Coastal stories…
The gardener and the camper
Paul
I hear his voice. Beyond the row of white agapanthus Paul is talking with gardener Annette over by the van park’s vegetable garden. He’s dressed in his usual shorts, Tshirt, boots and broad-brimmed hat.
Paul’s voice has become familiar these past months that we’ve been coming and going from the van park. He is the friendly, talkative type. Somewhere in his seventies, not tall by any means, his tanned face bearded, he has a background in diesel mechanics and once worked in the Pilbara. Like many of his generation Paul was a conscript in the sixties. He now lives on a pension. His teenage daughter, with whom he shares a small car camping tent, attends school online.
Annette
I don’t know how long Annette has been living here in her small caravan and tent annex over by the fence that separates the van park from the pine forest. She works as the gardener. I learn later that she once worked for Diggers Seeds, the heritage seed company near Melbourne.
She turns on the hose to give the garden some water. Annette is planning to buy a home. She talks of a shipping container house, saying they can be bought already refitted as a dwelling with just power and plumbing to connect. I am concerned that she is leaving her home purchase a little late. Driven by a shortage of cheaper homes for sale, prices are rising rapidly. A woman who works in banking told me prices rose by 24 percent over the past year in this area. Statewide, they are reported to have increased by a little over 15 percent.
When Paul wanders off we wonder what he and his daughter will do when the van park closes. As a pensioner, rents are unaffordable for him.
Annette says he mentioned free camping. That is a temporary fix. What Paul needs is somewhere permanent to live. Despite this, he maintains a positive outlook. I hope things work out for him and his daughter.
Note: Some time after writing this article I learned Annette bought a house nearby the van park. I have no news of Paul and his daughter. The van park has closed.
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