Wheels are moving here at maison dave. The residents have pondered there wherewithall and decided to put the abode up for sale as soon as the touch ups are in place.
Such an option has also increased the pressure to consider someplace to go to. And after contemplating and researching Ballarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine (in country Victoria), Gympie and Ipswich in South East Queensland. The new flavour of the moment is MacLeay Island in the southern reaches of Moreton Bay.
Reputed to be the cheapest real estate in SE Qld -- Macleay houses an odd collection of up market greenies and the working, unemployed or pensioned poor attracted to cheapness. The irony being that the island is a delightful hide away wafted by sea breezes surrounded by wetlands or sandy beaches( and, as de rigueur to that, inhabited by mosquitoes-- just like the night time air here in Northgate -- in cooee of the swap: Boondall Wetlands .)
I've never considered the prospect of living on an island -- aside form the huge Terra Australis one I'm on -- but my upbringing was on Victoria's Port Phillip Bay and my soul always resides on the shoreline. The prospect is like a second childhood.
When we began looking for another location to live my specific criteria included easy public transport access, and the irony is that MacLeay -- with its frequent ferry service to the mainland, and direct connection to buses addressed to the Brisbane CBD or via the Cleveland rail line -- is well served by public transport. (That also makes it easy for others to come visit What a holiday destination, eh?.)
The island is also a cycling imperative and has a reputation as a great place to pedal -- so long as you prepare for punctures on the unmade roads. I see myself with a cargo bike or a setup like this (right) as a supplement to scoottering.
That's the schematism I'm working from for the moment. Maybe 90-120+ minutes into the city by public transport on the location that got bad press in the seventies through real estate scams. (Oh those gullible Victorians!) Not yet real estate intense in take off terms as it is too isolated for daily commutes and those who are car dependent. (Barging a car is expensive to and fro).
This blog's name may have to change to Kickbike, Kettlebell and Kayak as that section of the bay is a sea kayak mecca and my notions for a coracle may be out of place in the currents between the islands. But fishing: every day. Great red soil in sections as the island is a segment of the mainland that was surrounded by inundation 10,000 years ago. That mainland area used to be Brisbane's larder but now grows mainly strawberries.
So unless we change our mind, our eyes are on the water....
Someday you'll see me floatin' in the sunshine,
My head stickin' out from a low fluin' cloud,
You'll hear me call you,
Singin' through the sunshine,
Sweet and clear as can be:
"Come to me, here am I, come to me."
If you try, you'll find me
Where the sky meets the sea.
"Here am I your special island
Come to me, Come to me."
Bali Ha'i,
Bali Ha'i,
Bali Ha'i!
