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By Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] W [/dropcap]e have all done it: browsed the property pages and found a renovator’s delight that prompts you to dream and ask “what if….?”

Except Melbourne couple John Watkinson and Colleen Guiney didn’t just close off their dream by closing the newspaper – and it was only the newspaper then – but took the next, huge step of actually buying the place.

“We had been looking at a couple of properties with a view to setting up luxury accommodation, and this ended up being the right one,” Colleen explains.

That property was the prominent, two-storey, historic home (b:1875) on the corner of Gipps and Regent streets, Port Fairy, a once majestic, white-washed stone building that had fallen into disrepair, but has since been spectacularly transformed into the Drift House.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] T[/dropcap]he house formerly known as “Riverdale”, for its proximity to the Moyne River, was owned at that time by well-known locals Tom and Irene Bartlett who at one stage operated a gallery on site.

“Tom was a bit of a collector, to say the least, and when we came to look at the place, even though it had been unoccupied for about five years, it was absolutely full of every conceivable thing you could imagine and multiples of those things,” John recalls, smiling.

That was eight years ago and when John and Colleen began the slow process of renovating, rebuilding and restoring the house, many of these things came in handy before they were relegated to the skip.

“We would come down on weekends from our place in Richmond and camp out here in the backyard and our boys (Milo, now 10, and Toby, 8) loved it. There were old kettles and toasters, about 14 chairs, six spring base bed sets…and it became their adventure playground,” Colleen laughs at the memory.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] F [/dropcap]ortunately there was also a working shower and flushing toilet, so the family set up a temporary kitchen in what was a brick double garage and spent the next six and a half years developing their dream.

The planning approvals alone through Moyne Shire Council took three years to finalise as it grappled with the contemporary-meets-historic design by Melbourne architects, Multiplicity, who also transformed the double garage into a small residence for the family.

And then there were the inevitable delays and cost blow-outs that come with any grand design.

“I must admit there was a couple of times when I wanted to give up,” Colleen says.

“There is no doubt it ended up costing a lot more money than we anticipated and also took a lot more time..but it has been worth it,” John adds.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] T [/dropcap]he Drift House was finally launched as boutique, luxury accommodation in December 2013 and combines the skills of both John and Colleen perfectly.

While both had only limited experience in running accommodation (“John’s parents had a B&B in the UK and we looked after that for a little while when we were in our 20s,” says Colleen), they have a sharp eye for what works.

John was previously a marketing executive, while Colleen, who is also a practicing artist, worked as a visual merchandiser – a person who styles products to make them appealing if not irresistible.

This potent combination explains why Drift House hit the ground running and has attracted awards, attention and accolades from around Australia and internationally since virtually the day it opened.

It was named best luxury accommodation in the Qantas 2014 Tourism Awards and recently took out the RACV Victorian Tourism Award for Luxury Accommodation for the second year running. It also made the finalist list in the prestigious Smith Hotel Awards 2014.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] S [/dropcap]uch was the enormous interest in the building, John and Colleen held an open home so that locals could wander through and take a look at the transformation.

The gold-coin-entry event was so popular, it raised $3000 for the Port Fairy rail trail.

Its appeal lies not only its funky design (such as slices of retro carpet on doors and fence railings as door handles) and its luxurious interiors, but its walking proximity to all the unique bits of Port Fairy, including the Merrijig Inn, Blarney Books & Art, the Whale Bone gallery, the Stag restaurant and on it goes.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] T [/dropcap]hese are the very parts of Port Fairy which Colleen and John have come to love and neither misses Melbourne.

“We work seven days a week, and sometimes late hours, but I still get to swim at the beach every day, do yoga or get down to my studio in Port Fairy, and John gets to cycle without having to get up at 5.30am to miss the traffic,” Colleen laughs.

“It’s a pretty good life,” John says, smiling.

[box]You can find the Drift House on the web here. You can also visit Colleen’s visual art website here.[/box]

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Tales from Port Fairy – step off the beaten track

Analysis – Carol Altmann

The closure of the iconic, fun-filled dive pool at Warrnambool’s Aquazone still makes no sense to me, nor does the almost $180,000 it is costing to re-tile the change rooms.

It is a case of where the Warrnambool City Council chooses to spend its money.

When I returned to Warrnambool in 2013, I was stunned to see the diving pool drained and derelict. It turned out, of course, that it had been empty since 2007 and only this year – eight years later – has the council finally decided what to do with it.

In a narrow vote (4 votes to 3), it was agreed to close it forever because of what was considered to be the excessive cost of repairs and bringing it up to modern safety standards. But was that really the only option?

As a 54-year-old dive pool, it no doubt needed work and in 2012 it was estimated to cost around $245,000 to repair the leaks and replace the diving boards.

Keep that figure in mind, because we will come back to it shortly.

Another problem was that, under new regulations, the pool was 20cm too shallow to permit a 3m diving board.

The council received quotes of around $1 million to either raise the sides of the pool (which included major changes to the filtration system), or deepen it, plus another $66,500 a year to maintain it, most of which would be spent on employing a life guard ($40,000).

Even though half of the cost might have been covered by the State Government Better Pools fund, it was decided instead to close it forever, fill it in and investigate installing a ‘splash pad’ at a cost of $550,000.

But there were other options.

One would have been to lower the 3m dive board, which would make it unsuitable for formal competition (but it had actually not been used competitively for years, other than school sports) and still available for fun.

Cr Brian Kelson also suggested another alternative, which was to make the 3m board a fixed board instead of springing.

This is exactly what Indigo Council did at the Rutherglen pool, when it faced the same issue with its 1-metre boards, but Cr Kelson’s idea didn’t even make it to the discussion stage.

Did the whole dive pool really have to go? Or was it a matter of throwing the baby out with the pool water?

It is worth noting that 1300 residents were asked by the WCC for their opinion on priorities at the pool and 20% listed the diving pool first, while 23% favoured a better gym and another 23% selected renewing the 50m pool: in other words, the diving pool would still be a popular place for belly flops, pikes and the occasional ‘bomb’. Only 15% opted for a splash pad.

But that is now all water under the bridge.

In the meantime, a large chunk of the $245,000 that might have been spent on sealing and repairing the diving pool (remember that figure from above?), has been spent re-tiling and replacing mirrors in the changerooms in a project that is due to be finished about now.

The two-stage upgrade is expected to cost at least $178,000, and we can reveal that at least some of the work in the male changerooms has had to be done again.

Last year, council spokesman Nick Higgins said the project was costed at $120,000, but this week said that was wrong and his mistake – subscribers can see our full exchange of emails in The Vault here.

As it happens, I just received a quote to resurface, retile and waterproof my leaking 1960s shower stall at a cost of $1200. The Aquazone job will cost nearly 150 times more than that. It may be an unfair comparison, but one worth contemplating.

And as you contemplate, please enjoy the selection of images below from the original Warrnambool swimming pool, which opened in 1962. You can also see footage from the opening here (courtesy of Jack Wilkins). Images below are courtesy of Lost Warrnambool.

[box]A lot of what is said in State Parliament never gets reported beyond Hansard, the official record. One of the more intriguing speeches that passed unnoticed was by Labor MP Don Nardella, who gave his assessment of the in-fighting and chaos within the local branch of the Liberal Party leading up to the South West Coast by-election.

If you want a take on what really went on, this is it.[/box]

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] M [/dropcap]r NARDELLA (Melton) — Today I grieve for the good people in the electorates of Polwarth and South-West Coast for having to undertake a by-election due to the resignations of Mr Mulder and Mr Napthine. These two by-elections are quite bizarre. Let me start. We had, ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, can you get me a seat in Parliament please?’ from Tom Napthine, asking his daddy to propel him into Parliament to replace him in South-West Coast. Tom Napthine stood for preselection. Unfortunately he did not get it, because the whole preselection process was quite bizarre, including the intervention of Mr Michael Kroger.

Mr J. Bull — Oh!

Mr NARDELLA — Yes, Michael Kroger; it was extremely bizarre. He had a go at the preselection. I will explain what I am talking about. About 18 months ago, Michael Neoh joined the Liberal Party in South-West Coast. He was the anointed one to replace Denis Napthine, and he was supported by Denis Napthine. Everything was set up. Michael Neoh was a councillor, and he represented the people of Warrnambool. He was in all the photos with Mr Napthine. He was Mr Napthine’s bestie — they were joined at the hip for 18 months. These two gentlemen had cheesy smiles, and they were synchronised every time they smiled. They gloated at each other. They were best of friends but then Exhibition Street stepped in — that is, Liberal Party headquarters in the middle of Melbourne.

Michael Kroger, the president, the saviour of the Liberal Party, decrees a couple of weeks before the close of nominations that there has to be a woman preselected for South-West Coast because the Liberal Party does not have enough women in the Parliament. That is absolutely true. Michael Neoh was snookered. He had spent 18 months in the party. They are very loyal, these people in the Liberal Party. He had a massive 18 months in the Liberal Party because he was the anointed one. He had the cap and the baton. Denis was running behind him and putting the baton to him, and he grabbed the baton. Then Michael Kroger whacked it out of his hand. He could no longer have the baton, and he was snookered by the people in Melbourne. He was absolutely going to lose. He was done for. What did he do?

He did not even nominate for the Liberal Party. He did not even put in his form because he knew that he was done over by the city folk on Exhibition Street. So much for democracy — this is a long-term member of the Liberal Party. He was in there for 18 months! He is nearly a lifer — he had nearly been in there for life — but he has been snookered. What happened next? The Leader of The Nationals went, ‘Knock, knock, knock. Michael, we want you. You’ve been so loyal to the Liberal Party and they’ve knocked you off. You’ve been in there for 18 months. We will have you now’. What did Michael Neoh do? He said, ‘Thank you very much. I’ll be your bestie now, Leader of The Nationals, and you’ll be my bestie. That naughty Denis Napthine — we don’t want him anymore. I want to be to be in the National Party’. So he has become The Nationals candidate for South-West Coast and we have this immense chasm — this division, this animosity — between the two parties.

 The ex-Premier of Victoria, Denis Napthine — this bloke who was going to save the Liberal Party after the disaster of the two and a half years of the Baillieu premiership in this state — was then steamrolled by the Melbourne-centric head office. His hand-picked candidate was poached by the VicNats, or the National Party, or the Country Nationals or whatever they call themselves today; they are still trying to make up their minds about where they are going. That is when Tom Napthine stepped in. He said, ‘Daddy, please give me a seat. I really want to be a member of Parliament. I am so loyal to the Liberal Party. I have just joined, so please, Daddy, please, Denis, make me a member of Parliament’, but the former Premier could not do that either because Michael Kroger said it had to be a woman.

This stalwart of the Liberal Party, Tom Napthine, had actually paid his money to become a member of the Liberal Party the day that he put in his nomination form — and he probably paid his own money — but he was snookered as well. He could not get his daddy’s seat anymore. It gets more bizarre. A woman candidate had to be preselected because Mr Kroger, the doyen of Toorak, had decreed that the candidate for South-West Coast, for Portland and Warrnambool, had to be a woman.

The Liberal Party had one in the field. She was very experienced. She had been a member of Parliament and a country mayor, so she had represented country Victoria not only in the local council but also in the Parliament. This is a bit bizarre. She was actually a long-time member of the Liberal Party. It was not just a case of her saying, ‘I’ve paid because I want preselection’, or ‘I paid 18 months ago because I am the anointed one’. This woman was a long-time member of the Liberal Party, but unfortunately she was not wanted; Michael Kroger did not want her. Donna Petrovich, the perennial candidate, was dumped.

Ms Spence — The failed candidate.

Mr NARDELLA — The failed candidate, the perennial candidate, was dumped, so they had to find another woman who had to beat Donna Petrovich in preselection. They had no-one locally, so those opposite went out and talked about how the Liberal Party is the biggest volunteer organisation in Australia. They got this woman, Roma Britnell. Was she a long-time member of the Liberal Party? Before she put in a form for preselection she actually had to join the Liberal Party! This loyal member of the Liberal Party had to join the party before she could actually run for preselection. She joined to become a parliamentarian. She tried to get on a farmer board to increase her off-farm income but was not successful. Now there was an opportunity.

I will tell you a secret, Speaker, about why she wants to become the member for South-West Coast. She wants the off-farm income. That is right; she went for a position on a board but did not get it, and this is her way of getting that off-farm income. She is only after the money. Further, she was not even wanted by the local members of the Liberal Party. There were the three councillors who had knocked off Michael Neoh from Warrnambool City Council, but the Warrnambool branch of the Liberal Party supported the country person out there. She might be the perennial candidate but she is a hard worker, Donna Petrovich —

Ms Edwards — Who?

Mr NARDELLA — Yes, ‘Who?’. We know who she is; she was a member of this Parliament. However, the good people of the Warrnambool branch did not want Roma Britnell at all; they wanted Donna, but she got knocked off by the city-centric Melbourne head office of the Liberal Party. Who are The Nationals running for these two seats? Mr O’Brien is running.

Ms Edwards — Not another O’Brien!

Mr NARDELLA — Yes, David O’Brien. He used to be in the upper house. This bloke ran for the South-West Coast electorate at the 2006 election. He went really well. The Nationals vote in South-West Coast in 2006 dropped by 7.3 per cent! That is how bad this bloke was. They did not even want him. Later he got into the upper house, but he was defeated by one of the following three groups: the Shooters and Fishers Party, Vote 1 Local Jobs or the Greens political party. He was not even good enough as a standing Nationals member to get re-elected.

Why is David now running for Polwarth? Because The Nationals have lost party status. As a bit of a refresher for members, you need 11 members in this house and the other house to have party status, but The Nationals party is on the nose. These are the people who do not believe that country townships and cities should be joined up with water pipelines and channels, like the super-pipe to both Bendigo and Ballarat.

The Nationals leader opposed the super-pipe to Ballarat during the 13-year drought. He wanted everybody to leave Ballarat and Bendigo. That is the lunacy of The Nationals, and that lunacy meant that in Shepparton they actually lost a seat after the intervention of federal Nationals member Barnaby Joyce. He went to SPC and said, ‘That’s a Liberal Party problem for Sharman Stone from the Liberal Party to deal with. I’m from The Nationals party. I don’t want anything to do with saving SPC. It’s irrelevant to me’.

That is the reason the member for Shepparton is in this Parliament today. The Nationals are just hopeless. They do not represent country Victoria whatsoever. There has been a reversal of roles. The Liberals have preselected a farmer candidate, and The Nationals have preselected a city candidate. We see a war between the Liberal Party and The Nationals. When Robert Doyle became the Leader of the Opposition back in 2002 he said, ‘Hang onto your hats!’Remember that? And we are all hanging onto our hats because of the division between the Liberal Party and The Nationals. They might all skip down the road holding hands, but the division is there and it is real. They have running partners, they have dummies, out there at South-West Coast. They really are concerned about losing that seat to an Independent. Swampy is running out there at the moment. (An honourable member interjected).

Mr NARDELLA — From Oddball. I reckon Swampy would be a fantastic member of Parliament. He would come in here without any fear or favour and represent those good people of South-West Coast. If they make it marginal and get rid of the Liberals, who have done nothing for years, then they might have a chance. That is why I grieve.

• Reproduced from Hansard, Victorian Legislative Assembly, October 9, 2015.

[box]Win! We have two bottles of Henkell sparkling wine to give away to one lucky subscriber. All you need to do to be in the draw is email us at editor@bluestonemagazine.com.au the answer to this question: “What is the best serving temperature for sparkling wine?” (The answer can be found in our latest Tipsy Tips column). Entries close 5pm Fri Dec 11 and we will notify the winner that night via email.[/box]

Remember this shed?

It is the former home of Porter’s cabinetry and was bought in February this year by the Warrnambool City Council from its new owner, developer and former councillor Graeme Rodger, for $40,000.

As we reported exclusively at the time, there was a catch – the $40,000 shed would cost up to another $90,000 to remove and relocate, making it far from a bargain. No wonder the council tried to re-sell it at auction a month later, in March, but it was passed in for $20,000.

A few weeks later, in answer to questions from Cr Brian Kelson, council CEO Bruce Anson revealed the shed was destined for council land in west Warrnambool, where it would be placed on an existing concrete slab update: bitumen flooring. Building another concrete slab would, of course, add to the rising cost of this “bargain” shed.

As we write, the shed is still sitting on Graeme Rodger’s land off Wangoom Road while a housing estate takes shape around it.

But we can tell you this:

the council received a quote of $170,000 to pull apart, relocate and rebuild the shed in west Warrnambool which, added to the $40,000 it paid, would have made the total cost of this used shed $210,000.

it didn’t accept the quote.

instead, the council will pay Graeme Rodger $63,000 to pull apart and relocate the shed. This is shaping up as a great result for Mr Rodger, who will now receive more than $100,000 for a shed that nobody else wanted. Now that is a deal!

the attempted auction of the shed through Brian O’Halloran & Co, including a newspaper advertisement promoting its sale, was blamed on a breakdown in internal council communications.

the shed is due to be moved early next year.

One question which remains is how much the shed will cost to reconstruct and refit at its new location. We will get back to you.