As a person who lives in a small town, travelled a bit and met many people who have tried the lifestyle change I’ve seen the pitfalls that people like your friends who moved to Tassie and understand the comments others have said about their experiences in the Perth hills.
I also did the reverse, moving the family to Perth for schooling 5 years ago and moved to the northern suburbs of Perth. I bounce between pokey Perth and and a little town that doesn’t have a cop shop, less than 500 residents or a Stop sign.
Not many people can adjust well to these big moves as the loss of their friends/family base is a factor that is unknown before most make the jump.
Bumping into school friends isn’t weird to all people as most don’t move to far in life, most people don’t stray from what they know.
As to your friend’s note that Syd/Mel ask where you live what school, I wonder if it had anything to do with the types of people as opposed to the location of those people? New money social climbers types would be more interested in your postcode to see how they rate against someone while old money uses the school tie approach to rate a person’s wealth.
