While Vanitha Aridass’ story of uprooting her life to be with the man she loves is not especially unique, the story of the strong community ties she has made since moving to Brookwater definitely is.
Ms Aridass moved to Australia from Malaysia 10 years ago to marry her husband, Sundhar Narayan and in doing so, left behind everything that was familiar to her.
The couple recently built their dream home inside an exclusive Brookwater gated community and said despite living thousands of kilometres from loved ones, the community spirit at their new home was beyond anything they could have ever imagined.
“We are inside Augusta Point and when we first moved in, straight away our neighbours embraced us, they’re just beautiful people,” Ms Aridass said.
“Brookwater has exceeded all expectations and because this is a gated community, it means our children are safe and we know all of our neighbours now and are regularly invited to each other’s houses.
“When you don’t have any family close by it means a lot to have local support and because this was the first house we built, we needed a lot of advice and our neighbours were always ready to help.
“We also do a lot of work together, so if there is a working bee on, everyone comes out to help clean up. That’s something new we’ve never experienced, yet really appreciate.
“I actually thought people here would be different and they are different, in a very nice way!
The couple and their two children moved into their new home in November 2018, well before the deadline of February this year.
Their daughter was only little when the build started and Ms Aridass said while things were stressful with a young child, the build and move to the area were seamless.
“Our builder Steve from Steve Parcell Builders was fantastic and ended up delivering our home two months ahead of schedule which was great and made life so much easier,” she said.
“Before we moved here we lived in Springfield Lakes and while we loved our house there, we’d always known about Brookwater and envied the lifestyle here.
“It’s very green here which my husband and I love, and it reminds me a lot of Malaysia which is also a very green, tropical country and makes me feel more reconnected to my home.
“Our house also overlooks the golf course and we regularly see kangaroo families roaming around the back and birds singing.
“I’m a big believer in having an inner sanctuary and that if you wake up hearing birds it’s a really good way of achieving that.”