Grand Design Annus Horribilus

You may have been wondering why so quiet?  No posts for some months. Well, you've all watched the show Grand Designs? Unlike the show, we managed to have our own Grand Design meltdown even before we started building. Without boring you too much, here's the snapshot.

Basically, before we began the process some two years ago, we consulted builders to get a 'ballpark' figure for the development, not wanting to proceed unless it made economic sense. Well let's just say after 2 years of consultants, council and the occasional tantrum, the 'ball' was well and truly out of the 'park'  - the estimates we received from our 3 tenders were significantly above our previously set expectations. Hard to fathom in these times of massive downturns in new builds, little work for trades, a strong aussie dollar and the ability for immediate starts, but to proceed on this basis would have almost certainly seen the 'dream' become a 'nightmare'. To say ditching our plans was devastating was an understatement, given all the hard work Mark had put in with Gareth and I, but it had to be done.

After a mild implosion (putting behind us the 2 lost years and significant $$) we are moving to Escape Retreat Version 2. We're going back to council with a new design and a construction model that will make our development financially viable. Fortunately, as luck would have it, we have met someone who has provided us with a lifeline, working with us to realise our dream. More of that later.

I (Pete) have wrestled whether or not to write this post, as I really find the airing of most peoples problems rather boring. I'd always prefer to tell you all the good things that are happening on our journey. Those of you who know me well know that I will always look for the positive in things and rarely dwell on the negative, but I didn't know any other way to explain to you what has happened with our plans other than to tell it how it is.

Maybe this time, having someone to help us move forward land right on our doorstep has surprised even me on my usual scale of 'luckiness'. Who's fighting it? Not us!

Dream big for 2011. Extra love from P & G xx

Before and After

Now we all like a good before and after shot (that is of course if the 'after' is better than the 'before').  I can't always say that this has essentially been true for me at times, but when it comes to our little piece of paradise in Carool, the after is most certainly better than the before. It's just that these things take a little time.... and as Gareth says "you plant a garden for the next generation" (though, selfishly I'd like to stick around to see the fruits of our labours). Fortunately, this gorgeous climate of ours puts the plants on steroids  - check this photo out of Molly and I a few years ago and compare it to the gardens on the blog title photo above (even these have grown since it was taken).

There's been some major goings on this week. We've finally started building the tropical gardens on the right hand side of the entry to compliment Gareth's magnificent work that is the subject of much praise.

We've also started our bamboo tunnel in 'Bambusa Chungii' a beautiful blue/grey Bamboo, which will be a walkway from the cottage to the main gate. This should be around 4 metres tall in around 18 months. That's what I like, instant garden. That being said, just 1 more hour of daylight and time to shovel another 10 barrows of mulch.

There was a time when we'd spend Sundays on the sofa.....

Ah, I remember those days when I was unable to lift my head off the pillow nursing a hangover after a big night, or the only time you saw 5am was on your way home or leaving Phoenix to go to Arq.

Those days are long gone. Now it's sun up to sun down outside and there's never a shortage of things to do. Like cleaning up the front of the property. You'll remember the blog post a few months ago about pulling down the old shed - well here above is how it looks now. New fence and grass seeded!

There was a time when toys used to mean something different too. Now they take a much different form - generally agricultural (see left). And on that note I will leave you for this week as it's 7pm and bedtime will soon be approaching.

My how things have changed :-)

Did the earth move for you?

I was always accustomed to a bit of heavy machinery, having excavated the backyard at Stanmore before (well, not me personally), but landscaping has taken a whole new meaning at Carool.... and the machines are on steroids! It's amazing what one can do a Sunday afternoon - check out our new road (well, actually its a 'track' but it will be surfaced at some point in the future). Even Oscar approves - though he appears somewhat distracted in this photo.


This week sees the arrival of an excavator and bobcat to put in our new driveway, build some drains and lay the foundations for Gareth's new tropical gardens that will frame the rhs of the driveway - like the ones on the left he has already established. And speaking of gardens, this shot at the right shows the beginnings of our 'succulent' hill.

With all this digging, whoever said life was boring in the country probably just doesn't enjoy being dirty!

Lot's happening over the next few weeks - our container from Bali arrives tomorrow - so I will keep you posted. Gareth's folks are still here from Northern Ireland till Friday week - been great spending time with them - wish I didn't have to go back to work.

Have a great week! Oh, and by the way, many of you receive these updates via email, but we would love to see your comments on our blog from time to time. x

Tenders are finally out - bring on the 1st of October!

Well, you all be pleased to know that after almost 2 years in the making, our tenders have finally gone out to our prospective builders. The date for response is the 1st of October and we plan to break ground as soon as possible after that date.

Thank god for Mark Boyd is all I can say. His help and support through this process has been outstanding and friends don't come much better than this. He's not a bad architect either :-) As most of you know, we had hoped to have started long ago and the last few months have seen our frustrations rise to new heights - but it has been Mark who has kept us moving along and maintaining focus to reach this day.

As one of our other friends Annie put it, we're well on the journey to realising our dream and it's going to be truly fantastic. I'm with Annie... the way this year has flown it won't be long before we're all having cocktails on the lanai.

Fancy a Long Cointreaupolitan anyone?

Some things call for drastic measures!!

Scoffa, our favourite man with a bulldozer, arrived back at the farm this week (how he got the name Scoffa we'll leave to another time). We were expecting to see him 4 months ago, but he's on Carool time and better late than never I say.

So his latest challenge was to rid our property of the toxic Radiata Pines on our boundary. We have long debated the pros and cons of leaving these trees, but basically they suck the life out of Gareth's tropical gardens and nothing we have tried to grow under them for the last 3 years as made any progress.It was time to say - goodbye.

Remarkable what you can do in a days work in the country I say. Non of this stuffing around, no procrastinating, just bring the buggers down and you can see the result here.

Now for those of you who may be lamenting the loss off these trees, don't worry, we're planting natives that are local to Northern NSW on the boundary next weekend. And I'll leave the picture on the front page of our blog where you can see the pines in the background.

Such a satisfying weekend. No wonder so many of us Sydneysiders are foresaking our city life for the country. And on that note, we had some very exciting news this week, our friends Larry and Melissa from Enmore are moving to Mullumbimby - only 40 minutes away. You'll all be up here in the end!!

Have you ever wondered what our fabulous B&B will look like?

I was only saying to Gareth this afternoon, only a few people have seen how Escape Retreat will look. You've had a taste of the gardens (and by the way, I must show you some picks of Gareth's new succulent "hill".... more of that later.

In the meantime, here is a render. Sadly I can't seem to get the resolution better. But you get the gist. Check out the pool and pool house on the left.... and you thought NYE at Stanmore was fun!

It's days like these that make it all worthwhile....

I was just going through some old emails today, looking at when we first kicked off our project. It was October 2008 and here we are approaching 2 years and we've yet to commence building. Not that we ever lose sight of what we will realise in our beautiful part of the world, but you just get so damn frustrated with consultants, their complete lack of attention to detail and sense of urgency, regardless of how much you're paying them. 

And then, in the middle of winter, you have days like these..... 23 degrees....... just magic. You forget about all those issues and remind yourself how lucky you are and how much you look forward to sharing it all with old friends and new friends, sometime in the not too distant future.

A little piece of Carool history is gone

There was a tinge of sadness this weekend when a little piece of history on our property said goodbye. For those of you that have been up here, you will remember the old banana packing shed that was alongside the gate that we will be using as our new entrance to the B&B. Gareth and I have agonised for ages as to whether we would keep it - Gareth often fantasised about it being his 'Farm Shop" but in the end the decision was made for us by nature. The timbers were rotten from pest activity and it was becoming unsafe. Sad though to see this link with the past disappear. However, in the demolition we were excited that we came across the old template that Mr Conti (the previous owner of some 40 years) used for labelling the banana crates. We also came across some old crate timbers in perfect condition which we will keep in recognition of the history of this beautiful part of the world we are now custodians of.

Our new arrival

Meet Oscar, our new chocolate Labrador. We've had him for just over a week now and might I say early indications are that he will be most satisfactory in fulfilling his role as a guest welcoming committee member. He will however not be performing any bathroom cleaning activities. Whenever a toilet roll is around, he morphs on cue into the Kleenex labrador that graced our TV screens for decades. Must be genetic. Parents are still very proud with their clever little boy that can fetch, sit and respond to his name at 9 weeks.

A little Bali Inspiration

We recently made a last minute decision to head to Bali for a buying trip - you all know how much I hate shopping :-). Fortunately we were able to share  a container with our friends Eric and Josh from Villa 76 http://www.villa76.com/welcome/  and have bought some great new items to enhance Gareth's beautiful, ever expanding sub-tropical gardens (see stone water bowl and carved head in this picture - just one of some 28 items we purchased.

The villa that we were staying in Seminyak also gave us some great inspiration for our pool and we're bringing in the same tiles you see featured in this picture (in fact, we will be incorporating a number of design elements from this in our construction - which we're getting very close to commencing).

Escape - what's in a name?

Can you believe it? It's been over 3 weeks since I last wrote about our journey. And you know, it's never felt more appropriate to have called it Escape than ever.

3 weeks, do we ever stop to realise just how quickly our weeks pass by? I know its such a cliche, but I've never felt weeks pass by so quickly as I do now that I am commuting between Sydney and the Coast. Yet, my weekends seem to last such a long time and I'm sure that it's down to the change of pace. Every weekend, I get to "Escape" city life. Every weekend, I get to recharge and it's amazing what it does for your well being.

Like yoga down in our Community Hall every Saturday morning. I bet when the local farming community built this hall a hundred years ago it would not be possible for them to have imagined the serene setting it provides us with for the practice of yoga (and i mean practise - how does Judy get into those positions!)

Anyway, back to calling our luxury B&B Escape. That's what it was all about, to Escape for the weekend, to Escape all your worries at home, to Escape the day to day and for us, to Escape the motions of a life in Sydney and stop and smell the lillies (sorry, there ain't no roses growing in these gardens).

Molly, how lucky we opened that magazine where Gareth was showing us those daybeds for the pool and we saw that name!

Gareth always wanted a blank canvas

So, as you can see, been busy with a bit of earth moving over the last week or so. For those of you that have been to Carool, you will realise the enormity of what has been done. The picture doesn't give you perspective - but we now sure gotta lot of hill! More soon. 

The Technology Tangle

I created our blog a week ago and it's great to see that our friends are starting to follow. When I posted details of the blog on my facebook page, I had a suggestion to create a fan club so that they could follow. I had thought the follower section on blogger was for that purpose. Well, I've created the fan club for Escape Retreat and and have linked this on to our blog, but now I'm not sure what to do with the Facebook page.... does that mean I have to update in both locations? I thought having spent the majority of my working life in technology organisations that I was completely 'au fait' with all of this? Oh to be gen y or z!

Hive of activity

Finally getting rid of that damn Camphor Laurel grove (if you don't know how much of a problem Camphor Laurel trees are in NSW then read here FNC Weeds )

Here are the guys clearing up the front fence line for our new fence and hedge and along the side of our new entrance. Just in time for Gareth to start building a gorgeous new garden to compliment those on our title pic he has built.

Things are moving!!

It's great to finally see things happening. We first started talking to architects and builders in 2008 and as most people know this is not a simple process. After 8 months in council, we received our development consent in January 2010. Now we're knee deep in civil & structural engineers, architect, consultants, excavators, tree loppers.... you name it, they're here. And we haven't even started building yet!
Strange how every time you make a phone call it seems to cost you $5000 these days.....
Anyway, it's all part of the 'escape' plan......more detail on that later. Cheers.