Well that is what a fair few locals and frequent visitors would tell me, whenever I mentioned how much we liked our new home.

They promised me that after a few months here that I would be singing a different tune, and shuffling around the shops in ugg booted misery like everybody else in this frosty town.

True, Goulburn does seem to have only two seasons, really hot and really cold. So tell me this, why is it when I meet someone who used to come from Goulburn, they tell me that it is a beautiful place and they miss it.

Is it possible that we come to love where we have lived, more than we do while we’re there? Well here I am more than a year on, and I’m afraid the sheen still hasn’t worn off.

I like Goulburn, there I said it. It is an eccentric, sometimes frustrating, but unique place full of creative and friendly people I now get to call home, and some of those people friends.

I can call it my home in the country, despite being only an hour away from our nation’s capital. It is so much more than a place to stop on the highway for lunch, and a gawk at a giant concrete sheep and his assertion of manhood (you know which end of the sheep the tourists are taking pictures of don’t you).

I wasn’t born here (so my loyalties should really be elsewhere), and the local tourism office has not asked me for my opinion today, I just have this feeling that Goulburn often gets a bum wrap. Look Goulburn up online and you can find a number of Facebook pages dedicated to how much Goulburn is the aforementioned “Hole”.

That’s a bit harsh, if it is such a hole why is the population growing? Just last week the council released data that told us we’ve had a surge, albeit a small one, but a surge nonetheless in population growth.

I’ve been fortunate to meet some locals who have spent their whole lives here, rarely going to the cities, could this mean all their needs are met right here?

How much does where you live influence how happy you are? Maybe it is human nature to think that life could be better somewhere else, and this is contributing to some people’s ideas about Goulburn?

We ended up here for the same reason, looking for greener grass.

Before I get dangerously zen and waffle on, although it appears I already have, I’ll get to my point. Look at this gorgeous town we live in, it has so much going for it in it, and so much around it.

Goulburn looks beautiful no matter the season, although the autumn colour change going on right now is pretty special. I know it may be cold and it’s very hard to be positive, but I’d still wager that everyone in this town can come up with at least one good thing about it. In fact, I challenge you to, go.