Hi all. I have been interested in escaping Sydney for many years now, either as a dual living arrangement - part time in the city and part time in coastal hinterland somewhere, or as a permanent arrangement. I guess i'm looking for a viable alternative which might combine some degree of community, culture, social interaction as well as privacy, escape and greater interaction with nature. I have always imagined growing veges and having some chooks etc. Being single at the moment, makes the idea of moving away from the city more daunting as well as financially difficult. Therefore an affordable alternative to Sydney is high on my agenda.
I am a building designer by profession and studied architecture at Sydney Uni, which is where I first became interested in the idea of ecovillages. I took courses in the theory of Sustainable Design and wrote a thesis proposal which tried to thread together equal parts Heidegger, Buddhism and hermeneutics - slightly too ambitious I'm afraid and the proposal was all that happened. I (like most architects) want to build my own house one day, hopefully in the not too distant future and have plenty of ideas waiting for an opportunity to be built. I am currently setting out to establish my own business as a sole trader, and am working from home on smaller residential alts and adds projects but hoping to get my teeth into something more substantial soon. I like surfing and camping especially in Australian coastal forests. I also like having a beer in a pub where there are friendly familiar faces as well as the great unknown! Will there be an SCEV pub?