This Way to the Sea

'How do you like the view?' the real estate agent asks. As if he doesn't know. Horses grazing on flat land below, hillsides of tall trees, uninterrupted ocean views, plumes of sea spray smashing against Grassy Head's north face. My heart is pounding. I'm elated, not just because it's so beautiful but because I sense this might, just might, be the alp by the sea Christo and I have always dreamt about. Having long thought of making a new life away from the city, Gillian Nicholson and her husband, Christo, impulsively buy a 20-acre banana farm at Grassy Head on the stunning NSW mid-North Coast. Then they have to figure out how they are going to make this heart-overhead sea-change decision work. Their knowledge of banana farming? Zero. Their knowledge of how to work the land in general? Minuscule. Their irrational joy and confidence that things will work out? Total. This is Gillian's funny, involving and moving account of their journey from being city slickers to finding contentment on their piece of paradise. Along the way it chronicles a husband and wife who are closer than ever after 25 years together.