Aidan Curtis
A MOUNT Schank couple is excited for the future as they build their dream home and business despite Covid nearly ruining all their plans.
Rachel Gerds and Daniel Billingsley are on the verge of achieving their dreams after spending the past two years working to build new lives at Mount Schank.
The couple was initially planning on moving to Europe to start up a wedding and accommodation business, taking inspiration from English reality TV show Escape to the Chateau.
After spending most of 2019 upending their lives to prepare for their big adventure, they set sail for a year of travel in America followed by a new life in Europe.
Unfortunately for them, they departed in January 2020 and Covid had them scrambling to get back to Mr Billingsley’s home of Ipswich a mere six weeks into their journey.
After lockdowns and many worries, Ms Gerds and Mr Billingsley took a break in Robe ahead of a friend’s wedding and ended up changing their lives forever.
Mr Billingsley said he was struggling to sleep and habitually scrolling through online real estate when he found Mountain Path Meadows – a property at the base of Mount Schank.
He said they rushed down to have a look at it and were instantly enamoured.
“When we first saw it, it was late afternoon, there were beams of light coming at the property and it just looked like a lovely place to live,” he said.
“I would have bought it then and there for any price, but luckily Rachel has a bit more of a sensible brain in her head than I do.
“It worked out that this property could do everything we wanted, we could run a business from here, live here and that’s why we ended up purchasing.”
Then came two years of “back breaking” labour as the pair worked to revive their dream in regional South Australia and juggled a completely different adventure at the same time.
“While all this was going on, I was pregnant as well, expecting our daughter,” Ms Gerds said.
“Part of this dream of ours was, not only being able to run the wedding and accommodations business, but having an income that we could generate from home to be able to spend more time together as a family.
“I think we’re headed in that direction of being able to have more time at home, be the parents that go to all the sports games and still be able to run a business.”
They said they were naïve at first, believing they could renovate a cottage, build a business and parent a baby at the same time, but they have made it work to keep chasing their dream.
Now, less than two weeks from having their first clients stay in their off-grid glamping dome, the pair wants to get the wedding venue side of things up and running.
“It has taken a long time to just get out of the blocks and it feels like now the gun has been fired and we’ve just got to make it happen,” Mr Billingsley said.
“It’s really exciting.”
The pair is now looking forward to seeing all their hard work pay off and all the new adventures that might come their way.
