Crystal Waters Permaculture Community

At the beginning of the year Hubby an I were able to visit Crystal Waters, a Permaculture Community in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and about 35 minutes from where we live.  I have been learning a lot about permaculture and how we can apply the principles in our life.

We had organised to take a tour of the community with the lovely Robin Clayfield.  Robin has a vast amount of experience in the world of permaculture  and has lived at Crystal Waters for many years.

At the start of our tour Robin showed us plans and photos of what the property looked like before the village  was built.  She showed us how the plans has drawn on permaculture to design the layout and features including where dams and roads would be built.

Robin took us to look at some of the home within the community and showed us different ways that permaculture had been used to design the homes.
The weather was roasting and at that stage we had not had rain for months so we toured from shady spot to shady spot.

One of the homes we saw had been built with a grass roof (above photo).  I wondered how the owners were able to collect rain water but then Robin pointed out the stone edging (below photo).

Robin and Hubby

We looked at how some residents had built food forests around their homes, others had used fruit trees in their landscaping instead of ornamentals.

We talked about the shared spaces and small businesses that had been trialled and/or established in the community   It was a fascinating tour and Robin was an excellent tour guide.

There was a lot of information to take in and it has given us a lot to talk about since.  We are in the process of trying to learn as much as we can before we move to NZ so that when we are planning our property design we end up with things in the best place.

We are not moving for a year or so which is good because I think we still have a lot to learn.