She is waiting for the first sod to be turned on the site before her confidence levels of finally returning to the town where she grew up are heightened.
Ms Whinfield is among 26 people who paid a 10 per cent deposit on land in stage two of the Sunrise Estate development, which ran into problems with its planning permit application to Campaspe shire mid-last year.
The frustrating wait for her “homecoming’’ is expected to end later this year, once the land is developed and ready for her builder to commence work on the site.
“It will be two years in June that I’ve been waiting,” she said.
Ms Whinfield left Kyabram in the mid-1970s as a teenager and for the past decade has been living in her own home in Kilmore.
She sold that home in December and has been living in a rental since, having recently signed another 12-month lease in anticipation of an extended wait for her home to be ready.
The Wallan Hotel gaming manager lives in Victoria’s “growth corridor’’ and has been frustrated further by the speed at which developments in the region are developed.
“Since I bought my block in Kyabram I have seen developments in Kilmore and Wallan started and finished,” she said.
When Ms Whinfield bought her block ‘’off the plan“ she envisaged being in the house by Christmas 2022. She is now hopeful of being in her home by March 2024, a requirement of her building contract with Metricon.
Ms Whinfield paid $141,000 for her block, which would probably go for about $200,000 now.
She sold her home in Kilmore to enable her to budget for the new home development in Kyabram.
She said while the developer and realtor had been in constant contact during the delay it had made the experience no less frustrating.
"Fortunately Metricon have been great, absolutely fantastic. They pushed the contract back 12 months to allow for the hold-up,“ she said.
Ms Whinfield’s late parents, Irene and Laurie, were long-time Kyabram residents and her sister Dawn (Tonkin, wife of Howard) are well know Kyabramites.
She said the day they started to turn the land would be a big relief.
“I am excited to get back to Kyabram and for the town to grow. I will be looking for work when I return and sub-divisions like this will mean growth for Kyabram,” she said.
For now the name of her new street fits neatly into the scenario — she will be living on Horizon Court.
