Welcome to Innisfree

Finally! Contracts are signed, finance is approved and so come the 19th of December we will taking ownership of our 38 acres of green patch of earth.

Moving to somewhere which has been known in the past as "Little Ireland" and living on a road with the good Irish name of "Kiely's" means that we have had to do some thinking about what we want to name our property. After a bit of thinking and a bit of searching, we've decided to stick with the Irish theme and we're calling our bit of land "Innisfree" after the William Butler Yeats poem the "Lake Isle of Innisfree".  I like the idea that he wrote this about a paradise, a utopia, where it is imagined that it is green all year round and the land will provide all that one needs. We may not have a lake but I'm hoping that we will have some peace there!
Here's the poem if you're not familiar with it:

Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
                     - W.B. Yeats


Now we need to swing into full packing and organisation mode as we think about moving and saying goodbye to Bond Street. So many good memories are held in this house, including our surprise wedding! But almost 10 years after that wedding it seems like a nice bit of symmetry to embark on a new adventure and move into a new home.

We're looking forward to having you all part of it!

Waiting to move to 'Little Ireland'

Yesterday spring arrived with sunshine, increased pollen count and a slight breeze. Spring appears to have gone already as I sit on the couch this morning, and knowing that this was likely to occur, Rohan and I took the chance yesterday to jump on the bike and head out towards what will hopefully be our new 'hood.

First stop was Mount Buninyong where we wound our way up towards the top of the mountain to survey the vast expanses of land before us.

Looking out towards Mount Warrenheip we tried to pick out the organic farm who will hopefully be our neighbours and the row of pine trees that signify what will hopefully be our own little patch of dirt. I keep saying 'hopefully' as we still haven't signed those pesky contracts yet, although the agent is still convinced that the sale is going ahead as planned and that the vendors are happy with the slight tweaks to the contract. So all being well, come mid-December we will be able to stroll through the gates of the new place.









 Rohan enjoying the view!




Back down at ground level, we zoomed around back roads (finding a shortcut to uni that is only about 5 mins drive - no more tackling main road traffic for me if this goes ahead!). We pulled up at the site of the old Navigators Railway station, just near the turn-off with the beautiful old bluestone bridge where we could learn a bit more about the (hopefully!) new 'hood. I was delighted to see that so many Irish people had been attracted to this area that it was called 'Little Ireland'. See - I knew there was a reason I wanted to come live here!

The bridge itself is very cute and from our journey yesterday we discovered that it was built in 1860 - a nice landmark on the road to our (hopefully) new place!

All this thinking of Ireland has got me coming up with names for the new pad - I've got one in mind, but I might wait until the ink is dry on contracts before I reveal that. In the meantime - fingers crossed!

A new adventure

We've always flirted with the notion of property and some space to call our own. Last weekend, we went about our normal routine - a weekend run, a walk with the dog, a leisurely reading of the papers with a cup of tea. In the real estate section, we stumbled across a property not far from town that looked picturesque. Having just missed the open house, we randomly googled to see what else was available in that area and stumbled across a little hobby farm of 38 acres, with a house and an established olive grove.

Ideas began to form. Dreams began to filter into reality. Should we do this? Could we do this? Would we do this?

By Tuesday we had arranged a time to go and see the property. I emailed a friend saying 'check out this property we're going to look at' - she emailed back saying she had driven past it a few days earlier and thought it was cute. My brother rang to say 'thanks for finding me a property'. 'It's mine', I squealed in response. Tuesday night I could barely sleep, picturing how I might be able to construct a life on 38 acres.

Wednesday afternoon saw Rohan, David and I assembled at the property ready to check it out. During the day at work, I'd joked about the writing I could do in the midst of rural serenity - academic writing would go on overload I was sure. I wandered into the house and it seemed smaller and grubbier than the ad on the internet - and yet in my head I was already picturing how I could lighten it, how we could bag the brick walls, freshen the inside and take advantage of the views outside the windows. The land seemed bigger and more beautiful than I had imagined. Shut in the bedroom away from the ears of the agent we whispered, 'will we do this?'

Soon, it was done. An offer was made and less than 24 hours later, the agent rang. The house and land would be ours if we wanted it. Everything sped up. Finance meetings, meetings with lawyers, accountants. Hurried conversations where dreams bloomed and grew.

Right at this moment, the possibilities seem to unfold onto and into each other. On Monday we meet our lawyer to go over the contracts and already I'm praying nothing goes wrong. 

In the meantime we hatch plans, olive oil, microbrewery, woodfired pizza oven, lazy lunches at an outside table, a giant chess board, a golf hole and a rustic refurbished barn. Once we sign the contract the dream will be a bit closer and then you're all invited to pick olives!