Almost 4 years on in Queensland
Jun 13th 2008, 8:37 am
#16
Ping pong PoM
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 1,537
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
More photos of the progress, there's no excuse for stalling! We know you've finished it now!!
Ali x
Ali x
Jun 15th 2008, 2:33 am
#17
Just Joined
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 13
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
hey there,
congratulations on your 4 years !
I am moving from adelaide to brisbane with my partner, we are having a baby soon, next january due!
Just want to know what is the "POSH POSH" suburb we should be looking at buying a house ?
We want to spend around a million and we are looking at Mt Omaney and Pullenvale, any ideas ?
congratulations on your 4 years !
I am moving from adelaide to brisbane with my partner, we are having a baby soon, next january due!
Just want to know what is the "POSH POSH" suburb we should be looking at buying a house ?
We want to spend around a million and we are looking at Mt Omaney and Pullenvale, any ideas ?
Jun 15th 2008, 2:36 am
#18
Bitter and twisted
Joined: Dec 2003
Location: Upmarket
Posts: 17,503
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
hey there,
congratulations on your 4 years !
I am moving from adelaide to brisbane with my partner, we are having a baby soon, next january due!
Just want to know what is the "POSH POSH" suburb we should be looking at buying a house ?
We want to spend around a million and we are looking at Mt Omaney and Pullenvale, any ideas ?
congratulations on your 4 years !
I am moving from adelaide to brisbane with my partner, we are having a baby soon, next january due!
Just want to know what is the "POSH POSH" suburb we should be looking at buying a house ?
We want to spend around a million and we are looking at Mt Omaney and Pullenvale, any ideas ?
A million won't get you much in most of the POSH POSH suburbs in Brisbane.
G
Jun 15th 2008, 11:30 am
#19
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2007
Location: Tropical North QLD
Posts: 21,434
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
Am really enjoying this thread but need more pics of the house & views please!
Jun 15th 2008, 11:31 pm
#20
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: QLD
Posts: 34
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
I remember how chilly the early morning starts were. Our freezing rental in Flaxton ensured an early rise, and the morning sun warmed our faces with a nice hot cuppa as we looked out from the back veranda. This covered area faced north and from there, if we lent over the hand-rail far enough and twisted our cold necks eastwards, we could see a shimmering sunrise over a distant ocean. Shortly, that sun would bathe the deck in glorious winter sunshine and the heat would permeate through the glass sliding doors and windows that ran alongside the veranda. Without so much as a second thought the first rule of house design had implanted itself into the subconscious - face the daily working environments north and the evening environments south. That's why we couldn't accept any of the house designs offered to us; the rooms were in the wrong place to maximise the winter sun's low angle of elevation that would warm the areas we'd use most at that time of year. Achieve a good north-south aspect and it'll be cooler in the summer and warmer in winter, in the rooms where you need it most.
Our house design isn't perfect. Far from it, I'm sure. In fact, it's still not complete in terms of insulation and we've only just completed some of the shading needed to reduce the heat and glare of the beautiful sunsets over the hills, but it does fit the block and it only took us several scribbled drawings and countless hours to pull together something that worked well both externally with mother nature and internally for us.
From next year all new builds in Queensland will need to pass a 5 star energy rating assessment. Low energy bulbs, good thermal blanketing, etc. Water conservation will no doubt be paramount. It's expected to add about 1% to the cost of a house. About time.
So for the first week or two we were asked to be on site as the red soil below us was revealed and what was a little sloping hump, where the house was going to be, turned into a rather large flat expanse. If you buy a block and have to go through the ordeal of imagining how a house will ever fit on to something so sloped or curvy you'll be amazed at the transformation created by a creaking JCB. The picture above (montage) best describes it. All well and good, but where was our viewing platform now? We'd lost a few feet and worst was yet to come as the septic system, installed by the land developer many moons ago as a simple plug-in affair, suddenly appeared below where the house was going to sit. In that day alone our budget for the house build rose by a few thousand dollars.
Paul.
Pic 1. It's day two and I've discovered something else I'm good at. That's me holding on to a large measuring stick, thingy, doodah.
Pic 2. Ron's digger sits just behind where the newly discovered top part of the pre-installed septic system resides. Unfortunately, nobody knew of it's positioning and it's under where the house is going to sit. We couldn't have a septic system like this under the house because the house was going to be lifted off the ground by steel poles, and guess where a couple of them were going to be placed? So quite a few thousand dollars would have to be budgeted for having a new speptic system installed. No, we couldn't move the house.
Pic 3. Lake Baroon with the hills of Maleny and Witta above. We often see sailboats and canoeists at weekends. On Sunday we saw the most amazing fly-by of a small aircraft that dipped into the valley and skimmed the surface of the lake. I'm not sure it was a legal thing to do but it was incredible to see.
Our house design isn't perfect. Far from it, I'm sure. In fact, it's still not complete in terms of insulation and we've only just completed some of the shading needed to reduce the heat and glare of the beautiful sunsets over the hills, but it does fit the block and it only took us several scribbled drawings and countless hours to pull together something that worked well both externally with mother nature and internally for us.
From next year all new builds in Queensland will need to pass a 5 star energy rating assessment. Low energy bulbs, good thermal blanketing, etc. Water conservation will no doubt be paramount. It's expected to add about 1% to the cost of a house. About time.
So for the first week or two we were asked to be on site as the red soil below us was revealed and what was a little sloping hump, where the house was going to be, turned into a rather large flat expanse. If you buy a block and have to go through the ordeal of imagining how a house will ever fit on to something so sloped or curvy you'll be amazed at the transformation created by a creaking JCB. The picture above (montage) best describes it. All well and good, but where was our viewing platform now? We'd lost a few feet and worst was yet to come as the septic system, installed by the land developer many moons ago as a simple plug-in affair, suddenly appeared below where the house was going to sit. In that day alone our budget for the house build rose by a few thousand dollars.
Paul.
Pic 1. It's day two and I've discovered something else I'm good at. That's me holding on to a large measuring stick, thingy, doodah.
Pic 2. Ron's digger sits just behind where the newly discovered top part of the pre-installed septic system resides. Unfortunately, nobody knew of it's positioning and it's under where the house is going to sit. We couldn't have a septic system like this under the house because the house was going to be lifted off the ground by steel poles, and guess where a couple of them were going to be placed? So quite a few thousand dollars would have to be budgeted for having a new speptic system installed. No, we couldn't move the house.
Pic 3. Lake Baroon with the hills of Maleny and Witta above. We often see sailboats and canoeists at weekends. On Sunday we saw the most amazing fly-by of a small aircraft that dipped into the valley and skimmed the surface of the lake. I'm not sure it was a legal thing to do but it was incredible to see.
Last edited by PC Pom; Jun 15th 2008 at 11:40 pm.
Jun 17th 2008, 12:16 pm
#21
Account Open
Joined: Jan 2005
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 4,298
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
Hi there PC pom ! What a beautiful area, I'm envious, as I'm sure are many others. I've been up montville way many times, and also been to lake baroon too - what a steep drive down to the reservoir. You've got a beautiful spot there.
cheers
cheers
Jun 17th 2008, 12:22 pm
#22
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: May 2004
Location: Birkdale QLD
Posts: 7,642
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
JTL
Jun 17th 2008, 11:27 pm
#23
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: QLD
Posts: 34
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
Montville is 400m above sea-level. Either way you look at it there's no escaping the climb from the beach - although this only happens in the last few miles - making it a steep climb at times. Depending on the route taken the gradient ranges from 10% to almost 20%. Hence the extra 5 mins!
Jun 18th 2008, 1:18 am
#24
Account Open
Joined: Jan 2005
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 4,298
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
Montville is 400m above sea-level. Either way you look at it there's no escaping the climb from the beach - although this only happens in the last few miles - making it a steep climb at times. Depending on the route taken the gradient ranges from 10% to almost 20%. Hence the extra 5 mins!
Jun 18th 2008, 3:12 am
#25
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,594
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
Almost four years, and life's... Changed.
Hi. My name's Paul and the wife's Gill. We came to Australia because we wanted to give it a go before we got too old. Oh yes, we didn't like the weather much and the pressures of work were getting to both of us. We left behind hi-profile jobs and settled back into comfy Singapore Airlines economy seats, vowing to give it our best shot. We're still here.
Our destination was Toowoomba. Not through choice, but because I had a brother there. For those that don't know, Toowoomba is a largish city with great heritage. It's 9 o'clock out of Brisbane, just less than 100 miles west. That's all it takes to be in a drought. The city has a water problem and a recent referendum by its inhabitants turned down the possiblilty of recycled water. 'Poowoomba', the negative campaign run mostly by the older generation who should know better, won the day and so Toowoomba is running out of water.
We only stayed there a couple of weeks, finding accommodation closer to the coast in the greener fields of the Sunshine Coast hinterland. We left Toowoomba's parched earth and entered an almost similar terrain of dried yellow grass and skinny cows. The drought had also caught up with people here and it took 5 months before decent rain fell on the coast. Whilst today that problem isn't so obvious, it is something newcomers to Australia ought to be made aware of.
A precis of the next three and a bit years seems an unlikely prospect, given the space, but in essence we bought a block of land ('block', not 'plot' - that's your grave to an Aussie) after failing to source a property that reminded us of the one we left behind. No, we weren't homesick, but you want the best possible start, don't you? The block gave us a view and the house that we built, 12 foot above ground level, maximised that view and enabled a covered yet open-air space to magically appear below - enough to cater for our junk - 4 vehicles (2 rusty classics, 1 not so rusty classic and a posh Subaru Outback). We have solar heated water and a gigantic water tank that collects almost anything that falls onto the roof and is caught by the gutters.
Jobs were fairly easy to come by. Migrants in demand should, theoretically, have good opportunities. I was employed by a UK company and with a little flexilibility I managed to continue that employment, giving us the security on arrival we needed. Gill took a little while before gaining employment as a community pharmacist. She had her heart set on the pharmaceautical industry (the work that she had left behind) but that simply doesn't exist here. We would have had to move to Sydney or Melbourne if those dreams were to have been realised.
The house took a year to build and our accommodation during that time was a rental house, just a couple of miles away, that lacked any roof and wall insulation. Summer's were unbearably hot indoors and winters were quite chilly. At this point I should say that we were renting about 1200 feet above sea-level, overlooking the coastal towns. Spectacular views of a metropolis we really didn't want to be part of, having left behind rural Wales, with Spring lambs at the bottom of the garden. Today we look at cows, eagles and snakes.
That's enough for today. If the response is good and it's helpful, I'll try to upload a few photos of the house build later in the week.
Cheers
Paul & Gill
Hi. My name's Paul and the wife's Gill. We came to Australia because we wanted to give it a go before we got too old. Oh yes, we didn't like the weather much and the pressures of work were getting to both of us. We left behind hi-profile jobs and settled back into comfy Singapore Airlines economy seats, vowing to give it our best shot. We're still here.
Our destination was Toowoomba. Not through choice, but because I had a brother there. For those that don't know, Toowoomba is a largish city with great heritage. It's 9 o'clock out of Brisbane, just less than 100 miles west. That's all it takes to be in a drought. The city has a water problem and a recent referendum by its inhabitants turned down the possiblilty of recycled water. 'Poowoomba', the negative campaign run mostly by the older generation who should know better, won the day and so Toowoomba is running out of water.
We only stayed there a couple of weeks, finding accommodation closer to the coast in the greener fields of the Sunshine Coast hinterland. We left Toowoomba's parched earth and entered an almost similar terrain of dried yellow grass and skinny cows. The drought had also caught up with people here and it took 5 months before decent rain fell on the coast. Whilst today that problem isn't so obvious, it is something newcomers to Australia ought to be made aware of.
A precis of the next three and a bit years seems an unlikely prospect, given the space, but in essence we bought a block of land ('block', not 'plot' - that's your grave to an Aussie) after failing to source a property that reminded us of the one we left behind. No, we weren't homesick, but you want the best possible start, don't you? The block gave us a view and the house that we built, 12 foot above ground level, maximised that view and enabled a covered yet open-air space to magically appear below - enough to cater for our junk - 4 vehicles (2 rusty classics, 1 not so rusty classic and a posh Subaru Outback). We have solar heated water and a gigantic water tank that collects almost anything that falls onto the roof and is caught by the gutters.
Jobs were fairly easy to come by. Migrants in demand should, theoretically, have good opportunities. I was employed by a UK company and with a little flexilibility I managed to continue that employment, giving us the security on arrival we needed. Gill took a little while before gaining employment as a community pharmacist. She had her heart set on the pharmaceautical industry (the work that she had left behind) but that simply doesn't exist here. We would have had to move to Sydney or Melbourne if those dreams were to have been realised.
The house took a year to build and our accommodation during that time was a rental house, just a couple of miles away, that lacked any roof and wall insulation. Summer's were unbearably hot indoors and winters were quite chilly. At this point I should say that we were renting about 1200 feet above sea-level, overlooking the coastal towns. Spectacular views of a metropolis we really didn't want to be part of, having left behind rural Wales, with Spring lambs at the bottom of the garden. Today we look at cows, eagles and snakes.
That's enough for today. If the response is good and it's helpful, I'll try to upload a few photos of the house build later in the week.
Cheers
Paul & Gill
I'm curious to know if it's common and/or easy to get solar and/or tank to collect rain water? These are two things I require when we build.
Jun 21st 2008, 11:47 pm
#26
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: QLD
Posts: 34
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
Tank systems to collect water are very common in QLD and probably everywhere else in Australia. Solar systems are much less common - and expensive. Do a search for BP Solar or solar elec. qld
Jun 23rd 2008, 7:05 am
#27
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: QLD
Posts: 34
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
Brief recap: The red soil had been flattened and the top layers pushed outwards to create a big flat base upon which to plonk a house. In the process the septic system, installed years back by the original developer as part of the subdivision agreement with the council, had been uncovered (it's a pity that no one was able to locate this before hand) and unfortunately that part which fell under the proposed site off the house would have to be replaced, at considerable expense.
A water tank holding 10,000 gallons (45,000 litres) was constructed on site. See photo. About 50 holes were sunk into the block until 'rock' was met. Now 'rock' doesn't mean solid, impenetrable stuff - just firm little rocks in the soil, but deep enough to make good footings for the first part of the house structure. Steel posts would then be placed within the concrete, this poured until it was level with the soil.
Sorry it's a short update. I can't do more than 3 pics at a time and that sort of wraps things up. I did write a whole story (blog, I suppose) about the building episode. It used to be on the Koala Konnection web site but I removed it to update and then never got around to either the update or replacing the details on the site. If anyone is interested I'll forward it, otherwise I'll continue the updates. Actually, it's quite therapeutic, going over this stuff in precis. I hope it's inspiring others to have a go, although I have to say that having a house built is far from therapeutic!
Paul.
A water tank holding 10,000 gallons (45,000 litres) was constructed on site. See photo. About 50 holes were sunk into the block until 'rock' was met. Now 'rock' doesn't mean solid, impenetrable stuff - just firm little rocks in the soil, but deep enough to make good footings for the first part of the house structure. Steel posts would then be placed within the concrete, this poured until it was level with the soil.
Sorry it's a short update. I can't do more than 3 pics at a time and that sort of wraps things up. I did write a whole story (blog, I suppose) about the building episode. It used to be on the Koala Konnection web site but I removed it to update and then never got around to either the update or replacing the details on the site. If anyone is interested I'll forward it, otherwise I'll continue the updates. Actually, it's quite therapeutic, going over this stuff in precis. I hope it's inspiring others to have a go, although I have to say that having a house built is far from therapeutic!
Paul.
Jun 25th 2008, 7:04 pm
#28
egghead4+becky
Joined: Jul 2006
Location: was newport now sunny Bundy
Posts: 797
Re: Almost 4 years on in Queensland
what a beautiful area to live, great pictures paul
lucky buggers
bec
lucky buggers
bec
