Post-summer holiday blues and the desire to up and move to the sea or bush are symptomatic of a deep longing for authenticity and belonging to a community, says QUT PhD seachange researcher Nick Osbaldiston.
But it is so common a reaction now that the original seachange towns such as Byron Bay and Noosa have been "loved to death" and are no longer havens for those wishing to live away from it all.
"Some places have lost their aura of being a regional town and have become mini metropolises which for some 'original' seachangers becomes a problem," Mr Osbaldiston said.
"Some are even resorting to moving to other areas, depending on their economic and social resources."
Mr Osbaldiston has studied the motivation and experience of "seachangers" - the people who leave the city, downsize and simplify life - across Australia and internationally for the past three years.
"At its heart, seachange is about a deep rejection of 'the now'. People are actually searching for congruence between their own values and their lifestyle," he said.
"They are rejecting cities as they seek less cluttered environments and to be involved in a community where they know their neighbours."
But developers and local councils in regional areas had "caught on to" the seachange phenomenon and had set about providing city-style infrastructure to attract more of them, he said.
"They think 'this is what we have to give them' so these things are allowed to arrive. But the first seachangers who arrived back in the 1980s and early 1990s in some areas now find their idyllic locations too commercialised and lacking in authenticity," Mr Osbaldiston said.
"Also, many of the original residents are being pushed out by the influx of development spurred on by seachangers. It's a phenomenon, not limited to Australia, which is being researched in North America and Europe."
He said a seachange task force had been established by local councils in seachange areas to investigate environmental and social sustainability issues.
"For some areas such as part of the northern New South Wales' coastline, research into issues such as housing equality and rental affordability has come too late," Mr Osbaldiston said
"There is no clear cut answer to this. If local councils continue to allow development and seachange continues, eventually housing costs will impact on rental prices making life difficult for those once 'traditional' residents."
Mr Osbaldiston's earlier research found many seachangers had a starry-eyed view of getting out of the city.
"Many seachangers admit to taking "leaps into the unknown" in their rush to enjoy the romance of a simple life outside the city," he said.
"Not only do they risk financial security but they also risk stepping outside established social networks in the city because country communities are, at times, quite remote and also not always socially welcoming."
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT media officer, 07 3138 1841 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au.
** High res pic of Mr Osbaldiston available for media use.
