While many young couples struggle to get a mortgage in the outer suburbs of Australia's cities, James Galletly and Alicia Fox have created their very own tiny mansion in a mini-suburb in the bush for around $100,000.

The whole house is smaller than many suburban dining rooms, but this is their dream home — on a large piece of land they share with over 70 other families.

The owner-builder couple cut costs, and got themselves into Australia's highly competitive housing market, by building small — on a land-share arrangement.

The cooperative in which they now live is a remote community located between Port Macquarie and Crescent Head in New South Wales, about five hours drive north of Sydney.

Living 'the simple life'

James Galletly and Alicia Fox pictured alongside the materials that would build their dream house. ( Supplied: Alicia Fox )

Goolawah Cooperative is a 'land-share' or Multiple Occupancy and Development, consented under NSW State Environmental Planning Policy legislation number 15, which allows for the 78 residential sites.

The couple were attracted to the simple way of life, in a remote bush community, about 20 kilometres from the nearest town.

"Being off grid we don't pay for any water or electricity so we keep our costs pretty low and we grow as much food as we can which keeps our cost down as well," Mr Galletly said.

"Our basic living expenses are just petrol, food, phone and internet," Ms Fox said.

"The concept of locking ourselves into repayments for 30 years — which meant careers for 30 years, just didn't suit our lifestyle.

"We were travelling for 10 years before we decided to build a house, so we didn't want to let go of that freedom."

It was in 2013 that the community got development approval to build more than one dwelling on the entire property — so there has been a recent building boom in the last couple of years with more young families moving in.

Building their 'tiny mansion'

Although James and Alicia's portion of the land-share is a relatively large one and a quarter acre block, keeping things small helped them keep costs down.

"We spent years designing something really small and really simple," Mr Galletly said.

"We wanted it to be just enough and not too much.

"We didn't want to have a large environmental impact."

The house dimensions externally are eight by five and a half metres and are less inside thanks to the straw bale construction, which stand at a half a metre wide when combined with the earth render.

"All the clay and the sand that we used came from the land we cleared to build our house, we used all that building material in our walls and on our floor," Mr Galletly said.

James Galletly at work on his hay bale house. ( Supplied: Alicia Fox )

The ceiling is made from all pallet timber which is a very labour-intensive process, especially in the way that they approached it, with their goal to cause as little environmental impact as possible.

"We've used all reclaimed timber, so everything turns up as scrap, and we need to bring it back to its former glory," Ms Fox said.

"It takes a bit longer than getting something from the hardware store."

James and Alicia learnt most of what they know about building with natural materials from their travels around the world.

"For the straw bale and earth rendering we use a lot of friend labour, through workshops, so we had people come and help us build," Mr Galletly said.

The contribution of labour from friends helped James and Alicia with building processes such as earth rendering. ( Supplied: Alicia Fox )

"It's kind of a traditional way of doing it," Ms Fox said.

"I think everyone who comes in and builds with us enjoys getting their hands dirty, being part of something that's going to last, and just going back to basics.

"The fact that you can build your own house is very empowering.

"We've been camping out for a couple of years while we built our house. Which exposes you to a lot of things, mostly the weather, so when it's really windy or rainy, that can be tiring."

The couple have now been building for two years.

It has taken this long because they want to remain true to their ideals of keeping their environmental impact as low as possible.

"We're hoping to be finished by Christmas — even though we said that last year — and the year before!" Ms Fox said.

Is land-sharing a viable option for aspiring home owners?

While a land-share option is a fraction of the cost of living in Sydney, it is not for everyone.

The dream of living a simple life can in reality be a lot of hard work.

How does this co-op work? Australian Standards apply for all dwellings and must receive council approval similar to suburban constructions

Australian Standards apply for all dwellings and must receive council approval similar to suburban constructions Annual levies decided by the co-op including a road levy and annual work levy must be paid to maintain active membership

Annual levies decided by the co-op including a road levy and annual work levy must be paid to maintain active membership Other cost outlays to members are power, water and sewage management systems that meet approved standards

Other cost outlays to members are power, water and sewage management systems that meet approved standards Membership applications need approval from the community

Membership applications need approval from the community The prospective member must first stay for a certain amount of time, be voted in by the community and find an available share

The prospective member must first stay for a certain amount of time, be voted in by the community and find an available share Joining fees are calculated as the sum total of all annual levies per share since the co-op's inception in 2000 Source: Goolawah Cooperative

Nitiyama Martin is an experienced land share occupant from the Northern Rivers who recently moved to the same co-op with her partner Sattwa.

"It's a different model," Nitiyama Martin said.

"You don't own this tiny little block like most people do, but you own a share in this very large piece of bush land so in a way you own the whole property."

Ms Martin said that financially, you can't get a mortgage from a bank to buy a share.

"It's no longer one of the very cheap options like it was in the 70s, so it's kind of low-cost but it's not no-cost," she said.

To finance their own tiny mansion dream, Alicia Fox and James Galletly gathered the money when they were working in Melbourne, before they went travelling, so they had savings to come back to.

There still was not enough money to build.

James Galletly and Alicia Fox's hay bale home pictured during the building process. ( Supplied: Alicia Fox )

"It was just covering our living expenses," Ms Fox said.

"We continued working while living very frugally on the land."

"In the northern rivers, land-shares started with the Aquarius festival — a big student festival," Ms Martin said.

"People who came for that liked the area and wanted to stay.

"It was old dairy farms — so it was cheap, and people could buy it and sub divide it and it became a multiple occupancy.

"Now the children who grew up there can buy a share for $200!"

Living in a cooperative community

James Galletly and Alicia Fox said that while building their own home is more effort, the rewards are far greater too. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Wiriya Sati )

Ms Martin is no stranger to community living.

"I've lived on communities most of my adult life," she said.

"I think the community is so beneficial for the kids.

"We moved to Goolawah co-op because we were up for a new adventure and Goolawah is a pretty young co-op.

"There are social events and gatherings of neighbours and friends, live music, pizza nights, there's a men's shed, a yoga gathering, archery, a golf course, a children's choir.

"It's a little village."

"As the village grows, there might be a bread baking group or a little produce shop."

But there are other challenges that come with community living.

Although Ms Fox and Mr Galletly moved out to this land-share for their freedom, part of the agreement to live on this particular cooperative meant accepting a new set of rules to abide by.

"No cats and dogs, no firearms, no violence, no fences and no cutting down the trees on communal land," were some of the rules, Mr Galletly said.

"You can do what you like on your acre and a quarter, but need to ask permission to develop communal land."

"There is a framework for this village," Ms Martin said.

"It's a democracy — there's no leader.

"All of those rules and by-laws are voted and there has to be a two-thirds majority."

"I see it like any club or group that meets together, there are always people who don't exactly agree on things," Ms Fox said.

"But we have a process where we can basically sort things out and come to a compromise and hopefully meet at a point where everybody's happy.

"And now that we're out here, the benefit of the sharing and living with the other people in the community far outweighs any financial gain which initially brought us to this."

Julica Jungehulsing is a member of the cooperative's media team.

"It's been really successful because there are a variety of people from diverse backgrounds, aged from two to 75 years old, bringing their different skills," Ms Jungehulsing said.

"Also we have a framework of adapted rules approved by the department of Fair Trading, and we have a set of by-laws we've worked out over the course of time which can be discussed in monthly meetings that we need a majority agreeing on.

"For example — no power tools after 6pm.

"The fact that everyone can be involved in the decision-making process is important for making everybody feel part of it."