Finding Home

A tale of 3 houses, 3 towns, and 3 states.

(I’m beginning this piece on Wednesday the 12th of October, 2022)

For 2 years now, we’ve been making moves and moving houses, suburbs, towns and states to get closer to the place we want to call home.

But if I was to rewind even further back, to more than 3 years ago, my soul knew it was time to move.

Energetically, I had checked out of Adelaide, our hometown – for my husband and I – of 41 years for him and 34 years for me (at that time).

I blame Byron Bay.

(For anyone outside of Australia reading this, Byron Bay is our easternmost coastal town and widely considered to be our country’s spiritual heartland. It’s fucking beautiful.)

I first visited there when I was a little girl of maybe 3 years of age and absolutely loved it, so my Mum tells me.

Fast forward to our wedding (age 28) and we were originally going to spend our honeymoon in Byron Bay before being surprised with a trip to Paris, Italy and Dubai. (There are much worse ways to have your plans derailed, I know!)

The following year, for my 30th Birthday, I knew there was no other place I wanted to celebrate than Byron Bay.

It was my favourite Aussie holiday destination. ‘Holiday’ being the key word. Because I’d never entertained the thought of it being my home…

Until 2019.

I was on a retreat with my mentor at the time and the women of our mastermind. The destination: Byron Bay.

After a glorious few days of immersion in and around this magical place, I boarded a plane back to Adelaide, never to be the same again.

My soul knew it was time to move.

“I want to move to Byron Bay,” I declared to my husband. 

His loving yet logical response was a reality check along the lines of that not being a possibility due to his job being firmly and solely in Adelaide.

But then… a global pandemic came along to shake the shit out of everything we knew to be true up until that point.

In this time of uncertainty, we sold our home of nearly 10 years that we had lovingly restored and renovated and extended and beautified, off market to a gorgeous family. 

With absolutely nowhere and no idea where to go next.

Buying again in Adelaide just didn’t feel right. So we both trusted that there was a next step for us that we couldn’t quite see yet, and we gratefully accepted the offer to move in with a friend.

A few months later, an opportunity presented itself for us to temporarily relocate to Brisbane, Queensland for my husband’s work.

We had our ticket out of Adelaide and a chance to experience life in another house, in another city, in another state.

Brisbane was always going to be our stepping stone, this we knew. The one before the one. But what I wasn’t prepared for was the rollercoaster ride of a change that we had chosen for this next chapter of our lives.

When you move states (or countries, I assume) no one tells you just what an adventure and a trauma it will be, all at the same time.

It’s like being the new kid at school in a weird new wonderland. I had no idea where our local shops were. Where do I find the best fruit and vegetables? Where do I get my nails done? My hair blowdried? You know, the important stuff. ;)

Now, I could go into the details of our time in Brisbane, but that’s not the purpose or the destination of this piece. Brisbane was always going to be that transitional part of the movie that takes you from where the story starts to its crescendo and raison d'être.

And there is also so much I can share with you about what I have learned during these past 2 years – about home, patience, trust, surrender, waiting, choosing, and not compromising – but they will be stories for other pieces, on other days.

Today though, here in this piece, I want to share with you the story of how we found home because it is a story I have not been able to tell until now, and until I had this space to do so.

But back to Brisbane.

The land around Byron Bay was still calling me (us), its pull stronger than ever, and by this time we knew exactly where we wanted to call home.

A coastal town 15 minutes south of Byron called Lennox Head.

So one weekend, we drove down for a visit and went to an open inspection, as we’d done so many times before. But this time we put in an offer on a house.

And we missed out.

Not because our offer wasn’t the highest on the table (it was) but because it wasn’t unconditional.

This was all the motivation we needed to swing into action and put our Brisbane place on the market.

It sold: to the first person who walked through the door at the first open inspection.

We then put our investment property in Adelaide on the market.

It sold: to the first people who walked through the door at the first open inspection.

And by some divine miracle and universal orchestration, the two settlement dates for the two properties in two different states were going to happen on the same day – Monday the 14th of November, 2022.

Now we just had to find somewhere to live in Lennox Head.

This is the point in the story where I will always be grateful for the way my husband Chris and I cultivate the relationships in our lives. We are always surrounded by great people, willing to help. And our angel of a real estate agent in Lennox came through with the goods – with an empty house that was yet to hit the market.

“I’d buy this place myself,” he said. “It’s a diamond in the rough, just waiting to be polished up.”

High praise indeed for a Lennox local, and it ticked all our boxes:

• Big house

• Big block of land

• Prime for renovating

• Space to put in a pool

• Room to build a separate studio

• Walking distance to the beach

• Peaceful neighbourhood

So we put in an offer.

Not expecting to hear anything that day, we got back into our car and began the 2-hour drive back to Brisbane, calling into another seaside town 30 minutes north of Lennox called Kingscliff.

I ordered us 2 almond chai lattes to takeaway and we went for a stroll along the shoreline.

We talked about the possibility of getting the house and what we’d do first. We also talked about the possibility of not getting the house and what we’d do next.

As we headed back to the car, Chris’ phone rang: it was the agent in Lennox.

“Did we get it?” I asked him after he hung up the call.

He nodded his head.

I burst into tears.

It was finally happening – we were moving to Lennox Head!

The flurry of the next couple of weeks is something I’m still recovering from, truth be told.

Dealing with 3 different real estate agents, lawyers, conveyancers, and a bank in 3 different states for 3 different properties is no joke, and not something I’d be quick to recommend.

But once again, we were surrounded by our very own dream team who worked tirelessly and collaboratively to change our lives on Monday the 14th of November, 2022.

The day all 3 properties settled.

I’ll never forget receiving the final phone call that afternoon, as we walked our dog Amalfi along what was now our local beach.

And it was in that moment, on that day, that we became the owners of our new home in Lennox Head, and our next chapter – our latest chapter, this chapter – began.

(I finished this piece on Friday the 25th of November, 2022)

---

SELF-INQUIRY PROMPTS

1. What does home mean to me?

2. Where is home for me?

3. What does home look and feel like to me?

4. What are the elements I need around me to feel at home?

5. Where do I dream of living in my lifetime?

6. What does my dream home look and feel like?

7. What have I learned about the concept of home in my life so far?

8. Do I trust myself to move when I feel the urge? Why/why not?

9. What can I do to cultivate that trust on a deeper level?

10. What move do I want to make next?

11. What’s the very

    next step to get closer to making it happen?