Putting down roots in WA 2009

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View east over Lake Joondalup from a BBQ area about 10 mins by bike from the house. In the summer the lake dries but in the winter there’s plenty of water and birdlife.

After months (if not years) of searching we are very happy to announce that we have finally bought a house!!

An aerial view of the house, you can see the lake in the top left corner. We are close to Ocean Reef road which is not ideal but you really only notice the traffic at peak times in the morning and evening

Yes it’s taken a long time for a number of reasons, one of the main ones being deciding on the location? location? location?? Well for us it wasn’t a question of which suburb but which continent! Then there’s the problem with being nomadic – we were never in one place long enough to really get a feel for the local market. Anyway this year the planets lined up! We have been in Perth for most of the year with time on our hands and the economic downturn provided a slump, or at least a plateau, in house prices.

The terrace at the back faces east with a view over the lake towards the hills (optimistically).

We must have looked at twenty properties before we found No. 4 Chipala Court in Edgewater. It’s a four bedroom two bathroom house located about 20km north of Perth and 5km from the beach. It is on the southwestern corner of Lake Joondalup which is part of an extensive wetlands nature reserve so there is plenty of open space for long walks and bike rides. Neil was riding up to Joondalup to visit his Mum yesterday and nearly got knocked off his bike by a kangaroo!

We’ve got a bit of a minimalist theme going inside! This photo is taken from the dining room looking towards the living room to the right and the kitchen to the left.

We moved in to our new home a couple of weeks ago. We have just a skeleton of furniture, mostly begged, borrowed or stolen, so we are sleeping on a mattress on the floor, and sitting on two chairs scavenged off the side of the road! Perth has bulk garbage collection days for each neighbourhood every so often. People can put out old furniture, garden refuse, sinks, washing machines – you name it – and the council will collect and dispose of it. We’ve found tables, chairs, a lawn mower (yet to get working) and a TV which works perfectly – all from the kerbside. It’s amazing! We picked up a table and carried it back to the house and then discovered a large redback spider underneath – deadly!!

Just popped out to take this photo. It’s raining today so the light is not that great but at least you can see the front of the house.

We’ve got a nice shady patio and a bit of a garden on the lower terrace. The lemon tree is prolific producing fruit the size of cricket balls. There is also an olive, an apricot and a fig tree and a loquat tree which produces soft yellow fruit about the size and shape of a plum but tastes like a pear. We also have an unlicensed banana tree – apparently you need a license to grow bananas here, something to do with the irrigation. As we don’t have any special irrigation we won’t be expecting any bananas but also hopefully no fines from the Dept. of Natural Resources.  

The previous owners were a bit self-sufficient hence the chook shed, the fruit trees and the veggie garden. The reticulation keeps them watered but I guess I’ll have to develop some green finger

Ah well – the trials and tribulations of home ownership! 

Suzy and Neil