The Headland at Roaring Beach, Nubeena. Picture: Supplied
BY JAMIE AND INGRID
PROPERTY OWNERS
We discovered The Headland after spending our first 30 years together travelling and living abroad, raising a family, seeking adventure and experiences and pursuing creative careers.
We had a shared passion for sustainability and the environment from the time we first met and have spent our lives together exploring less conventional ways of living, gaining self-sufficiency skills, collecting preloved furniture and art and searching for small, humble shelters in nature in which to house them and us.
Owners of The Headland at Nubeena, Jamie and Ingrid. Picture: Supplied
The Headland.
The Headland.
Shelters where (even if just for short periods), we could escape suburbia, societal norms and expectations, and especially escape the crowds. Shelters where we could be in nature, be present with each other, family and friends, learn how to make and build whatever we needed, explore our creativity, prepare and share much cherished family meals together, and do as much or as little as we desired.
From the very beginning, our approach to housing was not the usual one. In fact, we don’t actually own a conventional house.
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We are caretakers of three cabins and a shack — all are a long way from the city and immersed in nature. One of them is totally off-grid and the other three are partially off-grid.
They were all hand-built by the original owners before being restored by us using second-hand, recycled and repurposed materials.
They all have fireplaces and not one of them is on town sewer.
The Headland.
The Headland.
The Headland.
The Headland is an old surfer’s cabin nestled in the forest above Roaring Beach on the southeast tip of Tasmania.
Bordered by towering sea cliffs, 200 acres of coastal reserve and only accessible via a 1.5km driveway through our own private forest, the only company we keep on The Headland is our own or that of the local native wildlife.
Not available to guests, The Headland has only ever been our private oasis.
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When searching for humble shelters we could be caretakers of, rescue and transform into places we could connect with those closest to us — and the environment — we had three simple criteria: they had to be small in nature and made of wood.
We call them our little escapes, and we happily rebound between each of them with our family and friends, or with each other and sometimes just on our own.
The Headland.
The Headland.
With each little escape, we ventured further and further afield. And each time our family and friends thought we were getting a little more eccentric, or reclusive!
Each shelter we’ve ever become caretakers of has required a fair amount of vision and a massive amount of work to rescue them. The bulk of which we knew — because of their location, our sustainable principles and our design aesthetic — we would have to do ourselves.
As a result, our skills and our confidence (thanks to YouTube University) grew to meet each new shelter and the challenges it presented. We now feel we can pretty much go anywhere and create anything and everything we need.
And that’s exactly what happened with The Headland.
The Headland.
The Headland.
The Headland.
After our first visit to Tasmania in 2017 for our 25th wedding anniversary, we decided to spend more time here and create a private escape for our family and friends.
We looked at over 20 properties, many of them stunning in their own way, but as soon as we first set foot on The Headland we knew it was the one. So many trees and animals, so much space and privacy. And so few distractions.
Working with a couple of surfer neighbours we spent a long time rescuing the old cabin.
Hand-built by the original owner’s son and his surfer mates over thirty years ago, it was their special place. After catching waves and lobster and abalone all day, it was a place to get warm, cook, eat, relive the day’s surf and get a good night’s rest before doing it all over again.
It was a very basic near-empty shell and in much need of repair, not to mention windows, a water supply, comfortable toilet, a heat source and insulation.
The Headland.
The Headland.
The Headland.
With the help of the neighbours, we added environmentally friendly wool insulation, a small bathroom, and replaced the Perspex sheets with actual glass windows and doors which were either sourced from recycling centres or hand made to fit.
The walls and ceiling were lined with rough-sawn Tasmanian oak from the local timber mill, the deck was repaired and a new fireplace installed.
Once that was done, we spent about two years designing and building the interior ourselves. From a platform bed with storage in the loft, vanity unit, shower and new toilet in the bathroom, to storage cupboards and shelves in the loungeroom and a full kitchen using various second-hand boxes, pigeonholes, an old shop counter and second-hand caravan appliances.
The Headland.
The Headland.
Completely off-grid, we also installed a solar electrical system and gas bottles to run the stove and the hot water system and installed our own plumbing from the rainwater tank.
Later, we cleared dead trees for firewood, repaired the outdoor toilet and storage shed, built a fire pit and outdoor cooking area in the forest, created a walking track to the beach and upgraded the driveway.
We were able to spend quiet, quality time on The Headland very comfortably and very peacefully.
We have spent the last eight years creating the perfect little escape in our little wild cabin and incredible memories at The Headland.
However, now that our kids are older, settled in relationships and forging their own lives, we have decided to pass The Headland on to new caretakers so they can create their own dream here, and so we can explore more of the world.
No doubt we will come across more small humble wooden shelters in nature and in need of rescuing — but that’s a whole other story.
The Headland.
The Headland.
● This day cabin is set on over 8ha of land at Nubeena. It is listed for sale with Wolf Property, and will be sold at auction on April 7, unless sold prior. Contact Marnie Canvin for details.
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