OLINDA
High on the hill, first light filters through the valley’s mist and majestic Mountain Ash trees. New warmth is replacing winter’s chill, and with it the sights and scents of fresh growth and earth. Fern fronds bravely begin to uncoil. Birds come out to play and shamelessly announce the arrival of their favourite season. Colour breaks free of winter grey.
Spring has arrived at Olinda.
Sit in the hot spring or natural swimming pool and watch Rosellas flirt high in the treetops, and as night falls gaze at the stars or watch your favourite film on the outdoor cinema screen. This multi-award winning landscape has featured broadly across magazines and TV.
Its design was both the ultimate challenge and the ultimate inspiration - inherent in the natural beauty of the untouched landscape. Working with nature was the main design objective. Two billabongs, fed by storm water collected off the driveway and overflow from rainwater tanks, support aquaculture as well as an automated bushfire prevention system for the property.
This difficult five-acre site in the Dandenong Ranges is characterised by extreme slopes and land slip issues, massive existing Mountain Ash trees, fire threats and storm water management concerns.
Despite all of this, the result is nothing short of perfection - naturally.
TV
2009 – 9am with David & Kim
2007 – "Australia's Best Backyards" Grand Finalists
Awards:
2007 - Save Water Award Winner for the Garden Management Category
2007 - Save Water Award Nomination for the Built Environment Category
2007 - LIAV Award Winner of Water Wise Category
2007 - LIAV Award Winner over $100,000 Residential
Part of the Open Garden Scheme 2009/2010
