Babies and Sarina

I don't know why I didn't realize it before, but the whole idea of us moving to the city and settling down to have kids is pretty stupid. The majority of our support system is up here, why would I move someplace where I barely know anybody to have babies??? In addition to that, Mackay is on the rise. There is construction and development absolutely everywhere you look! They're even opening a Myer next year (kind of like a Macy's) which, when you consider the highest profile department store currently operating in town is Target, is actually a really really big deal. I fully expect that by Myer putting its stamp of approval on Mackay, many other higher profile stores will follow. Not bad!

That said, Chris and I were really enamored by our last visit to Sarina. The view:

This view is actually from 30 minutes south of Sarina. It's as close as I could get and looks so similar it should give y'all a good idea of what I'm talking about. :)

Sarina is a small town about 40 minutes outside Mackay (which, I promise you, is extremely close by Queensland standards.) We're going to start looking into buying a block of land there. We're not experts, but we expect property values there to rocket up within 5 years as it becomes more developed and, since we know that is where we'd definitely want to live if we stayed in this region, it makes sense to go ahead and secure a plot now. We wouldn't develop the land until much later, as origionally planned, but we don't want to miss out because we waited too long! Suffice to say that the development in Mackay is going to leave some people feeling crowded and lead them to move to Sarina which has developed into quite the little town itself. 7 day trading, breath-taking views, 15 minutes from the beach, only a short drive into town and cheaper property than Mackay. If we want to visit Brisbane, it's only a 90 minute flight from mackay and, if you plan enough ahead, can be as cheap as $100 round trip.

It's been my dream for as long as I can remember to have a few acres, a nice country home and room for some horses. I don't know if I'll ever be able to have the horses (I don't know anything about them anyway. ha!), but I think this would be a beautiful place to settle down and get as close to that dream as possible. The real shocker? You can get a 5 acre plot in Sarina for about the price you'd pay for a 715m² plot here in Moranbah. You gotta LOL at that! Anyways, it's just something that we're talking about at the moment. We wanted to pay in cash when we built a home and haven't actually saved much yet, but I think it would be worth it to secure a block at a low price and borrow the money than to pay out of pocket and have to settle for a house in the city or in a housing division.

Just for fun, while I'm "playing house," this is the floor-plan I've always really loved:

I think this is the perfect sized home for 2 child family. I LOVE the alfresco dining area and Chris loves the theater room, but we could also make the theater room a play-room for the kids if we wanted to. There's a study downstairs that Chris could use as his studio and an extra bedroom for guests. The master bed/bath is huge with a walk-in closet and we'd even have our own little balcony off our room. :) I also like that the kids would be downstairs together so they'd have their own space when their friends came over or, when we have company, the kids can all hang out downstairs while the adults are upstairs. The only downside is that, while I think the modernness of this house's facade is really cool, it's not really my taste. I like more country type homes with big verandahs...so I don't think we'd ever live in this exact house. I def think this floor-plan will be the basis of any home we do build in the future though!


That's all just for fun and just some things we've been talking about lately. :) We're still REALLY excited about our new split-system a/c the rental agency is installing, that really was the highlight of our week. We also are talking about planning a trip to Fiji at the end of May to see Chris's cousin get married (and to go to Fiji!) They have a special all-inclusive package with reduced rates for their wedding guests, we just have to evaluate costs and whether it's something we can do right now. I think that if we get a cheap dishwasher instead of the flashy one I want we could easily afford the trip, but we still have to sit down and look over the packet once Chris's mom gives it to us and see what hidden costs there are because, at this point, it all sounds too good to be true!! I'll keep y'all posted. ;)