Basically, the idea is to get a group of geeks together, buy some acreage in a beautiful area, near national parks, and a few hours outside Sydney. Reduce living costs, build a small house each, with a large common central house. It would provide an inexpensive but enjoyable place to live/way of life with a relaxed, free and peaceful atmosphere, surrounded by friends and some common facilities for enjoyment. We could grow some food and keep a few animals to reduce our food bills, and make the housing sustainable.
One of the main goals of the retreat is to provide a lifestyle that is low cost, enjoyable and community based. At the moment personally, the thing I lack the most, and miss sorely is the amount of free time I have available. It would be nice to be able to dabble in the things that are of interest, and spend a lower proportion of time working, perhaps doing contract work from home in a low stress environment. It would give you the time to work on those little coding projects of interest, study, write a novel or comic book, paint, build furniture, or perhaps even by removing some of the financial and time burdens of normal life would allow you to start a business.
For money, if there was an assembled group of coders, we could find contract work, and if we set up a business, then a proportion of set-up and ongoing costs (including GST and depreciation?) may be able to be claimed back from tax. We would even have the time and freedom to develop our own products if we felt so inclined.
On the land itself, there might be a few animals, some fruit trees, gardens, walking paths and possibly a small green house and shed/workshop.
There would be a main house, which is already on the land when the retreat is bought. This would be used for common areas including a large well equipped kitchen, guest rooms, and possibilities for areas such as an outdoor BBQ area, swimming pool, TV room, computer room, library, storage and computer server area.
Everyone on the retreat would have their own space in the form of a self contained house/cabin, with a bathroom, bedroom, and a living area. Anyone could do what they want with this cabin, including adding their own kitchen, plant a garden around it, etc…
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