Lot 31 North Boambee Road
Well, we went to see a place yesterday that was pretty interesting: 10 acres in the North Boambee Valley (quite a desirable location), which we can afford! The property doesn't have a house on it so we would have to build one, but it does have ocean views and an area suitable for house-building.
This photograph is taken looking East, over Coffs Harbour to the coast. If you look at the horizon you can see the sea, and we'd be 10 minutes by car from lovely Sawtell beach and shops; 15 minutes from the big shopping centre. Actually the sea view is better than in the photographs, and we just love watching the weather coming in from the sea. At the bottom of the photograph is the nearest house, just behind the grasses, and you can also see a patch of bare red soil which would be a dam (a large, deep pond for a reservoir - probably used for watering the garden and for any horses).
A close-up of the neighbour, down the hill. You'd want to plant some trees to screen the immediate view of his building, but it would be very easy to do that without losing the view out to sea. All of these pictures were taken from a flat area about 2/3 up the property, which is a suitable house site although there may be another suitable site slightly to the south that would mean we weren't building close to the boundary.
This picture is taken looking West towards the boundary. The trees curve around the ridge, up and to the rear of the property, where there is an area of protected Koala habitat. This can be both a blessing and a curse: we've seen adverts for several properties with Koala habitat where there has been so much habitat you'd be lucky to squeeze anything else in. And of course, nothing can be built on or run through Koala habitat. On this property, however, the Koala habitat runs along the top boundary and wouldn't interfere with what we want to do; instead, it provides a protected boundary along which no-one else can build either!
This phototgraph is taken looking North towards the rear boundary on the ridge. Although the site is on a hillside it's nowhere near as steep as other places we've seen, and it's not too steep for Ella and Patrick to be able to scramble round and explore. There are flatter areas which would be fine for horses, or an orchard, or a vegetable garden.
Look at the lovely tree ferns! They are decades, if not centuries old.
There are, of course, downsides. For example, the whole place would be completely 'off grid': no water, sewage or electricity on site. There isn't a road, either... There is access to the property along what is currently an OK track: you'd want to be in a 4-wheel drive at the moment, but it's a shared access road with 4 or so other properties and there is a suggestion (which we would have to investigate) that the group would be prepared to chip in to upgrade the road sufficiently that you wouldn't need a 4-wheel drive to get up there. The lot itself is 1.4kms off the highway.
Sewage, electricity and water aren't a problem. While most Australians actually live in urban areas with more than 1,000 residents, many Australians who live 'in the bush' (which this isn't really, but it's getting closer to that sort of living!) have to sort out their own sewage and water. And there's enough sunshine to provide electricity, and there are government grants available to help, as well as a first-time purchaser's grant. So it would be a different way of living, but just think: no electricity, water or sewage bills to pay ever again!
Clearly we need to calculate these 'infrastructure' costs very carefully before we decide whether or not to buy the place. It's a good price in a good location, and we could really see ourselves living there. What we need to do is to go back several times and see it again (now we've located it - there's not exactly a "For Sale" sign to let you know where it is), in different weather and with our boots on so that we can walk the boundaries (if we can find them since it's not all fenced). Meanwhile the farmer who owns the land is going to 'slash' the place on December 11th, which will make it more accessible on foot and enable us to see the contours a bit more.
This photograph is taken looking East, over Coffs Harbour to the coast. If you look at the horizon you can see the sea, and we'd be 10 minutes by car from lovely Sawtell beach and shops; 15 minutes from the big shopping centre. Actually the sea view is better than in the photographs, and we just love watching the weather coming in from the sea. At the bottom of the photograph is the nearest house, just behind the grasses, and you can also see a patch of bare red soil which would be a dam (a large, deep pond for a reservoir - probably used for watering the garden and for any horses).
A close-up of the neighbour, down the hill. You'd want to plant some trees to screen the immediate view of his building, but it would be very easy to do that without losing the view out to sea. All of these pictures were taken from a flat area about 2/3 up the property, which is a suitable house site although there may be another suitable site slightly to the south that would mean we weren't building close to the boundary.
This picture is taken looking West towards the boundary. The trees curve around the ridge, up and to the rear of the property, where there is an area of protected Koala habitat. This can be both a blessing and a curse: we've seen adverts for several properties with Koala habitat where there has been so much habitat you'd be lucky to squeeze anything else in. And of course, nothing can be built on or run through Koala habitat. On this property, however, the Koala habitat runs along the top boundary and wouldn't interfere with what we want to do; instead, it provides a protected boundary along which no-one else can build either!
This phototgraph is taken looking North towards the rear boundary on the ridge. Although the site is on a hillside it's nowhere near as steep as other places we've seen, and it's not too steep for Ella and Patrick to be able to scramble round and explore. There are flatter areas which would be fine for horses, or an orchard, or a vegetable garden.
Look at the lovely tree ferns! They are decades, if not centuries old.
There are, of course, downsides. For example, the whole place would be completely 'off grid': no water, sewage or electricity on site. There isn't a road, either... There is access to the property along what is currently an OK track: you'd want to be in a 4-wheel drive at the moment, but it's a shared access road with 4 or so other properties and there is a suggestion (which we would have to investigate) that the group would be prepared to chip in to upgrade the road sufficiently that you wouldn't need a 4-wheel drive to get up there. The lot itself is 1.4kms off the highway.
Sewage, electricity and water aren't a problem. While most Australians actually live in urban areas with more than 1,000 residents, many Australians who live 'in the bush' (which this isn't really, but it's getting closer to that sort of living!) have to sort out their own sewage and water. And there's enough sunshine to provide electricity, and there are government grants available to help, as well as a first-time purchaser's grant. So it would be a different way of living, but just think: no electricity, water or sewage bills to pay ever again!
Clearly we need to calculate these 'infrastructure' costs very carefully before we decide whether or not to buy the place. It's a good price in a good location, and we could really see ourselves living there. What we need to do is to go back several times and see it again (now we've located it - there's not exactly a "For Sale" sign to let you know where it is), in different weather and with our boots on so that we can walk the boundaries (if we can find them since it's not all fenced). Meanwhile the farmer who owns the land is going to 'slash' the place on December 11th, which will make it more accessible on foot and enable us to see the contours a bit more.
posted by Sara Bowen at 12:09 am
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