Simon and Erin Vistarini joined more than 40 people at yesterday’s Welcome Wagon held in Bathurst Regional Council’s chambers.

The regular event is organised by the council and aims to introduce new residents to each  other, provide them with welcome packs and help familiarise them with their new city.

Mr and Mrs Vistarini, along with their two-year-old daughter Annabelle, moved to Bathurst from Melbourne two months ago.

“I got an internal transfer from Simplot in Melbourne to here,” Mr Vistarini said.

Mrs Vistarini will continue to run her network marketing business from home in Bathurst.

“The employment opportunity was one thing, but also it is a change in life, and we figured we’d give it a go. So far we’ve really enjoyed it,” Mrs Vistarini said.

Another new resident, Michelle Webb, moved from Sydney with husband Steve and their two children Maddison, 12, and Jack, 10, in January.

Mrs Webb said they were keen to leave their small block in Kellyville, in Sydney’s north-west, for a change of life in the country.

“We love the pace of life [in Bathurst] ... it’s quiet and the kids are never inside playing on their iPads,” she said. “They’re outside doing what kids should be doing.”

Mrs Webb said her family could never have afforded to live on an acreage in Sydney, and their move to a 13-acre property just outside Bathurst has been a dream come true.

Bathurst councillor Bobby Bourke welcomed the new residents.