Land in Western Australia / the Outback

Australia is one of those countries I don't really long to see.

Asia, love it there and have already been there twice. South America - I can't wait to visit Bolivia and Brazil. Africa... Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Zimbabwe... all fascinating places. And Europe of course, lots of things to do there.

But Australia?

I guess I am just not a fan of kangaroos, crocodiles, and Australia's landscape.

However I do like a bargain when it comes to real estate - and Australia has a lot of bargains when compared to the real estate prices in Canada.

And I also enjoy looking at the real estate prices of obscure parts of the world... eg. You can get a plot of land on the side of volcano in Hawaii for $5,000 USD. True, its on the side of an inactive volcano... which means no local water... but it is in Hawaii!

Western Australia (WA) on the other hand has vasts regions of desert and scrub brush for sale. Some of it is former farmland that has gone belly up due to extreme droughts.

Its the kind of place where you can buy 680 square miles of land for $360,000 Australian dollars, according to the website Satterley.com.au provide land for sale in WA.

There are homes in more habitable regions too, like in Perth, Beaumaris Beach, Brighton, Catalina, Eglinton, Erindale Grove, Jindalee Beachside and Princeton... but I really need to post a map of Western Australia so you know where these places are.

I went browsing on various Australian real estate websites and found some interesting deals.

#1. A plot of residential land in Perth for $8,500. Nothing built on it yet, waiting for a developer.

#2. 2032 square meters of land in Doodlakine for only $19,500. (Australian towns have such funny names.)

#3. $114,000 for abandoned farmland near Perth. 206 acres worth. See photo below.

I think my point here is that if the prices are low enough there is a certain romanticism to the idea of suddenly picking up and moving to a different country and trying something new.

Even more so if you're already independently wealthy - or have enough that you don't really worry about food any more.

However I must admit Hawaii is more enticing than Australia. I am sorry to the good people of Australia for saying this... but its freaking HAWAII! Its one of the most desirable places to live in the world.

And if you love sailing you could always just buy a ship and then sail from place to place... something I have frequently dreamed of doing, if I could find a way of doing it financially.

OFF TOPIC - Where does one look for used ships online? I tried Googling it and found on Kijiji an used 29 foot Westerly sailboat in Nova Scotia for $20,000.

So I guess my point here is that depending on what your real estate / career / travel aspirations are you can find cheap land in many strange parts of the world - and failing that, buy an used sailboat and then just sail to many strange parts of the world. Assuming of course that you have the financial means to get food and other things you might need along the way.

So if you're living in Toronto - or Perth - or wherever you happen to live, and have saved up a tidy nest egg... absolutely, why not follow your dreams and move somewhere interesting (or sail there)?

You only live once.