Very exciting news this morning; our DA was approved!! We have been working towards building our house for so long, this seems like a really huge event in the timeline of building and I feel very excited , happy and a little scared.

Due to the previous year or so of disasters (drought, several fires, a flood and a global pandemic) we have almost exhausted our house fund. We have hardly any ready money left in the building fund; but we will make this happen. I am determined not to log our block again…ever. The last time was a huge trauma, for me and for the animals that live here (it certainly has changed the ecology around the humpy). So we may have to resort to the bank (sigh).

When we decided that now is the time to start our building journey, I found a lovely consulting company called Curvatecture. Hayden (from Curvatecture) has been amazing and supportive during the conception and planning phase of the build; he put us in touch with the lovely Kirstie from Shelter Building Design who took our confused concepts for the house and turned them into a coherent plan that the council would understand. Kirstie virtually filled out the DA and the other numerous reports demanded by the council. We had visits from the soil test company, the waste water system design company, the council building inspector and the engineer had to sign off on the plans before we submitted. Finally… we sent in the application, paid off all the various consultants and now… we have approval to build our swallow’s nest house (round and made from mud).

To celebrate this milestone, the swallows that nest in our bedroom have decided to have a late clutch of babies.

Our next step is to complete an owner builder course and apply for a building certificate. After that we will be looking for some money (somewhere, somehow) to start the build. If anyone has any suggestions for funding this build, feel free to let me know.

Below are some previews of our little house. This is a future vision of what it will look like. Of course I would like to think there will be trees and shrubs (fire retardant species of course) and a nice paved area with outdoor furniture, but in reality it will be surrounded by half finished projects, animals in makeshift enclosures and the general detritus of our lives. It doesn’t matter, it will be home; a home filled with excitement for life, joy and interest in the fascinating small events that make up an ecosystem.