This project officially started in May 2022 when we visited a block of land that was sale in Witchcliffe. Dan and I had been together for 5 or so years at this point, we were engaged, with our first child on the way and we were having a lot of discussions around where we would like to settle down and what kind of lifestyle we would like to have and raise our children in.
Dan grew up in the country on a large 320 acre block in the Northern Territory. His family brought a block of land and he lived in a caravan on the block for some time whilst they built the family home. He has great memories of his childhood. In particular having a lot of space to ride his bikes and explore. As such, this is what he loves and he wants the same for his future children. 
Dan on his parents block in the NT
Now I on the other hand, grew up in the city in Perth and as much as I liked the idea of living on a huge remote property I am unsure if I could handle the reality of living so remote. I find when I visit Dan’s family home the remoteness is an adjustment, especially the lack of internet and having to drive 40 min to get to a grocery store. As Dan works remotely in the mining industry I am more aware that I could be living there alone during bush fire season and big storms, and as much as I would like to believe it would be fine, I do have my doubts whether that level of isolation would be for me.
That is where the compromise comes in and we (Dan) found this beautiful 2.3-acre block in the Margaret River Region of Western Australia. It is on a good amount of land to have some privacy and space for future children to explore whilst being only a short drive from a town as with all of the amenities and schools. There is the Wardandi track that is nearby, in which you can ride your bike into the Margaret river township. There is incredible beaches, world class surfing breaks (they host the Margaret River surfing pro every year), it is a wine region with plenty of great wineries and restaurants and has a relaxed, outdoor feel to it.
It all happened when I was 7 months pregnant, Dan took us for a 3hr drive south and we visited the block. The block in question had beautiful tall trees on half of it which you can walk through and get lost in, it is very relaxing. After a quick pie stop, we visited the real estate agent in town and asked a few questions and continued with our holiday down there.
When back in Perth we put an online auction bid on and Dan flew back for a 12 week stint at his mine site in Africa (covid 19 was about and there were long stints because had to quarantine for 2 weeks when returning to Perth).
The realestate agent kept calling and trying to get us to increase the bid, but because Dan was not able to take the calls I was the one dealing with them and at this time this was not a huge priority for me, so I was not tempted to increase the bid (and later work out was bidding with herself).
After quite a few weeks, we won the online auction and purchased the house for just shy of $480,000 AUD.
We actually were due to sign the final mortgage document on the day after Dans mum passed. So we had to get on a plane and our great mortgage broker so kindly sent the documents to Darwin to us to sign.
From here, I was probably 36 weeks pregnant so the dream home project took a back seat whilst we welcomed our son into the world and grieved the loss of Dans mum.