Carlyle Gardens open day

The Carlyle Gardens retirement resort in Townsville (suburb of Condon) held an open day on the weekend of the 6th and 7th of September, and we attended. What we saw, and the residents we met, confirmed our impression that this was a suitable place for us to live. Our selection criteria included:

• Located in a warm but not too humid part of the country, with a choice of suitable health care options and a convenient airport with good connections to other parts of the country.
• Good, fast internet access available.
• Easy access to recreational facilities such as a gym, pool, maybe a restaurant.
• Convenient transport options if one doesn’t have a car.
• Far enough above sea level and/or far enough from the coast to minimise the risk of flooding from storms (including cyclones), tsunami, sea levels rises, etc.
• Not in an area likely to be flooded by river runoff or flooding, eg from heavy rain associated with cyclones.
• Facilities to minimise inconvenience from power outages of up to several days (e.g., solar power sufficient to keep some things running—though not the air-conditioning). This ruled out most buildings with elevators.
• The house or apartment must have no internal or external steps.
• Must have some way to separate my space from Eric’s space, with a sound barrier between us.
• Must have two toilets, and preferably two bathrooms.
• Must have good storage space.

Our original idea was to wait a year or two or three and buy a house in a later stage of the expansion, but after studying the site plan we realised that the house that suited us best was in the section currently under construction, and it was best by a long margin. So we put down a bit of cash as an “option” (sort of a holding deposit) and came home with a thick document to read and lots of photos (album here). I just realised I’ve never lived in a new house in my adult life, and possibly only once as a child. We haven’t decided what to do with the apartment in Airlie Beach, except that we definitely plan to keep it for at least a few years, as an investment. Recently built houses. Our house, under construction. Community centre. Below: location.
View Larger Map