LIKE many new residents, Ben Norling moved to Tamborine post COVID after realising the possibility of working remotely.
Since making the move two years ago to acreage, he and wife Joni and two daughters, Indi and Delilah haven’t looked back.
“We definitely made the right decision,” he said of moving the family from Brisbane.
“With the two girls it was a big decision to move them from their friends, but the opportunity to have land and animals and a more country community was a factor.”
“My wife loves horses and had horses when we met pre kids. We have four horses now and she’s living her best life.”
Although Ben has no experience with horses, he’s taking lessons with the goal of getting out together with Joni to explore the region’s trails.
Ben grew up in Logan and the couple got married at Albert River Wines in 2011, so living in the Scenic Rim he said holds a lot of nostalgia for them.
Indi is a keen basketball player, so he was thrilled to discover the Tamborine Mountain Wolves.
When he attended a club meeting and they were calling out for help to run the club, including for the position of vice president, daughter turned to him and suggested he do it.
Shortly after, with Adam Chanter stepping down as president, he was asked to take over as president in August last year.
“It’s been an eye opener for me. I hadn’t done true volunteering. I can’t believe how community sport relies on all these passionate and willing and giving parents who rock up every week and are doing things for kids who aren’t even their own kids,” he shared.
“Last year we surveyed the club and developed a forward strategy which is now published. It’s very clear what our priorities are and helps me with our fundraising efforts.
“We need about $40,000 a year to run the club at the level we’d like,” he said adding how supportive the community had been.
“We are one of the smaller clubs against the big schools down on the Gold Coast, but we punch above our weight and are growing. We have about 140 players from under 8s to under 20s.”
One of the problems facing the club, Ben said, is the lack of a full-size multi-purpose court.
He is working with Tamborine Mountain Sports Association (TMSA) President, Mick Angus to further Mick’s vision for the TMSA master plan. Applied for the
He’s hoping early next year to be successful in their application for a Regional Precincts and Partnership Program funding from the Commonwealth, which would involve a three-way partnership between Scenic Rim Regional Council, TMSA and a Regional Development Authority.
“I remain confident about it. It’s what I’m passionate about and my dream would be to project management it for the community,” Ben said.
When not devoting his time to the Wolves he’s busy running his project management company, Yellow, which was established 14 years ago and now specialises in community projects related to disaster risk and management.
He and Joni have also bought three sheep with the view to breeding them to eat.
