Everything is expensive and the junkies are everywhere and the town government is inefficient and semi-corrupt and yeah it just all around sucks unless you are a multi-millionaire and can pay your way through all of this and set up your own private castle in the woods.

Tbh I pay like $650 to rent a room in a reasonably quiet town and I just spend my time meditating and doing free hobbies outside of work.

The most liberated I ever felt was basically living on a mountain in Chile at 14,000 feet for a week but then you run out of food and water and the -10c nights are pretty bone chilling and you start to wonder why you had to go to such a remote and physically demanding place to feel unencumbered by society for a moment

> the -10c nights are pretty bone chilling and you start to wonder why you had to go to such a remote and physically demanding place to feel unencumbered by society for a moment

Because there are 8 Billion people in the world -- wrap your head around that, seriously, like think on just how many people there are -- and understand that there is a LOT of demand for nice places, from all over the world.

If you (the broad you, I mean) want it your way you need to climb to the top of the heap, retreat to the fringes, or learn to live with all of the bullshit.

Oh boy, if you think that meth is a problem in the cities, just wait until you visit rural Australia.

Entire communities are devastated by the shit. There are places where the percentage of users is up in the double digits (it's 2-3% nationwide).

Poverty, drug addiction, and income equality are even worse in rural Australia than in the cities.

This is a serious but off topic question: how come people I know can ingest methamphetamine once a month to catch up with work, but in rural communities, meth is an epidemic with rampant addiction?

Is it the route of administration? The unemployment/economy differences? Adulterants?

I've done meth before and though I saw the value, I really couldn't see the joy in taking it very often.

I moved out of Melbourne into a tiny country town (under a hundred people) and work primarily remotely, coming into Melbourne to spend time in the office roughly every couple of weeks (it’s a three hour journey, about 75 minutes of relaxing country driving, ten minutes total walking, and the other half a productive train ride). I love it. Paying off a mortgage in two years is feasible.

I also have the best non-commercial internet supply I’ve ever had, via Optus 4G (clear line of sight to the tower 200m away). Roughly 45/15–20Mbps, and more reliable than my experiences with ADSL2+ or HFC to boot.

A larger country town of a few thousand people is probably more most people’s cup of tea, and generally more convenient.

Australia was one of the few countries that reversed the trend. I think Australia cities are great, for some reason everyone things they need a huge house with a block of land and a car. And they can't figure out why their life sucks.

It's the Australian dream, we're brought up to believe that's out duty in life: find a girl, buy a house, have some kids, and settle down.

I have colleagues that commute over an hour each way to get to work, just so they can have a back yard. It is a bit different when you have kids though. I live 20 minutes walk from work on a post stamp sized section, but I wouldn't raise kids where I live. Too many heroin addicts and not enough open space.

My concern is a 2 bedroom starts at ~$600k within 20 km of Melbourne CBD and 3 bedroom is about ~$1m in most close suburbs. In tech you don't have a whole lot of choice to work for a leading company if you aren't in Melbourne or Sydney.

It's an interestingly white collar problem.

If you're a blue collar worker, you can usually find a job near where you live. If you're a white collar worker, you need to find a house near where your job is.

If you're a tradie in Melbourne or Sydney, you can live in the suburbs and find a job in the suburbs. But all the tech workers are stuck working in the city, so you either spend a literal fortune on a house nearby (buying or renting are both expensive), or have a massive commute.

It does give me pause for thought. I'm nowhere near close to settling down or having kids (not that I have any desire to), but if it does happen, I'm not sure what I'd do. Commuting for an hour each way doesn't sound like my kind of lifestyle.