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That's the thing about living in a small place: people seem to know everything about you, and what they don't know, they simply make up, all of which makes me wonder how true the latest rumour is that our neighbours downriver have been offered $14 million for their forty-acre property.
Of course, ever since the first million-dollar-plus sale back in February 2012, when Jack's place at 5 Sproxton Lane sold for $1,200,000, million-dollar sales on this side of the river have become quite commonplace:
7 Sproxton Lane sold in September 2013 for $1,030,000; 27 Sproxton Lane sold in June 2016 $1,700,000; 19 Sproxton Lane sold in November 2020 for $1,300,000. 3 Sproxton Lane earlier this year didn't find a buyer because of some technical problems with building permits, I think. Farther up the lane, the former Sunlit Waters, which was never advertised for sale, had an unexpected walk-in buyer and sold for $4,700,000, and nearby 78-80 Thule Road is on sale for $1,300,000.
Across the river, things have also been heating up with the old decripit Steampacket Hotel selling for $1,600,000, and the new owners now also snapping up the adjoining River Café at 1 Wharf Street for $1,400,000.
Along the Highway, # 1398 is still waiting for a buyer at $1,850,000, and farther up the road 210 Nelligen Creek Road is under offer at around $1,500,000, with nearby 54 Allards Lane, which had been on sale for around $2,000,000, playing it coy and awaiting expressions of interest.
So what of "Riverbend"? I took it off the market a long time ago, after which there was almost an outbreak of non-buyers' remorse with people approaching me and wanting to know if it was still for sale (presumably at the old price of well under $2,000,000!) Would I still want to sell?
Every traveller wants to find a place where being what he is matters. That place is home, and after almost thirty years here, it's beginning to feel like home. I have some friends here, and a car mechanic I can trust, a dentist who doesn't overcharge me, and a GP who, even though his English is not the best, understands me (all our doctors seem to have gone to third-world countries to do their Albert Schweitzer-bit while we have taken in all the doctors from those third-world countries), and when I'm in the new warm-water pool in Batemans Bay three times a week, I almost get the illusion that I'm living somewhere in the tropics.
So, taking stock of the situation, would I still want to sell? Well, let's see if the rumour about next-door's property is true, after which I would have to stop buying more and more stuff that's tying me down here, first and foremost green bananas because I'm very much running out of time.
