In a dramatic sea change they left their 2,025 hectare farm at Weethalle in central western NSW and bought an oyster farm in Wallis Lake.

That was 18 months ago. Today, the Maloney family - Ben, Simone and their children Isaac (10), Grace (9), Lily (6) and Jim (3) are happily settled in the Great Lakes.

“It’s been an enormous emotional journey. It’s the first time any of us has lived on the coast and as much as we miss the bush, we love living here. We feel so fortunate to have landed in such a friendly and welcoming community. The children are really into the beach and all the sporting opportunities the area has,” Mrs Maloney said.

The family moved to Weethalle in 2000 from their farm at Coolamon to expand their sheep and wheat business. Then came the drought the very next year. They decided to diversify; sold their 3,000 head of sheep and focused on cropping – wheat, barley, canola and oats.

Mrs Maloney recalled having five inches of rain in a single year, about what Forster Tuncurry had a week ago.

Having had the property on the market for two years without a sale, they bought an oyster farm they’d been told about by friends and left Ben’s parents on the farm. They knew nothing about oyster farming, but wanted a change and thought oyster farming would be “new and exciting”.

With two vehicles, a dog, four kids, lots of car sickness and 1,000 kilometres later they arrived in Forster-Tuncurry. They left Weethalle on Thursday and moved into their new home in Tuncurry on Friday.

“It was a huge transition,” Mrs Maloney recalled. “We came from a community where you knew everyone. It was a big thing for the children because they were very involved in the farm. We had massive dust storms out west but when we arrived here there was a huge downpour and our youngest child was completely overwhelmed by the rain.”

The three children started school at Holy Name Primary School, the family joined Cape Hawke Surf Life Saving Club where the kids became little nippers.

Mrs Maloney now teaches at Holy Name, her husband has been ‘shown the ropes’ by the oyster farm’s former owners and his parents have sold the farm and joined them.

Although they don’t all like oysters, her father-in-law, a farmer for 40 years, now works in the shed with her husband.

“They love living here as well,” Mrs Maloney said.

“They’re amazing and support us in every aspect of our life.”