They have views across about 20 miles of hills, no utility bills, paddocks rich with blueberries and vegetables, a human tapestry of visitors from around

Read More »

Health is at the heart of a town that cares

March 29, 2019

It’s a town of just over 1000 people that few have heard of and even fewer have visited, but it only takes five minutes in

Read More »

Ultimate smashed avocado draws crowds to Kyneton

March 29, 2019

As the perfect flat white slides onto the table, just ahead of a plate of smashed avocado with feta so smooth you’d swear it had

Read More »

Crafty Haven from the Highway

March 27, 2019

More than 3,500 vehicles pass the unassuming façade of Lowana Crafts each day, but for the small proportion that stop, a feast for the senses

Read More »

Is it home time?

March 25, 2019

Many people who grew up in country Victoria in the last decades of the 20th century have built great careers in the city – but

Read More »

Job boom in world’s most liveable community

March 25, 2019

With beaches on two shores, an idyllic heritage-listed streetscape, iconic festivals and multiple awards, it’s pretty obvious why you’d want to visit Port Fairy. But

Read More »

Tom Roberts would be choking on his paintbrush if only he could see Alexandria King now

March 22, 2019

Way out in Victoria’s west, headed as far across the plains as one can be before you hit the South Australian border, the little town

Read More »

Leap from city unlocks new storyline

March 18, 2019

It’s an enviable plot for a life. Girl meets boy in cozy Irish pub in Melbourne. They quit their comfortable jobs and inner-city lifestyle to

Read More »

Heroes of the butcher’s backroom

March 18, 2019

If the average human diner occupies around half a metre of table space, then Brendan Bouchier’s annual ham customers would stretch well over 15 kilometres,

Read More »

Finding home

February 25, 2019

Felicity Little sweeps the path and then the kitchen floor between questions, makes a coffee while the camera is being set up, then strides off

Read More »

Waiting to be discovered – some of Australia’s best trades jobs

February 25, 2019

They could possibly be five of Australia’s best trades jobs – but so far, they remain undiscovered. Attractive pay, diverse range of projects to work

Read More »

Bright job prospects in rural Vic

February 18, 2019

There is a common misconception that rural work typically involves driving a tractor or chasing a sheep through a dusty paddock, and while there is

Read More »

Secret ingredients for a generation of classroom fun

March 13, 2020

After introducing thousands of children in northeast Victoria to the language, culture and of course the food of Indonesia, Carmyl Winkler has condensed her most

Read More »

If our future is going to be fair, you need to stop and look at this iced coffee.

February 17, 2020

Every seat in the prodigious Tallangatta Bakery was occupied through most of Saturday, as the North East Victorian town’s star attraction gave every cent of

Read More »

Girl Gang transforms networks in rural community

August 5, 2019

In a generation, the traditional rules and social circles that took root in rural communities, binding together the community have been broken and new networks

Read More »

Buns to Buses – how Chris and Di look after the good folk of Stawell

July 26, 2019

Each morning at 3.30am, Chris Anderson drives the three minutes from his house to his bakery business, switches on the lights, and starts proving dough.

Read More »

Alpine region relishes a bright future

July 18, 2019

It wasn’t long after Bright was named Australia’s best Autumn town that reporters had Alpine Shire Mayor Ron Janas on the phone, quizzing him about

Read More »

The dream factory

July 5, 2019

  Moving to a dream home in the country remains just that for many – a dream. Craig & Phil from Swanbuild want to change

Read More »

Stawell proves it’s a town of many gifts

June 24, 2019

Running a sports shop in a town synonymous with Australia’s premier athletic event seems like a recipe for automatic business success, but ultimately Shane and

Read More »

Grain and brain boom underpin Birchip’s renaissance

June 17, 2019

On Tchum Lake, just outside of Birchip, there can be 15 or 20 speedboats plying the waters of the farmer-constructed waterbody, when the Summer sun

Read More »

Picture this – the man who became mayor

June 4, 2019

For decades, the cold winds of stasis blew along Clunes’ historic main street. Gold fever had deserted the town in the 1890s, leaving a small

Read More »

Welcome pack provides instant ‘family’ in rural community

June 1, 2019

Small towns are renowned for being friendly, but when representatives of the townsfolk of Tallangatta gathered in the Memorial Hall for a discussion on ways

Read More »

Cultural melting pot forms fresh bonds in the north east.

May 31, 2019

Lives have been irrevocably changed for the better in a small northeast Victorian town through an innovative program that turns a spotlight onto the cultures

Read More »

Thought for Food in Kilcunda

May 30, 2019

Some stories just beg to be told. Udder & Hoe is an artwork in retail charm, an authentic food and beverage repository carefully crafted within

Read More »

Merchant of Mansfield

May 29, 2019

Five years after moving to Mansfield, Mat Picone and his wife Lee have opened three businesses had two children and bought themselves a beautiful home

Read More »

Warm welcome guaranteed in Woomelang

May 28, 2019

You know a community has pulled out every possible stop to try to attract people to their town when they keep a guest book in

Read More »

Creating new spaces to belong in a town of innovators

May 27, 2019

If you want to live in a bustling city, then Rupanyup is not the place for you, but if you like the idea of belonging

Read More »

Thousands of visitors each week can’t be wrong: Why The Mill is booming

May 24, 2019

He is careful with his words and spends most of the interview trying to avoid taking credit for the success of The Mill, Castlemaine’s hottest

Read More »

Saving Taradale – how one school grew from two students to 75 in just seven years

May 21, 2019

Just months after he landed a part-time teaching job at Taradale Primary School, Chris Burgess was handed the job of acting principal, in charge of

Read More »

The data harvester

May 21, 2019

A smart farm management system which give farmers the ability to measure soil moisture and precisely calibrate how much irrigation water they use has been

Read More »

Australia’s new queen of natural skin care

May 14, 2019

Most days you see a story that is too good to be true. The bank CEO who only goes to work for the love of

Read More »

Gunbower Butter Factory

May 12, 2019

“It was a little bit horrible” Letitia Edwards says. The realestate.com ad for a derelict butter factory in Gunbower, 25 minutes North West of Echuca,

Read More »

Market puts Violet Town on the map

May 4, 2019

On the second Saturday each month, between 3000 and 5000 people descend on Violet Town, patrolling the labyrinth of stalls that make up the town’s

Read More »

Lifestyle boom in proximity to Prom

May 2, 2019

For half an hour, you drive through a long swathe of ti tree and gum, interrupted only by the occasional vision of a wayward Winnebago,

Read More »

Garlic gurus bring a breath of fresh air to Meeniyan

April 30, 2019

Eight years ago, David and Kirsten Jones lived busy lives in inner Melbourne, with each appearing externally the epitome of success in their respective careers

Read More »

Marlo Magic

April 29, 2019

Overlooking an iconic vista where the Snowy River broadens in an expanse of shallow fingers to meet the sea, Marlo has been attracting visitors for

Read More »

Finding a new Eden

April 28, 2019

Working in Washington DC, contributing to the rehabilitation of impoverished communities while his wife contributed to national health initiatives, Jake Lynch could be excused for

Read More »

The dynamo that every rural town needs

April 26, 2019

  Behind the facade of the sleepy coastal idyll, far from the headlines of rural decline and decay, there are really exciting innovations underway in

Read More »

Pie king and queen building pies and lives in Yackandandah

April 23, 2019

Maybe life wasn’t meant to be easy. But it probably wasn’t meant to be this hard either. The only time Sebastian Nedziak becomes serious is

Read More »

Gippsland hub set to reclaim limelight

April 9, 2019

The largest town in South Gippsland has just landed funding to build a new secondary school, boasts excellent health care facilities, a thriving retail heart

Read More »

Apollo Bay’s worst-kept secret

April 5, 2019

The dream of a seachange doesn’t usually include spending your days in an industrial estate at the back of town. In Apollo Bay, where the

Read More »

One hour from the CBD and my neighbour is a cow

April 4, 2019

Animals not only need to sleep, eat and find water each day, but they also have little regard for weekends. Every waking day, the 1000

Read More »

Making the most of Moyston

April 2, 2019

When Julie-Ann Rose was looking for a place to set up a business, she had never heard of Moyston. It may be the recognised home

Read More »

The brain trainer

April 2, 2019

Nigel Kain is the teacher you wish your own kids had. Experienced from a career built in seven schools, articulate and able to teach across

Read More »

Small business success with no strings attached

April 2, 2019

Kaniva, on the bustling – Melbourne-Adelaide route, has many attractions, but the one that sets the town apart sits beneath a jaunty red awning on

Read More »

The life we all want to live

April 2, 2019

They have views across about 20 miles of hills, no utility bills, paddocks rich with blueberries and vegetables, a human tapestry of visitors from around

Read More »

Boomtime for lakeside haven

April 2, 2019

Nagambie has been well and truly discovered. Once known as the town with the lake that you kept on driving through on the road from

Read More »

Health is at the heart of a town that cares

March 29, 2019

It’s a town of just over 1000 people that few have heard of and even fewer have visited, but it only takes five minutes in

Read More »

Ultimate smashed avocado draws crowds to Kyneton

March 29, 2019

As the perfect flat white slides onto the table, just ahead of a plate of smashed avocado with feta so smooth you’d swear it had

Read More »

Crafty Haven from the Highway

March 27, 2019

More than 3,500 vehicles pass the unassuming façade of Lowana Crafts each day, but for the small proportion that stop, a feast for the senses

Read More »

Tom Roberts would be choking on his paintbrush if only he could see Alexandria King now

March 22, 2019

Way out in Victoria’s west, headed as far across the plains as one can be before you hit the South Australian border, the little town

Read More »

Leap from city unlocks new storyline

March 18, 2019

It’s an enviable plot for a life. Girl meets boy in cozy Irish pub in Melbourne. They quit their comfortable jobs and inner-city lifestyle to

Read More »

Heroes of the butcher’s backroom

March 18, 2019

If the average human diner occupies around half a metre of table space, then Brendan Bouchier’s annual ham customers would stretch well over 15 kilometres,

Read More »

Rodeo resurrection for tiny Wimmera community

March 5, 2019

It’s been a quarter of a century since the tiny Wimmera town of Goroke has seen the stamp of a hoof in anger, but next

Read More »

Girl Gang transforms networks in rural community

August 5, 2019

In a generation, the traditional rules and social circles that took root in rural communities, binding together the community have been broken and new networks

Read More »

Paradise turns out to be pretty nice

July 31, 2019

If you follow the long, straight road, there is a special quality of light when you reach Paradise. Just half an hour north of the

Read More »

Lakeside lifestyle awaits in thriving Colac

July 29, 2019

It’s a mecca for twitchers, gastronomes and romantics all at once, but the pink-tinged waters of Lake Corangamite still remain a hidden gem for most

Read More »

A desire named street car

July 22, 2019

He built his first car as a young man on his family farm near Swan Hill, cutting down a model A Ford into a Hot

Read More »

Happiness Heading Back to Yack

July 20, 2019

The bushland behind the Yackandandah house that she rents is about as far from the Eiffel Tower as you can get, but Parisian Cecile Legrand

Read More »

Alpine region relishes a bright future

July 18, 2019

It wasn’t long after Bright was named Australia’s best Autumn town that reporters had Alpine Shire Mayor Ron Janas on the phone, quizzing him about

Read More »

Loving peak hour

July 9, 2019

  The school run is exactly 7.5 minutes from home to drop off for Ashley Smirl. After living in Melbourne and then a remote NT

Read More »

The dream factory

July 5, 2019

  Moving to a dream home in the country remains just that for many – a dream. Craig & Phil from Swanbuild want to change

Read More »

Stawell proves it’s a town of many gifts

June 24, 2019

Running a sports shop in a town synonymous with Australia’s premier athletic event seems like a recipe for automatic business success, but ultimately Shane and

Read More »

Victoria’s hottest new destination

June 18, 2019

  Sea Lake is one of those towns with a great name that not many people knew about – until recently when the giant waterbody

Read More »

Grain and brain boom underpin Birchip’s renaissance

June 17, 2019

On Tchum Lake, just outside of Birchip, there can be 15 or 20 speedboats plying the waters of the farmer-constructed waterbody, when the Summer sun

Read More »

Lal Lal’s gift

June 13, 2019

Despite the torrential rain I get out of the van and splash across the grass to an excessively fenced off ridge line, where you can

Read More »

Home delivery

June 8, 2019

Bel and Jordan found each other in a Ballarat mail sorting room. Bel had grown up in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, studied photography and

Read More »

Bealiba’s new (quiet) boom

June 6, 2019

The discovery of yellow metal at the foot of Mt Bealiba in 1856 created a town of 12,000 desperadoes, but when the gold rush left,

Read More »

Welcome pack provides instant ‘family’ in rural community

June 1, 2019

Small towns are renowned for being friendly, but when representatives of the townsfolk of Tallangatta gathered in the Memorial Hall for a discussion on ways

Read More »

Cultural melting pot forms fresh bonds in the north east.

May 31, 2019

Lives have been irrevocably changed for the better in a small northeast Victorian town through an innovative program that turns a spotlight onto the cultures

Read More »

Northern destiny

May 30, 2019

  “I was visiting northeast Victoria for work and when we drove through Tallangatta, I said to the woman driving, I reckon I could live

Read More »

Flight time

May 30, 2019

After spending more than 15 years servicing helicopters around Australia and even in Antarctica, Hylke Kijlstra has got to a point where he no longer

Read More »

Warm welcome guaranteed in Woomelang

May 28, 2019

You know a community has pulled out every possible stop to try to attract people to their town when they keep a guest book in

Read More »

Saving Taradale – how one school grew from two students to 75 in just seven years

May 21, 2019

Just months after he landed a part-time teaching job at Taradale Primary School, Chris Burgess was handed the job of acting principal, in charge of

Read More »

Dreaming without sleeping: how Jasmine lives two lives at once

May 17, 2019

It’s not easy, being Jasmine Mansbridge.   Having an easy, successful life is the one image she wants you to discard. She has made an art form, literally, of not

Read More »

Gunbower Butter Factory

May 12, 2019

“It was a little bit horrible” Letitia Edwards says. The realestate.com ad for a derelict butter factory in Gunbower, 25 minutes North West of Echuca,

Read More »

Filmset farm offers million-star retreat

May 12, 2019

Glamping is the wrong word for what Sharon Maloney offers in a cluster of majestic tents next to a serene mini lake just outside of

Read More »

Rosedale is wired to boom

May 11, 2019

A new cable manufacturing facility in Rosedale, in the heart of Gippsland, may be the vanguard of a trend where Australian companies choose to revive

Read More »

No celluloid required

May 8, 2019

It was a big transition to move from an inner-Melbourne terrace with a courtyard to a sprawling modern home in the middle of a spectacular

Read More »

A home amongst the gum trees

May 7, 2019

  When Corinda and Jordan Grant decided the best school for their daughter Rosie was on the other side of town, they had to commit

Read More »

Long trail leads to Sale

May 3, 2019

After four months, Jacqueline Southall asked her four year old, Quinn, if he liked living in Sale and the answer was, ‘Yes, I like Ariyah’

Read More »

Lifestyle boom in proximity to Prom

May 2, 2019

For half an hour, you drive through a long swathe of ti tree and gum, interrupted only by the occasional vision of a wayward Winnebago,

Read More »

Riding high in Korumburra

May 1, 2019

A man who has made bicycles for the CEO of BHP, the chair of Qantas and numerous world champions seems like an unlikely candidate to

Read More »

Garlic gurus bring a breath of fresh air to Meeniyan

April 30, 2019

Eight years ago, David and Kirsten Jones lived busy lives in inner Melbourne, with each appearing externally the epitome of success in their respective careers

Read More »

Finding a new Eden

April 28, 2019

Working in Washington DC, contributing to the rehabilitation of impoverished communities while his wife contributed to national health initiatives, Jake Lynch could be excused for

Read More »

Bruthen ready to boom

April 27, 2019

With a popular brewery and multiple fine food outlets, Bruthen is rapidly earning a place on the itinerary for many East Gippsland visitors – and

Read More »

The dynamo that every rural town needs

April 26, 2019

  Behind the facade of the sleepy coastal idyll, far from the headlines of rural decline and decay, there are really exciting innovations underway in

Read More »

Gippsland hub set to reclaim limelight

April 9, 2019

The largest town in South Gippsland has just landed funding to build a new secondary school, boasts excellent health care facilities, a thriving retail heart

Read More »

Apollo Bay’s worst-kept secret

April 5, 2019

The dream of a seachange doesn’t usually include spending your days in an industrial estate at the back of town. In Apollo Bay, where the

Read More »

One hour from the CBD and my neighbour is a cow

April 4, 2019

Animals not only need to sleep, eat and find water each day, but they also have little regard for weekends. Every waking day, the 1000

Read More »

From home brew to high brow – living the dream at the foot of the Grampians

April 2, 2019

Adam Atchison had all the classic ingredients of a construction industry champion in his 20’s. In between building sites, dabbling in different potential careers, and

Read More »

Small business success with no strings attached

April 2, 2019

Kaniva, on the bustling – Melbourne-Adelaide route, has many attractions, but the one that sets the town apart sits beneath a jaunty red awning on

Read More »

The life we all want to live

April 2, 2019

They have views across about 20 miles of hills, no utility bills, paddocks rich with blueberries and vegetables, a human tapestry of visitors from around

Read More »

Boomtime for lakeside haven

April 2, 2019

Nagambie has been well and truly discovered. Once known as the town with the lake that you kept on driving through on the road from

Read More »

Ultimate smashed avocado draws crowds to Kyneton

March 29, 2019

As the perfect flat white slides onto the table, just ahead of a plate of smashed avocado with feta so smooth you’d swear it had

Read More »

Crafty Haven from the Highway

March 27, 2019

More than 3,500 vehicles pass the unassuming façade of Lowana Crafts each day, but for the small proportion that stop, a feast for the senses

Read More »

Is it home time?

March 25, 2019

Many people who grew up in country Victoria in the last decades of the 20th century have built great careers in the city – but

Read More »

Tom Roberts would be choking on his paintbrush if only he could see Alexandria King now

March 22, 2019

Way out in Victoria’s west, headed as far across the plains as one can be before you hit the South Australian border, the little town

Read More »

Leap from city unlocks new storyline

March 18, 2019

It’s an enviable plot for a life. Girl meets boy in cozy Irish pub in Melbourne. They quit their comfortable jobs and inner-city lifestyle to

Read More »

Nelson: Little town on the Glenelg

March 8, 2019

It’s as close to fishing heaven as you could imagine. For the price of a single space car park in Melbourne, you can buy a

Read More »

Finding home

February 25, 2019

Felicity Little sweeps the path and then the kitchen floor between questions, makes a coffee while the camera is being set up, then strides off

Read More »

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