Christine, Zac and their children, Liam & Kaya, moved from Sydney to Strathnairn one year ago for Christine’s work as a nurse. They were looking for an affordable suburb in Canberra with a strong community spirit. Friends recommended Strathnairn and they were sold!

We love the space and the serenity. The green suburb with lots of nature and water among the houses reminds us of Africa where the houses are often surrounded by trees. It’s just a beautiful place to live. We love getting involved in the community too, joining in on the Afrofusion classes, the early morning exercise classes and the community events at Paddys Park whenever we can. It’s very important to us to be connected to our local community.

Every evening you might find us walking out in the suburb. Our children love to wave hello to people walking their dogs. It’s very serene to walk past lawns being watered, enjoying the peaceful park and walking just down the road to our friend’s houses. But our favourite thing is driving the children to daycare in the morning and seeing the cows and ducks. That is the best experience in Ginninderry. This also reminds us of Africa where we could drive 30 minutes out of the city and see giraffes, zebra and warthogs just on the edge of the city. The cows are our favourite thing about Ginninderry!

In the future, we’re looking forward to seeing how Ginninderry keeps developing. The sustainability improvements on our home changed our quality of life so much compared to where we lived previously. These days we sometimes don’t even need to turn on the air conditioner, we are saving on our water bills because of our rainwater tank and are even paid by the electricity providers for the energy we generate! It’s very reassuring to know that we are not wasting water or energy and still don’t have to compromise on our lifestyle. “Today I baked a cake through the power of the sun,” adds Christine, “how good is that!”

It’s great to see more awareness of sustainability through good design. We love being a part of that and sharing our experiences. Some friends, in other suburbs, have even installed solar panels and had their homes retrofitted after being in our home.

For us, sustainability is about living harmoniously with our environment and looking after mother nature. After living in Ginninderry for over a year we now see the value of that and treasure it so much.

Meet the Neighbour is all about embracing and celebrating our friendly and diverse community. We would love to share your story as we build this community together. If you’d like to put your hand up for a future Meet the Neighbour send an email to [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

We look forwarding to meeting you!