John Martinez

When my wife and I had our first child, we sold our city unit and moved into a temporary house on the south side of Brisbane. When we had our second child, we knew we needed to find a permanent solution that ticked all our boxes - spacious, green, safe, good schools, plenty of nature and community. Almost by chance we happened across a house listing in Karana Downs and as we drove through the area, we both started looking at each other and doing that communicating without talking thing that all couples married for too long can do. This was going to be the area we were going to raise our kids. Eventually we settled down on an acreage property and haven't regretted a single day of leaving the city life behind us. We have all the space we could ever need for our growing family, lots of trees, gardens, hidden nooks and places to relax and explore. The parks in the area are top notch and great for kids and families. There's medical services, both the major groceries just 10 minutes away and multiple day care facilities. From a family perspective, the only real issue is the fact that there is only one high school in the electorate and the government stubbornly refuses to open another one, a saga that has been going on for several years now. That being said, on the up side our local member, Dr. Christian Rowan is generally very well liked for being involved and supportive of the community and often uses local community groups on social media to bring developments to our attention. Coming originally from the CBD, it was a real shock to me to see that, but it was a welcome change. Anyway, if I had to sum it up in one short phrase I'd say, Karana Downs makes you feel like you're living in the country, but it's close enough to everything you really need and far enough away from the things you don't.