A Year Has Passed (already).....

Wow!  In some ways its hard to believe it has been a whole year since we found the block of land and signed a contract for it, but in other ways it seems like soooo long ago as so much has happened in that time.  We have finalised our plans and submitted them to council for approval, sold our house in Brisbane and are about to move into the temporary accommodation we have placed on site.

 

                                                                                              



floor plan of our straw bale dream (left)
 and positioning on the block (right)



Earlier in the year we purchased a caravan with permanent annex from a closed holiday park at Wondai (an hour outside of Gympie) - disassembled it and rebuilt it at Lake MacDonald.  Thank you very muchly to Matt Roberts from Evolution Campers for sourcing it and helping Amos with it all!  And of course to cousin Joe and our Parents for always, always being there to lend a hand.

We have had many adventures there already and forged friendships with our neighbours since we bought the land so feel we have already become a part of the local community.  We have several favourite hang out spots and frequent the farmers market and local healthfood stores, and we've developed a bond with the lovely family next door.  It makes a true difference to have that, but what a bonus for it to exist before we have even moved in!





sunrise out the kitchen window in the caravan     



one half of the Fewsters, our first friends up there

For my part I returned to work after being a stay at home Mum in order to service the mortgage until we moved and that has been a big adjustment for us all.  It was good preparation as when we get up there Amos will be at home building while I do the earning.  I have also been practising with recipes for natural alternatives to personal care and home cleaning products.  Our long term plan is not to have any kind of chemical entering our system, which will in turn be watering the food we grow.

The Ball is Rolling ...

Recently we stayed in Noosaville for a few nights and took the opportunity to get things underway with the new house while there.  We met with the draftsman at the block to discuss our design and get our bearnings for the lay of the land. Bella made great friends with the neighbours dog while we went over our plans.  Unfortunately we will have to lose some trees in order to position the house for maximising solar energy.

We are working with Steve Campbell Designs and are
very happy with him so far.  Steve has experience with strawbale
 homes and has worked with Frank Thomas of
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow who Amos trained with.

  




We spent a great deal of time pondering over this, back and forth, and I ended up back at the property for an early morning meditation with the trees trying to connect and get a feel for what was right with them.  It was so beautiful at that hour, when the world is just waking up.  So peaceful.  And quiet.  It will be sad when any of the trees come down but we will keep them there on the block and they will either become part of the landscaping or used in the construction, so they will still be part of the place in some way.  A necessary evil, as I sold it to myself.

These are the trees we will have to sacrifice, including the
"swing tree" on the right.  So named after its perfect branch
for tying a swing to for the kids.  But there is another one
 that is located right in front of the art & craft room window.





















We also met with the geotechnical guys and had the soil tested while Bella had herself a little picnic. The land came back with excellent results and a water treatment plan was devised.  Turns out we dont even need a reedbed system as the sandy loan will naturally do the same job.  So the quality of the soil is perfect for growing our food AND killing our sewerage bacteria.  We have opted for a septic tank with trenches.

Jeff Treloar and his son-in-law Rob from Unearthed Geotech
were just great.  Such friendly and helpful guys, and very
professional as well.  We were very happy with their service.

 



















Another meeting with Steve at his place to go over the specifics of our strawbale building design, and a surveyor organised for the following week, and our time was almost up.  We managed to fit in plenty of swims for Bella and relaxing time, visiting Pomona, Cooroy and Tewantin.  We just love this area!!!  Boreen Point at Lake Cootharaba is a magical place and is so close to (our new) home, it is definitely my favourite spot.  And its a great place to unwind after filling our minds and to absorb all the information.



To the left: this is our street - Forest Acres Drive.
Above: Amos mulling it all over and not wanting to go
home, as that meant returning to work after being
on long service leave for two months.



The Journey Begins ....

In our effort to live close by a Steiner school, and in a bid for a more naturally fulfilling life, we have been searching for a piece of land for over two years now.  We have considered from Noosa to Coffs Harbour and everywhere in between, and we have even looked at Tasmania, Victoria and New Zealand!  We have researched all the schools and even become part of the community at Silkwood.

And finally ..... the perfect space lands in our lap, in what feels like just the perfect time.  We have finetuned our list of requirements and reassessed the budget over this time, so many times we feel we just missed the market in an area, and just when we felt like giving up the dream THIS became available:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UbScdleOpM

It has everything we want: one acre of flat useable land, 20mins drive to the school (and yes, we timed it), beautiful surrounds, and even 15mins to the beach as a bonus!  Most importantly - we could afford it :)  It was so perfect we bought it straight away, not wanting to risk losing it.  So without having sold our current home first we are prepared to bridge finance if we have to, it is worth it.

It almost feels too good to be true, but we think the fact that it is a bush block is what has put other buyers off.  In fact, it is one of the things that attracted us - no connection to the power grid, own water supply and sewerage.  This is what we WANT and it just feels so perfectly right.