When a sea change's a smart move

This year marked 10 years in Busselton for Janet Fields and her family.

Janet, along with husband Nick and children Paris, Brooke and Adam, moved to the region for a sea change in 2005 and she said it was the best decision the family had ever made.

"We made a snap decision and within six weeks we'd moved here," she said.

"I would recommend it to any young family.

"It offers the opportunity and safety and freedom that you get with living in a regional area." Since moving to the region, Janet has immersed herself in the community, previously lecturing at the Margaret River TAFE campus before taking the reins of the family's short-term holiday rental business while also juggling contract work around the region.

Janet has been keeping busy volunteering her time around the region as well, getting involved in the Busselton Repertory Club along with her children.

She has also managed to rekindle a love of photography, which stems from a career as a press photographer, taking on jobs around the South West recently.

"I did the Fringe Festival, and then I was asked to do the John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John concert," she said.

"I also did Jazz by the Bay.

"I sort of accidentally got back into it.

"It's just ended up that luckily I've gotten involved with some really cool things."

A recent involvement with CinefestOz has been another exciting role for Janet, who for the past three years has given up her time to be a movie crew volunteer.

"I get to hang out and meet all these people and be a part of it," she said."

"I can't recommend it enough."

At her last count, Janet said life had taken her to 42 countries and she said it had been an amazing journey, with many of her travels free as part of her work as a travel agent.

She said while she had enjoyed travelling, there was one experience that was "a bit interesting".

"When my husband and I were in Morocco, we were thrown in jail," she said.

"We were murder suspects.

"There'd been a robbery gone wrong and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time and we matched the description so we were basically collected and handcuffed and detained for about 24 hours."

"But we didn't do it.

"Eventually they caught the people and we were let go."