Our Dream Home - Moving in and Settling

November, 2015

... We found what we were looking for.

12 months after we sold our house on the Gold Coast and set off in a caravan to find land we could be inspired by - it was right there the whole time, we drove past many times and we ruled out every other possibility - we finally let ourselves buy our dream property.

In September 2014, when we shifted into our caravan, we learned how to minimize our living needs and reduce our footprint on the earth, changing habits. There was still so much more we could do. Now we bring these lessons to our farm where we are also learning from the locals. You might like to keep visiting us via this page to see our new spontaneous 'firsts' in learning about self-sufficiency methods as we discover a new meaning of community.

Tomorrow is our 7th day here. We've had a huge week re-organizing and mending sheds, trans-planting our veggies & herbs into the vegetable garden with some extra TLC, setting up composting systems including a tour around the paddocks collecting manure, grafting a favourite orange variety into existing root-stock, getting to know the water tanks and pumping system, painting internal walls etc, all with the generous help of our folks. Thank you thank you thank you mums and dads!!!

Comments

Jondaryan Woolshed

Dusty and I were feeling restless and homesick this morning. I didn't want to go home, necessarily, but I did want to make use of our time away by travelling and sightseeing instead of being at the caravan - the small space we have set ourselves up in really felt crowded for me this morning. Dusty had also said that he wanted to go home to his BIG house, with a sad sigh. So, Tim suggested our first Toowoomba-area tourist destination, Jondaryan Woolshed. The Woolshed museum features over a dozen buildings from Australia's earliest days, when Jon Daryan and surrounds were used for Merino Wool production - the first place in Australia to farm Merino Sheep. It's more than just a sheep museum though. There are all kinds of relics, which were brought here from all around The Darling Downs, including a dairy/cheese factory, school room, tractor shed, railway line, a tea, stew-and-damper hut, and a yard full of farm animals including freshly hatched geese and baby goats. Shrie...

Ballina, Lennox, Byron and Mullum

It's amazing the way our perspective has changed since we haven't had a house, a job, a 'base', to go back to. Everything is more beautiful, and we really give ourselves to the experience. Dusty took the photos above after we arrived in Ballina, he's getting good at operating the camera! We parked our caravan in my cousin Geoff and Nadine's front yard and they were amazing hosts - to have us, welcome us, enjoy spending time with us and the kids, to encourage Dusty to get more familiar with the drums ... ... To teach Dusty how to crack a real whip... ... To let Maxie bathe in their front yard ... ... To show the boys how to catch yabbies with sand pumps... ... And to take us on a guided tour of South Ballina, where we crossed the river in the car on a ferry. We had a ball driving down the beach. Geoff taught Dusty and Maxie how to catch pippies in the sand. When we climbed a sand dune, a very excited Dusty discovered he was actually afraid of heights and it ...

Our 3rd Christmas in Nambucca Valley

December, 2016 This is the Argents Hill (population of 221) Christmas Party. Couldn’t be more beautiful. Christmas Carols, Macksville. Salvation Army puts on an incredible show here, we love it more every year. And our town over the Christmas season. You can only feel good when you hear the fiddle playing in the pub as you notice a new set of Converse strung over the power lines. This town has all the good things in all the littlest ways. Heritage town, heritage fuel station, heritage car. We were driving to Coffs Harbour but had to put the destination on hold to do a few laps in Bowraville to get a better look. My brother and his fiancee brought their snorkelling gear to Scott’s Head and swam me out to see a Wobbegong Shark who was sleeping under the rocks! Amazing experience. Must get some gear now. And our fun few days of camping at Hat Head, NSW. National Park living is always so relaxing and restoring. We t...

Joanna Becker

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