If it’s stylish jeans you’re after, forget the shopping meccas of Melbourne and Sydney and head to Rockhampton in Central Queensland.
“You get the best jeans here, in any style you want, for a fraction of the cost,” says Leanne Bowden, who moved from Brisbane in November 2020.
You can also get great, high-powered jobs in Australia’s so-called Beef Capital.
Leanne was an executive assistant with mining giant Rio Tinto when her husband Greg Bowden won the job of leading Advance Rockhampton, which fosters and promotes the region’s economic development.
Thanks to the working-from-home phenomenon and the support of her employer, Leanne was able to take her job with her to Rocky. But after making friends and connections in her new home, she found an equally high-powered job as a senior administrator with a locally based mining and processing company.
“I was surprised to find this role at QMAG. I didn’t think senior, experienced roles like this existed here,” Leanne says.
“It’s a fantastic local company which works globally, and it small enough to come in and make a difference.”
Leanne loves the region’s laid-back lifestyle, the proximity to Yeppoon and Great Keppel Island and the fact Rockhampton is only a one-hour flight from her kids and grandkids in Brisbane.
The couple rents a house with a garden for about half of what they outlaid for a three-bedroom apartment in Brisbane.
And there’s always the joy of doing something different. Like ringing in the new year at the local rodeo. In those swanky new jeans.