2017
Water returned to the land
A council approved wastewater treatment and recycling system cleans what the site uses and returns the water and nutrients to the land. Pipes and power run underground in a site loop.
04 · The ocean village · Kianga, Narooma, Far South Coast NSW
Narooma
A homestead by the inlet, becoming a Sun Village. Six and a half acres that can already feed, water and power themselves.
Kianga Homestead, Narooma · filmed 24 October 2026 · Watch on YouTube
The place
Where the inlet meets the sea
Narooma sits on Wagonga Inlet. Gulaga stands to the west, the Pacific breaks along the long beaches to the east, and the dark stacks of Glasshouse Rocks run just south of town.
Kianga is the northern edge, across the bridge. The site is there: the Kianga Homestead, built in 1901, and a motel of eighteen rooms, with grass, gums, fruit trees and room to grow.
People have offered to buy the land for house blocks. Garry and Stina have said no. Their aim is to secure it beyond their lifetime, in perpetuity, safe from subdivision.
Our aim is to secure this beautiful site beyond our lifetime, in perpetuity, safe from subdivision.
Garry and Stina Kerans, July 2025
Already on the ground
The expensive, invisible work is done
30 kW
Sun on the roof
Solar on the motel roof, upgraded in May 2023 from 10 kW, plus a large solar hot water system.
32
Food growing
Around thirty two kinds of food plants producing: apples, avocados, macadamias, mangoes, lychees, figs, olives, coffee, citrus, berries and more.
Stock
Grass is eaten, not mowed
Fencing done. Sheep, ducks and chickens on site.
The motel
A working heart
The motel already earns. It can grow into an Ecotel: guests, new residents on a trial stay, and small businesses starting on land zoned for commerce.
Boats
And people who know how
One boat for the lake and prawning, a larger one for ocean fishing.
What comes next
From homestead to hamlet
The site's carrying capacity has been assessed at about twenty five small homes alongside the motel, around forty small dwellings in all. Getting there safely means building the water and the energy first.
Water
Four more 120,000 litre tanks filled from the large metal roofs. About 900 mm of rain falls here a year and the plan is to catch at least 80 per cent of what lands. One new roof, clear of trees, with a first flush system for the best drinking water on site. Town water becomes the backup.
Energy
A stand alone system that keeps working if the grid is too dear or goes down. Three ways to make power (sun, wind, and water pumped uphill for a micro hydro), two ways to store it (the high tank and batteries), and a generator as the last resort.
Homes and people
Small dwellings added in stages as the services allow. Anyone joining agrees to the site's tenet of ethics and lives here for a three month trial first. Skills and time on site are counted alongside money.
Where we honestly are
Done, under way, not yet
Done
- Land bought and lived on; homestead and motel trading
- Wastewater system approved and running since 2017
- 30 kW solar and solar hot water
- Fencing, stock, food plants, boats
- More than 23 years of community experience
Under way
- Bringing Kianga into the Sun Villages model as the ocean village
- Gathering title, approvals and accounts
- Pricing the tanks and the stand alone power system
- Filming the place
Not yet
- The final legal structure, settled with a lawyer
- An independent valuation
- Council approvals for the small homes
- Any invitation to invest
About money, plainly. Nobody is being asked for money and nothing here is an offer. Before anyone is, there will be accounts, a valuation and a structure a lawyer has signed off. Figures on this page are Garry and Stina's own and have not yet been independently checked.
Come and see it
Summer gathering, 11 to 14 December 2026
Walk the site, meet Garry and Stina, eat from the garden, swim the inlet. Bring your skills: water, solar, building, food growing, hospitality, fishing, bookkeeping.
Tell us you are comingSources
- Garry and Stina Kerans, Kianga Homestead, North Narooma, July 2025.
- SV Narooma: Kianga Homestead, where we are, October 2026.
- Drone photography, 24 October 2026. Every picture of the coast on this page is from that morning.