Putting down roots on Tamborine Mountain has been a breath of fresh air for Fraser Ross and his family.
As manager of sales for leading hotel chains, he struggled to recall the number of times his eldest son, Arran, had moved homes and schools.
Originally from Aberdeen, Fraser said he thanks his lucky stars he’s not there anymore.
“Australia is so stable, and people don’t realise how good they’ve got it. It’s the lucky country,” he said.
In 1991 he escaped Aberdeen when his Australian girlfriend persuaded him to move to Perth.
“I got off the plane fell in love with Perth and fell out of love with her,” he joked.
Western Australia was a breath of fresh air and so different to anything he’d experienced.
“The first thing that hit me was how far apart everything is,” Fraser said.
It was after winning a rugby match in Perth that Fraser was introduced to fellow Scot and his future wife, Lorna. The couple hit it off straightaway.
Fraser took up a job with the Sheraton in Perth which led to the beginning of many years living across Asia.
Their first destination was Tianjin in China in 2006.
“It was a lot of fun. The job was taxing because I was learning the culture. Learning how to work with the different cultures and with English being a second language it was very interesting,” Fraser recalled.
He laughed about starting up a touch rugby club called the Tianjin Chooks.
“They asked me what a chook was and I said it was a chicken with three legs. I said we had them in Australia and they asked me what they taste like and I said I don’t know we haven’t been able to catch one yet,” he said.
Arran was born in Beijing in 2008 and shortly after they decided the pollution was so bad in Tianjin they needed to leave.
The young family briefly returned to Australia before getting itchy feet and headed off to Bahrain.
“We found it wasn’t the adventure we’d hoped for. It was so hot and apart from shopping there was nothing there,” Fraser said.
“It was a banking place and a holiday destination for people from Saudia Arabia who wanted to drink very expensive beer. We paid $200 for a bottle of Jacobs Creek Chardonay.”
When a call came in offering Fraser a job as sales and marketing manager for the Banyan Tree Resort in Phuket he jumped at it.
“I met a lot of celebrities and politicians. The area was a great escape for a lot of people,” he said.
The job also meant travelling the world for about five months of the year and understanding another new culture.
“The biggest thing about the Thai culture is they are very emotional people. You form a bond with them that’s very emotional. They feel who you are. It makes you look at things in a different way, about how you enter a relationship with people.
“Loren was better at that than I was, she’s very empathetic. I’m a very black and white person.”
After two years they moved to Bangkok to the Anantara Hotel where Fraser succeeded to significantly boost occupancy rates.
And after trying for a second child for some time they welcomed Mathew into the world.
Then it was back off to another resort in Phuket before moving to Danang in Vietnam for four years.
“It was an amazing cultural immersion, very different from the Thai people. The Vietnamese are extremely practical and in central Vietnam extremely gentle, beautiful people,” Fraser said.
They spent COVID stuck inside the hotel, but Fraser said he was fortunate to keep his job and became the ‘head dog’s body’, which allowed him to get out.
With Arran going into Year 10 they decided to move to Brisbane and after a visit to Tamborine Mountain knew it was where they wanted to settle.
In 2021 they moved to the mountain and haven’t looked back, feeling the most stable and settled they’ve felt in years.
“Meeting a real community was important for us and the kids,” he said.
Arran has now just graduated from Tamborine Mountain State High School.
“I think the culture of the mountain is captured within the school pretty well,” Fraser said.
“The atmosphere and culture here is hard to beat. Tamborine Mountain offers that beautiful location, everywhere you look is beautiful. It’s a slower pace.
“Having lived around Asia there isn’t a lot in Australia that can compare with the pace of life and craziness of it. Every day is an adventure.”
Now Fraser is enjoying life in their own home and doing what for many would be mundane chores, like the mowing the lawn and gardening.
“I’ve done a lot of gardening, which I’ve never done before. I know the name of three plants now,” he laughed.
“I’ve been blessed my neighbours are serious horticulturists who have lent me their time to show me how stop me killing things.
“I’ve never had to look after any piece of land so even mowing the grass and doing the weeding and enjoying being outside rather than air condition and experiencing the seasons is amazing.
“Just walking the dog when you haven’t done that for 20 years is important.”
