Large swells coupled with high tides are continuing to erode our beaches and threaten the showpiece of our region, the Great Ocean Road itself. Significant works have been undertaken in recent years at Spout Creek thanks to a $2m investment from the State Government and now a large rip has gouged the dunes next to the Mad Max house at Fairhaven. The steps are currently closed and were extended around this time last year as well, as you can see from the fresh timber at the bottom of the photo below.

It looks like they will need to be extended again..

It’s lucky this didn’t happen 100 metres to the west, otherwise the Fairhaven Surf Club might be on stilts!

Today marks the last day of the 2022/23 financial year. A year in which the Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate 12 times, judging that the risk of inflation staying too high for too long, outweighed the financial stress that will hurt households and businesses. Time will tell if this was the right thing to do. We certainly haven’t seen a great number of properties hit the market due to mortgage stress thankfully and even at the height of the GFC, we didn’t see too many in our area need to sell in a hurry. It will be interesting to see how 2023/24 unfolds. Prices certainly haven’t dropped here however the Days on Market (in real estate lingo, the average time properties take to sell) has increased in recent months.