Fandango has asked an interesting question about where people live. I’m always interested in where and how people live too so I’m playing along.

I know today’s question might not be that provocative, but I think it’s an interesting way to find out where our fellow bloggers are coming from. Most people live in one of four types of communities: urban, suburban, exurban, or rural.

• An urban community is one that’s in a relatively high density city or town.
• A suburb community is a place where people live just outside of a city or town.
• An exurban community is an area further out and just beyond a typical suburban community and bordering on rural communities.
• A rural community is one with lots of nature, open spaces, and farms, with a relatively low density.

https://fivedotoh.com/2023/02/01/fandangos-provocative-question-200/

My provocative question this week is…

Which of these four types of communities do you currently live in? Are you happy there? If so, why? If not, why not, and which type of community would you prefer to live in?

Currently I live in a rural community. Sisters Beach is so small you can’t even call it a town. Locals sometimes refer to it as “the village” although village is not a term we use that much in Australia.

We are surrounded by nature in fact we are surrounded by Rocky Cape National Park on three sides and the sea on the other. Sisters Beach started as a holiday spot where people would camp in the summer but gradually they built shacks and in time there was a permanent population. Some families have owned the same block of land for generations.

The permanent population is small, then there are the regular weekenders and a number of holiday rentals. In winter it’s pretty quiet and during our Covid lockdown not long after I moved here it felt like there was hardly anyone here at all. Of course they might have all been behind closed doors. When I walked Cindy I might see two or three cars in half an hour.

I don’t mind the isolation though. I’m not a great one for hanging out with the neighbours. We have wallabies, pademelons and potoroos grazing in our gardens at dusk. There is a community of possums up in the trees and various other types of wildlife that we see at night. There is lots of birdlife too and it is so much nicer to hear birdsong than traffic.

This place is also very easy on the eye.

On the downside there are no services. We have a General Store where we can get milk and bread and a very few groceries and where we collect our mail. It is also a cafe, takeaway food shop and occasionally a bar and music venue. There is a fire station and a toilet block at the beach. That’s it for amenities. We do get our rubbish picked up and we have sewers but rely on rainwater tanks for our water. If we run out we have to buy it. The water is cheap but the delivery isn’t.

For me the worst thing is that there is no public transport apart from the school buses which as an adult I am not allowed to use. If I want to go to Wynyard and Naomi is not available to take me it is a twenty minute taxi ride, about $50 each way. I can’t afford to do that very often. I do feel I have lost some of my independence since moving here.

That is the only thing I’d change though. If I had an affordable way to go places I’d be perfectly happy. I’ve lived in a rural area for over twenty years now. Geeveston is a small town although bigger than Sisters Beach. It had a supermarket, chemist, doctor and importantly a bus service and was a great little community. I lived in the suburbs all my life before coming to Tasmania and I would not want to go back to that.