28/03/2026
This is where it started. 9 Belmore Street, Crescent Head. 2006.
That's us on the steps of an old fibro fishing cottage we'd just bought β barely standing, overgrown, and completely full of potential.
We didn't buy it despite what it looked like. We bought it because of what we could see.
Crescent Head had captured us the way it captures everyone β quietly, completely, and without asking permission. The point break. The creek. The kind of stillness you forget exists until you're back in it.
What followed was years of research, architecture, and a genuine obsession with building something that belonged here. Rammed earth walls sourced from local sandstone. Passive solar design calculated to the exact latitude and longitude. Polycarbonate that breathes light through the building. A solar chimney that pulls the sea breeze through the rooms.
We wanted a building that would still make sense in 100 years.
The second photo is Villa 5 as it stands today β lit up at dusk, the bamboo grown tall behind it, the grasscrete driveway exactly as we imagined it.
Nearly two decades later, it has welcomed hundreds of families, surfers, honeymooners, and people who just needed to stop for a while.
Now it's time for someone else to write their chapter here.
Villa 5, 9 Belmore Street is for sale. https://crescentheadaccommodation.com.au/en/for-sale