Mrs Banks (45) will begin work with the Alpine Shire Council as officer health and wellbeing on October 4.
The shire is a three-and-a-half hour drive inland from Melbourne and has a population of 13,000. She will live and work in Bright, a popular holiday destination with a population of 3000 which swells to 20,000 between October and April.
Yesterday, Mrs Banks said the decision was a career move aimed at gaining experience in community services.
The job was more of a managerial role than the "hands on" position she had in Oamaru, but there would still be an opportunity to get her hands dirty, she said.
The area was in the final stages of recovery after bushfires, and she would be managing staff involved with the process, including rebuilding facilities. She would also be working with the elderly and preschool communities.
Mrs Banks, who has lived in Oamaru all her life apart from four years in Auckland, said she and her husband, Mark, who had sold his business, were looking forward to "a big adventure".
"This is just a new challenge really. It's very exciting for us," she said.
Before being appointed the community safety officer, Mrs Banks had managed the Waitaki Community Recreation Centre and also opened Ali's Coffee House. She has been heavily involved in sport in North Otago.
It was not until she was putting together her curriculum vitae that she realised the variety of work she had been involved in, through her community safety role and the organisations she had worked with, at both local and national level.
"It has been full on," she said.
Highlights included the implementation of a drink-drive DVD, played to drink-drivers before sentencing in the Oamaru District Court, the walking school bus programme and the community clean-up project.
There were many things she would miss about Oamaru, including family, friends and colleagues, and she was expecting many visitors. She had formed many friendships through her work.
Her last day at work with the Waitaki District Council is September 17.
