Imagine an early morning at 2-12 Glasgow Road, South Maclean.
With a coffee in hand, you look out your living-room bay window at the family of kookaburras perched in a nearby tree.
After breakfast you step outside and hop in the pool to cool off, where you’re greeted by more wildlife – this time it’s two colourful king parrots.
For Rick and Helen Tidy, that has been their reality for 34 years.
Although the Tidy’s have decided to downsize and head closer to the sea and to family – Bribie Island – they said they would miss their rural property.
“We spend most of our time, of course, outside,” Ms Tidy said.
“We have so many areas outside where we just like to sit and relax.
“And we have lots of wildlife around: king parrots and water dragons, a family of five kookaburras, and tawny frogmouths.
“That really appeals to us.”
Mr and Ms Tidy have seen plenty of change over the last three decades.
“When we bought the house it was just a shell,” she said.
Now the property sprawls across two levels, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, paddocks, a stable and a dam.
“We have a whole parent’s retreat upstairs,” she said.
“It’s got the main bedroom, an ensuite, a balcony that looks straight into the treetops, a small media room, and even a wet bar.
“We don’t use the bar as much anymore, but we used to have lots of friends and gatherings up there.”
Ms Tidy said the retreat was the feature they “adored the most”.
The downstairs living room has a two-storey bay window overlooking the property’s tropical garden.
“It really stands out as soon as you walk into the entry,” Ms Tidy said.
She said it was a private block with “no close neighbours”, that would be “perfect” for families with older children.
“Just leave the teenagers downstairs and you’ll be fine,” she said.
“It’s a very good horse property – we’ve got two-plus acres, stables and there’s so much grass.”
The neighbours they do have, Ms Tidy said, are getting younger as the years go on.
“There’s quite a lot of young people around, and we’ve got a school bus now too,” she said,
With the property now on the market, Mr and Ms Tidy is preparing to head to their new home at Bribie Island.
“We have family up there, and my grandparents owned a house up there before the bridge was even built,” Ms Tidy said.
“I get goosebumps even thinking about it.”
