Sunshine Bay has a very vibrant and caring community and nothing reflects this more than the pride taken in local gardens. The developers of Sunshine Bay maintain the estate and, to show their appreciation of the wonderful effort that residents put into their gardens, they conduct an annual garden competition.

Meet 2001's winners...

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Edwards of 110 Hume Road!!! Their beautiful garden won first prize in the Sunshine Bay garden competition. Filled with lavender and roses, surrounded by sprays of brightly coloured annuals, the Edward's garden is an incredible achievement in the three years since they moved to Sunshine Bay.

Second prize was awarded to Mr and Mrs Spinks of 19 Sunshine Bay Road – with a very stylised garden featuring topiary and garden beds, spilling over with beautiful pansies and a meticulous lawn.

This year the judges of the Sunshine Bay garden competition decided to award three highly commended prizes as there are so many beautiful gardens in the estate. The awards went to Ms Clarkson of 29 Thomas Mitchell Crescent, Mr and Mrs Lawrence of 40 Thomas Mitchell Crescent and Mr and Mrs Ziebell of 4 Hume Court. All of these gardens displayed gorgeous spring colours and great garden designs. It is an honour to reward the great work that the people of Sunshine Bay put in to their gardens. Mrs Ziebell was looking forward to buying more plants with her voucher from Batehaven Nursery.

Each year it becomes more difficult for the judges to select the winners as so many gardens are deserving. All previous prize-winning gardens are still a joy to behold and it is wonderful to see the new gardens also flourishing.

Special mention must be made of Thomas Mitchell Crescent – the gardens on this street are fantastic. In particular numbers 8 and 3, both in the final round of judging. We will be looking out for these gardens next year. Watch out for Lawson Place, this newly developed street is showing a lot of potential.

Throughout the rest of the estate there are some fantastic gardens too numerous to mention. Mrs Deane has been a developer in Sunshine Bay since its beginning in 1985 and started the Sunshine Bay garden competition.

"Presenting the prizes for the garden competition and getting to know more wonderful people who live in Sunshine Bay is very rewarding for me! I get a real insight to the community which has warm neighbourly spirit. People really get to know each other and look out for one another. I feel honoured to have my part in helping develop a wonderful place for people to live", said Mrs Deane.

The developers would like to thank all the hard working residents of Sunshine Bay for further enhancing the estate’s reputation as the 'garden suburb' of Batemans Bay.