arrived

We're in - and with the bare basics of 12 assorted chairs and 1 small round table we had a housewarming with the pizza and pinot group. It meets monthly, this time at Cape Douglas.

Everyone is impressed with the setting and blown away by the view from the upstairs room - think I'll call it the lookout room. Two pelicans were perched on the reef and flocks of seabirds wheeled over the bay, creating an idyllic scene. I was thrilled to discover we have a resident blue wren and mate: another reason to convert Henrietta into an inside cat.

Yesterday as soon as David got the keys we rushed down to meet the builder who, we hope, will be doing the renovations. The good news: it's only "a little job", the bad news: he doesn't want to start till after Christmas. So we will have to spend a while without a bathroom - which quickly rose up the list of priorities.
New kitchen comes second: the only word for the hotplates is disgusting and the cupboards are inadequate to put it kindly. What fun to choose new everything and I'll get Christopher's sister Karen who is an interior decorator to help. David doesn't care as long as we don't have one of those hand basins that looks like a salad bowl.

waiting

It has been a long wait until settlement goes through but tomorrow is The Day!

Fortunately the weather has been cold and misty and is just starting to look like summer now so we haven't missed too much.
I've spent the time collecting duplicates of the gear we already have and David has been planning what he'll plant on the dune.
Alison produced an informative booklet about what should be planted at the seaside (not seaside daisy to my surprise) and David has researched information about the plants and species endemic to Cape Douglas.

 

David feeling weak at the knees thinking about all the work needed...

 

 

the beginning

Nothing was further from my mind than buying a house at the beach.

It came about because we went down to Cape Douglas (W by NW from Port MacDonnell)  to have a crayfish dinner with Rory and Di McEwen who have retired there as their permanent home and love it. As we drove away David said: “That’s how I’d like to live, just pottering about in a boat at my front door.” So I said: “Let’s do it then.”

The next weekend we drove around the coast from Port MacDonnell to Carpenter Rocks and found this one at Cape Douglas had just come on the market. On Monday we rang the agent and arranged a viewing. The road in has only just been bituminised and what was a collection of shacks is rapidly being yuppified. It's a 30 minute drive from Mount Gambier and 10 minutes from Port MacDonnell.

 Straight away David saw the potential, loved the huge long block along the dunes bounded on either side by reserve, absolute seafront and a wonderful view from the second storey.

 

I was not so impressed especially when in the darkened house (agent couldn’t find the power box so no lights) I hit my leg on a wooden bed base sticking out and tore my shin, blood dripping into my shoe and me swearing loudly. Anyway I found it easy to play bad cop: “The furniture is shit” and “there’s no bathroom – a shower in the laundry is not a bathroom.” Which helped get the price down. Everything is brown. They built in 1991 and obviously furnished it with rejects from a 70s house. I plan to move walls and doors – Christopher (Alison’s partner)  eager to do plastering – first job: get a chainsaw and cut a door to the beach instead of trekking through the garage, and build a deck out from the living room; second job new bathroom, walls painted white,  new kitchen all white drawers,  minimal nice furniture and splashes of bright colour.  It all has to happen quickly because we don’t have the luxury of time.

David went down yesterday and met the past owner, who was removing his truckloads of possessions and mourning the loss of his home, and discovered some of the ins-and-outs especially that there is good crayfishing by diving under the reef out front. So he can’t wait and Daisy is equipping herself to learn skin-diving. I need the deck for sitting on and drinking wine at sunset.


This afternoon we’re going down to measure up as there is no house plan; so we can line up a builder to get cracking immediately on the bathroom and kitchen. Rory McE loves building decks and has offered to help – has to be dune-friendly and sensitive to the environment etc.


Settlement date is 28th November 2013.