Voice of Regional Australia: Moving, selling house and living on the other side of the world during a pandemic

It's no secret that moving house can be a pretty stressful task, let alone moving interstate... during a pandemic, with a couple of fur babies, oh and a business, all making the move too.

This was the scenario that Ashlee and Lisa Morgan found themselves in when they decided last year to uproot their life in Queensland and head south to Tasmania to be closer to family. Then COVID-19 came along to complicate their plans and test their wills.

I say moving house is stressful - but then if I were moving into this amazing place, I'm sure I could let any other worries go.

This historic hay shed in the NSW Hunter region was converted into a stunning residence during a four-year renovation that saw "thousands of hours" of work create a six-bedroom home like no other.

The NSW property will go to auction on next month. A price guide has not yet been set due to the property's uniqueness and it could be equally used as a residence or commercial venture. Ah, to dream...

But putting daydreams aside for a moment, it has been a testing time for home movers on the NSW and Victorian border too. While moving into NSW remains banned under the present border closure restrictions, those moving south into Victoria were being told conflicting advice, which led to rising frustration and confusion.

Some home movers were told they could cross the border back and forth with the right documentation, only to later be advised if they tried to return to NSW, they would need to self-isolate.

With border closures around the country in place, and the country closed to the rest of the world, many families have embraced ways to keep in touch from a vast distance.

For Lily Ray that distance spans oceans. After falling in love with a Swede and travelling through Europe, she settled into her adopted home of Sweden. But she finds herself often writing home to her family in Australia.

In a letter to the Newcastle Herald she shared her thoughts on the differences between living in Australia and Sweden. She talks about how much is different between her two beloved countries, and how much is same. How they do things in each and their approaches to navigating through a pandemic.

"There's nothing like the suspension of international travel to make you reflect on the place you've ended up. Sweden has its fair share of ups and downs, a melting pot of ABBA, IKEA, rotting herring, poor epidemic handling and questionable dairy products," Lily writes.

"Five years later, it finally feels enough like home to not feel homesick, but rather ''country-with-fresher-fruit-and-vegetables''-sick."

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