A VISION SPLENDID

Hiba is a Persian word meaning beautiful gift, and that is precisely what Michael Carnes and Bob Lavis have given to their ocean fronting property on Bruny Island.

- KIRSTY MCKENZIE

When Hobart chef Michael Carnes and dentist Bob Lavis went looking for an escape hatch from their busy professional lives, they found precisely what they were looking for on Bruny Island, which is separated from the south-eastern coast of Tasmania by the d'Entrecasteaux Channel. They snapped up a 50-acre (20-hectare) block of land with sweeping views to Cape Queen Elizabeth and its own private beach on Adventure Bay.

The bolthole they named Hiba has grown beyond even Bob and Michael's dreams. While architect John Button, builder Phil Bosnich and metal worker Lance Hansen went to work creating a 700-square metre house that frames the spectacular views of the Great Southern Ocean, Bob and Michael set about turning "an empty paddock with two rows of blackberries" into a vast parkland garden that now occupies almost half of the property. More than 20 years down the track, it's still a work in progress, but a remarkable tribute to the vision and energy the pair has invested in the project.

The lake... "for no other purpose than decoration"... was an early project, edged in giant rhubarb and surmounted by a pavilion for entertaining, It's now a haven for platypus and hardy locals who are game enough to swim in it.