Blamey Drive

Blamey Drive was going to be our forever house. That thinking changed post-pandemic.

The mass migration into Queensland, and in particular the Gold Coast, from other parts of Australia has made it feel unliveable. As of 2025, the Gold Coast is officially bursting at the seams with people and is feeling increasingly claustrophobic.

We made the decision to move to Tasmania after a road-trip in 2022 to see my parents. We did another road-trip in 2024 and while we were there looked for a house to purchase. We looked at multiple houses, nearly signed on one right in the middle of Devonport, and DID sign on the last one we viewed just before getting on the boat back to Queensland.

So Blamey Drive isn’t going to be our forever house… but here’s the story of how it changed over 24 years, from 2001 to 2025.

The suburb of Tugun

“Tugun is a beach-side coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Tugun had a population of 7,175 people.

It lies close to the border of New South Wales and is situated at the junction of the Pacific and Gold Coast highways – 7 kilometres north-west of Coolangatta and 97 kilometres south of Brisbane, the state capital.”

As purchased in 2001 | Pre-renovation

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Original front of house

Original back of house

Original master bedroom

Original laundry

House Exterior

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Front Yard

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Back Yard

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The Deck

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House Interior

Kitchen

Dining Room

Lounge Room

Bedrooms

Craft Room

Bathroom

Toilet

Over the years, the toilet has undergone a couple of renovations. The first was in 2009 after 8 years of the ‘beach’ theme.

The second was in 2024 after we had the bathroom done in 2023.

2009 Renovation

2024 Renovation

Stairwell

Stairwell Renovation

3 Videos

1:09

1:22

0:24

Under House | Garage

Removing house stumps after installing C-channel

Mum and Dad were up in Queensland staying with us and Dad led the way in removing one of the house stumps after Angela and I had installed the C-channel to support the wooden beams.

We sought engineering advice from one of Angela’s friends so we knew everything was safe and the house wouldn’t fall down.

Digging Out for Storage

To create a bit more storage for our house, we bit the bullet and decided to dig out underneath.

We started manually digging out underneath our house but after a full day’s labour, and about 3 tons worth of earth moved, we decided we couldn’t keep this up and it would take months to finish. Not only that we were sore. Very. Sore.

Bringing in the big guns

We decided to source a guy with a little mini backhoe, which would actually get in under the house, and he moved more dirt in half an hour than we did in a whole day. He was $80 an hour and it was money well spent!

New work bench

Mum and Dad house sat for us for 6.5 weeks in 2011 when we traveled to Europe.

Dad made me a work bench ❤️

Full-size entry to workshop

During the construction of the workbench, Dad hit his one too many times… so made the doorway a ‘proper’ one at ‘proper’ height.

Step Tiling

The step from the garage to the stairwell got a little tidy-up too.

Selling Pics 2025

These pics were taken by the real estate and were used to market our house in 2025.

Main House

These images show the upstairs part of our house, which was the main living area.

Granny Flat

The granny flat was the downstairs portion of the house and was fully self-contained with a kitchenette, living area, bedroom and bathroom.

The suburb of Tugun

As purchased in 2001 | Pre-renovation

House Exterior

Front Yard

Back Yard

The Deck

House Interior

Kitchen

Dining Room

Lounge Room

Bedrooms

Craft Room

Bathroom

Toilet

2009 Renovation

2024 Renovation

Stairwell

Stairwell Renovation

Blamey Drive - Stairwell Reno 01

Blamey Drive - Stairwell Reno 02

Blamey Drive - Stairwell Reno 03

Under House | Garage

Removing house stumps after installing C-channel

Digging Out for Storage

Bringing in the big guns

New work bench

Full-size entry to workshop

Step Tiling

Selling Pics 2025

Main House

Granny Flat