There was great excitement in the Bathurst Regional Council chambers yesterday as best friends managed to score blocks of land next to each other in stage one of council’s Windy 1000 development.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Council sold 42 of the 57 blocks on offer. The remaining blocks are now available for purchase.
Council general manager David Sherley said he expected those blocks to be sold over the coming weeks.
Mr Sherley said interest in the development had been very good.
Most of the blocks were around 900 square metres, with prices ranging from $165,000 to $180,000.
Gloria Jiang’s number was the second one drawn in the ballot as she leapt to her feet with a cheer to choose her land parcel in the new subdivision.
A short time later her friend Harry Yang’s number came up. In a stroke of luck the block next door was still available and he snapped it up. Harry and his wife Ting have lived in Bathurst since last August and Gloria’s husband Fan is moving out in June.
Harry, who works at Simplot, said he was still feeling overwhelmed by his good fortune.
He said he and Ting would now be able to build their dream house overlooking the river.
Harry thinks the land draw ballot was a very good idea.
“In China there is no way we could buy land because the land is all owned by the government,” he said.
Before coming to Australia, Harry lived in Shanghai which has a population of 23.9 million.
When he came to Australia, he moved to Melbourne which has a population of four million.
He likes the regional lifestyle much better,
“Melbourne is a big city and Shanghai is even bigger,” Harry said. “Bathurst is a really nice place to live. We want to stay in a regional area.”
Gloria works for Nestle in Blayney and is excited about owning her first home.
She is planning to build a family home where any future children will grow up alongside her friend’s children.
Gloria, who has lived in Australia for two years, kept repeating how lucky she feels to be able to buy the exact parcel of land she wanted.
“It has beautiful views over the river,” she said. “It was so exciting to be the second one drawn.”
She said she wanted to buy land because she feels it will be cheaper to build her own house, and this way she will get the house she wants.
