Shannan and Janelle Nelson
Every month, Catherine Park Estate welcomes new residents who are part of our growing community, here we ask two new residents what they love about Catherine Park Estate
HOW DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT CATHERINE PARK ESTATE?
Shannan: We came for a drive and we were looking for land this way and we loved it out here. We loved Harrington Grove and Harrington Park and the size of the land was good. We were looking to buy a block of land and this one was quite nice, and we knew Catherine Park was being built by the same people as Harrington Grove, and we loved the way they did that development so we really like it here.
HOW LONG WERE YOU LOOKING BEFORE YOU BOUGHT THIS BLOCK?
Shannan: Well there’s a story in that. We weren’t actually planning on buying but we were just having a look and started talking to the salesperson, and within 20 minutes we’d put a deposit on a block of land. So then we had to try and sell our house.
Janelle: Well we were thinking of buying, but we weren’t planning on doing it that day, we were just asking questions. But we realised that land in the first release was being snapped up quite quickly and we had an idea about the size block we wanted, and it was becoming a bit more limited in that first release, so we decided ‘what the heck – let’s just go for it!’.
WHAT MAKES CATHERINE PARK ESTATE DIFFERENT TO OTHER ESTATES YOU VISITED?
Shannan: The way it’s been landscaped. I’m an electrician so I see other areas – how they’ve been constructed and planned, and Catherine Park just has a really good feel and a good vibe.
Janelle: Also the proximity to Camden Valley Way in the respect that we’re not too far in. It’s the road we take everyday, and there’s not a great distance to get there.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ESTATE IN THREE WORDS TO A FRIEND?
Shannan: Beautiful, location, peaceful. It is very peaceful here on weekends. Even though you’re sort of close to your neighbours and Camden Valley Way, on weekends its quiet. Its peaceful. I enjoy it because I can hear kids running around and playing, and I love it.
HOW DID YOU FIND THE SALES PROCESS?
Janelle: The women in the sales office were so helpful. Shannan has knowledge about the building side of things and reading plans, but I have no knowledge so they were quite patient in my novice questions, whereas Shannan’s questions were a bit more complex because he understood what the diagram meant and what this stood for and what that stood for. So we had very different questions and they were able to help both of us. We hassled them a hell of a lot – we became regulars.
HOW HAVE YOUR EXPERIENCES BEEN WITH YOUR NEIGHBOURS?
Janelle: We only have one side without any neighbours – all the others are there. We have only experienced positive things with our neighbours.
Shannan: Yeah we have fantastic neighbours. We have no dramas at all. Next Christmas we are planning a street Christmas party, so we have excellent neighbours.
Janelle: [Not knowing your neighbours is] the scary thing when you don’t know where you’re going! And we did have fantastic neighbours at our old house too, so we hoped they’d be great here. There’s such a varied demographic out here. There are people who have downsized and grandparents and first-home buyers without any children and people with children, there’s such a wide variety of different age groups.
WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR CATHERINE PARK ESTATE AND YOUR HOUSEHOLD IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS?
Shannan: The way that they’re developing Catherine Park Estate, I think it will actually look like a country town like Harrington Grove, with those nice colourful flowers and trees. Everything will be established, we will really know our neighbours. It will be good to see what the football fields across the road look like – what types of sporting grounds they will set up there.
