At Goolawah everyone lives off the grid – with no access to town water, rubbish collection, electricity or flushing toilets – cut off from town by a long dirt road – but connected to the rest of the world by the internet.
The commune on the NSW Mid North Coast is home to 65 people including couples, singles and families – most of whom have built their own homes.
From self-described ‘hippies’ to professional couples and families escaping the rat race, the beach side co-operative is an eclectic mix of Australians who decided to live off the grid but wanted a community to share the experience with.
Mo and Tarrik have lived in Goolawah for almost four years with their twin boys, aged seven. They moved to the commune to escape the rat race in Brisbane
Lexie and Mark have been members of Goolawah for eight years, living there for five – they say since the internet and mobile reception were improved they don’t feel like they miss out on anything
This family have been staying in Goolawah for a few weeks – they want to become members and move to the off-grid community
Mark says one of his favourite things is his outdoor shower – which he has kept using even after building one inside
When Daily Mail Australia called into the small community recently there was a bush fire looming just kilometres away – in just a few hours smoke had settled in the streets and hamlets – a water bomber was just a few hundred metres away fighting the blaze.
But the laid-back members of the community felt safe – hoping the fire breaks would protect their homes from a wall of flames – and their sprinklers would protect them from ember fire.
For high school teacher Tarrik, 31, and his wife Mo, 28, the move to Goolawah almost four years ago, with their twin boys Rami and Mucki now 7, was to get away from the rat race.
The couple told Daily Mail Australia they were sick of the financial pressures of ‘trying to have it all’ in Brisbane. From paying too much for rent to not wanting to owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to the bank just to have a home to call their own.
Lexie and Mark’s house has enough solar to ‘run two houses’. The couple have lived in the two bedroom property for five years
Tarrik, a high school teacher, on his way to check how close the bushfire burning through the area was to the community
‘Now I work three-quarters of the year as a school teacher and we have a great life balance,’ Tarrick said.
‘Last week I went spear fishing twice and I went kite surfing – we have the best lifestyle here,’ he said.
The boys travel in to school everyday. While Mo works on weekends – where she creates Henna tattoos at the markets.
The family have two lots of land in Goolawah, which total 2.5 acres.
‘The only thing we would do differently is we would build a nice cottage first – then we would build our house – instead of living out of shipping containers for two years.’
The couple have plans to build a bigger family home – so they will have two homes on their blocks.
Cindy wants to live at Goolawah – the 70-year-old yoga lover is currently staying in a home with her husband to see if they fit in to life there
Lexie and Mark watching the fire burn closer to the firebreaks on the edge of the community
Mark shows off his toilet – he uses garbage bins to trap the waste – then sets them to compost down for a year
One of Mark’s neighbours decided he needed a sauna – to use after a hard day’s work in ‘town’
Mark Doonan, 58, and Lexie Gonzalez, 43, have been living at Goolawah for five years – they have been through ‘a few’ solar systems – been flooded out of the community during times of flood and have watched flames from a bush fire whip through scrub just metres from their veranda.
But they couldn’t imagine not living on the community – and say now the NBN has them connected to the internet they don’t feel like they are missing anything from the outside world.
‘We have caught up, even all of our phones now have 3G or 4G. Five years ago we didn’t have the internet – and it would depend on your provider and which part of Goolawah you were in for reception.
The family said they have friends who are in debt and stressed-out with mortgages – whole they live the dream
No cats or dogs are allowed at Goolawah – this is to make sure the community doesn’t impact the local wildlife
This bathroom is also a composting system – they use one toilet until the compost bin is full – then they use the other – having a composting toilet saves each home about 70,000 litres of water a year
Snakes are part of the environment around Goolawah, this red-bellied black snake was found near one woman’s home
‘Now we have Spotify and we could even have things like Netflix no problems – it is satellite internet of course – we have no cables or wires here,’ Mark said.
When they bought their share eight years ago it cost just $7,000 to join the village, plus the cost of their lot. They say it has cost them less than $100,000 to build their two bedroom home, despite extra costs after a solar system died.
The price of share has changed over the years.
Now they have enough power to run two homes – and are getting an airconditioner installed before Christmas.
‘We have enough solar that we can run the air-con all day for free – without having to worry about if we have enough power for the television or to charge the laptop at night,’ Mark said.
But over a cup of homemade chai, Lexie who is a nurse, explained it hasn’t all been easy.
Griff, pictured, ‘likes round things’, so got Mark to build him a rocket-ship shaped composting toilet
He still needs to paint the rocket – but hasn’t managed to get around to it yet – he might paint the top part red
Mark and Lexie’s home nestled in the bush has its own vegetable garden, solar power and two showers
‘We lived in a tent for three months and for the first three weeks we had torrential rain. Then the mosquitoes came.
‘We had a pop up tent for some tools and we used the donga that was here as out outside kitchen because it was off the ground so it didn’t flood.
‘We couldn’t live in it though – it was covered with mouse poo, the smell was awful and the chip board had rotted out the back,’ she said.
It took three months to be able to live in the home – but a year to ‘get all the details right’.
Mo, Tarrik, and their two sons lived in the shipping containers on their block for two and a half years
People continued to work on their properties as the sky filled with smoke and the bush fire burned nearer – hoping the fire breaks would stop the blaze
Some artworks and the artist’s cabin by the road in Goolawah – the artist put the totem poles in when he first came to the land sharing venture
Now their home boasts all of the mod-cons – a television, internet, a computer and full-sized fridge.
’20 years ago in off-grid communities you had to have an ice box or gas fridge – they use most of your power – but the solar is so good now we can run one,’ Mark said.
Mark still prefers to shower outside, despite the couple having a fully-equipped bathroom inside.
‘I stopped showering out there when i saw what was either a baby brown or baby tiger snake out there one night,’ Lexie said.
Snakes, the remote location and threat of fire and flood are the key issues for the community.
But even as smoke filled up the streets the people who had been there for a long time remained calm – the residents can all contact each other in case of an emergency.
New residents Nityama, 58, pictured front, and Sattwa, 54, behind, are part-way through building their home
Sattwa pictured in the couple’s outdoor kitchen which will one day be used for his partner’s kiln
The home is being built to make the most of the surrounding landscape – and won’t need airconditioning
Sattwa has helped build a few of the homes on the commune – his own space will be open-plan – he will keep the wood natural
New residents Nityama, 58, and Sattwa, 54, have been living off the grid for most of their lives – they consider themselves ‘hippies’ and were putting together their sprinkler as ash poured from the sky.
Sattwa, a builder, was more concerned about the damage to the bush than at the thought the half-built home could be destroyed.
The couple are building their dream home which ‘won’t need air conditioning’ and will help them reduce their footprint on nature.
Inside the caravan where Nityama and Sattwa live as they build their own home further down the slope
The couple have some camping stoves which they are using in the kitchen until their home is finished
‘Living here is a privilege we are in it for the adventure,’ Nityama, a potter explained.
The unusual names were ‘old sans script names’ the couple have gone by for more than 38 years.
The couple are living out of a caravan – but have a hot camp shower and outside kitchen and aren’t in a huge hurry to move into their open-plan home.
‘We will be able to go into town for work – I do gardening and will have my own kiln here – and Sattwa will keep working as a builder,’ Nityama said.
The bush fire created a huge smoke screen behind the community before pouring ash over the homes
Tarrick with one of his sons, who say they love living in the community, so close to the beach and bush
Goolawah is set-out like a small village with different hamlets all connected by roads (which have signs)
A clothes line out the back of one of the newer homes at Goolawah – each person is allowed to choose how they live in the group
All of the land share plots are taken at the moment – but people are still wanting to buy in.
Mark’s sister recently bought a plot with her husband – after falling in love with the place during family visits.
Now yogis Cindy, 70, and Jim, 69, have their eye on the eco village – they are staying in Mark’s sister’s place to see if they fit in to the community – hoping to become members and move in.
To move in to Goolawah applicants must stay there, get to know the people and become members of the land sharing group. Once that has been approved they can apply to buy shares that become available.
Jim and Cindy want to live in Goolawah and are currently staying in Mark’s sister’s home to see if they fit in with the community
The smoke from the bush fire poured across the sky – the fire appeared to die down before the wind changed and it grew