Miranda You appear to be making all the right choices in life. I will be a little bit presumptuous by offering some advice on helping you to raise your child in touch with nature in this age full of all the electronic lures that keep the kids indoors. or, when outdoors, glued to a small screen, rather than the glory that surrounds them. I am writing a book about landscape architecture and have a section regarding the importance of embracing nature in the preschool years. - which I would like to forward that section to you. However, my computer skills are limited to email and US Mail. I don't even know how to attach a picture to the text. If you would like to receive this draft from my future book, send me your email or postal address, and I'll get it right off to you. My email is cascio.offsite@gmail.com Good luck with your new challenges and opportunities. Joe Cascio

Hi I have work in the building Industry for many years before venturing into Landscaping and Design. It come to this having a split level can be easy but you will need to think would you like to come up and down multi level home. I had a multi level home at Bonnells Bay (Newcastle) N.S.W. and found after living there for 5 year a bit of chore to go up and down the level so much. A single level flow better to go with a Alfresco Dinning experience, as if you have a guest at your house been entertain on the outside it make it hard to find a toilet if needed. I would say to your husband to weigh up the cost, it is simple and as follows a retaining wall of one level, can be anything from stone or besser block or timber. These element will be what you can afford to do, the stone and besser are the most expensive of the 3 but require the less maintenance and last the longest. Timber can be low cost, but has the tendency to decay over time and has a life span of no longer then 5-8 year, depending on environmental conditions. A retaining wall of that height of 1.5m, tend to need a engineering spec to built and so my advise is to go for the besser as it the cheaper then stone. if your are concern on look of the besser, it can dressed up with stone looking tile or there a number of option to go for. is to get the costing of doing a multi level home design. This can be costly too depend on if it going to be slab or bears and joist home, as the cost differ and different type of process have to happen. You got to ask yourself, is my house raise of the ground or is a slab that sit directly on the ground. to put it to you as simple as I can, for a slab need steel and pier to be dug and so on, so if this is the case then with your current house is siting on a cut and fill which is common for this type of slab construction. Where a Bearers and joist system sit on top of a raised pier that come off the ground. this is what a lot of the older style home have, the only thing about this not a lot of builder and trades people do not how to do this as it a dying art of constructing house. final option is to do a raise slab which raises like a retaining wall but in face bricks and a slab is pore on top but not seen form the outside and the face bricks continues As for the design of your house it all up to what you want for a house, you have to ask yourself can I use this for the long term or is something I want rather then need. Sometime we over compensate for thing and the saying in design is less tends to be best. a flowing design is a happy one and can be more of a chore to go with something that is wanted then needed. A little tip for your kitchen, make shore that the sink, stove and fridge are in a triangle form from each other as this flow the best when cooking. Any tip of knowledge on retaining wall just send me a message

Hi Jen I don't see them not raising the ground level to your fence, either way make sure they do the retaining walls before the rains start. If they replace the fence, that should be paid by them 100%. However I worried by your 3rd photo it looks like they haven't keyed the ground prior to the fill? ...you don't want slippage, remember Thredbo! If your block is big enough, here's some trees, beware of fast growing trees as they tend to be huge. http://www.citywide.com.au/mobile/blog/treescapers/2014/08/15/10-australian-native-trees http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/fact-sheets/in-the-garden/trees-and-palms/trees-other-plants-to-avoid/#.WJsiiXQZ7qA Don't plant too close to retaining walls.

anything to do with building and landscaping can be expensive but it doesn't all have to be done at once..from the contour lines it looks like there's a relatively gently slope from the alfresco to about halfway down the back and best options depends on what you need/want in the backyard... gardens are quite happy planted on slopes and grass grows anywhere but if you prefer a flat area then you need help to work out the best location for retaining walls and extra fill to level out some of the space .i'd invest in professional help to build a retaining wall that follows along the 112 contour line and fill in to make a flat lawned area with gardens beds along the edges..there are numerous DIY options for retaining walls under 1m but if you wouldn't do you own carpentry invest in professional help to build a wall..get some quotes from landscapers and bricklayers for a variety of options so you know exactly how much is involved..every situation is different and strength, safety and good drainage are worth investing in to give the basis for a great new backyard