Many of us dream about how life will be if we make a sea change. Our picture of the 'better' life is less stressful, more fulfilling and we see ourselves doing all those things we just don't have time or energy for today. For most of us, this is where it stops. The dream remains a fantasy that gets us through boring meetings, traffic snarls or family squabbles.

We are Gerard & Janelle Meares from Sydney and are now making our dream a reality.  We’ve been offered a wonderful opportunity to move our family to Warrnambool, Victoria.  It was a tough decision which at first we weren’t quite sure if it was right for us, but after constant complaining that we couldn’t achieve that perfect work/life balance, we decided to head south.  We want to create a better quality of life and find more family time and this sea change was calling us.

Gerard is taking on the role of Head Brewer at a brand new brewery, The Flying Horse.  The opportunity is exciting and after a short visit in mid 2007, we can’t wait to become locals. 

Our beautiful daughter Kaitlyn has life threatening food allergies to peanuts & eggs. Whilst country regions have fewer occurrences of anaphylaxis, we are ready to do the ground work to increase the awareness in the community.  The hurdles we could possibly face can happen no matter if we are in the City or the Country.  Kaitlyn is at the age now where she understands her allergy which is very reassuring.  We feel lucky that we are moving to a State that leads the way in anaphylaxis awareness, so we are definitely heading to the right place.  The more society knows about food allergies, the safer and less ‘different’ individuals with allergies feel. If we can ‘Make Allergy Treatment Easier’ in the early years we hope that when our children become teenagers, they will take fewer risks and feel more at ease about allergies.

We are now moving from a City to the Country, to a place where the population is 31,000 compared to 3.6 million in Sydney.  We won’t miss the increased traffic, longer working hours, a lack of security and community involvement and increased property value. The idea of a more basic lifestyle, fresh air and a sense of belonging are what we are hoping to achieve. 

beersbymeares.com.au is our way of sharing our sea change experience with you.  We will be posting blogs regularly to keep you all updated.  If you venture down our way, make sure you let us know & pop in for a freshly brewed, award winning ale.  We’d love to see you.