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When Barney Tompkins and his wife moved into their dream home in country Western Australia, they never expected a "grinch green" wall would one day be the only thing separating their bush block from WA's most expensive regional highway.
It was a stroke of luck the pair stumbled upon the little slice of heaven they have called home for more than 20 years.
"Before we left the UK, we drew a picture of our dream home in Australia," Mr Tompkins said.
"This was the first home we looked at in Australia and this was the home that we'd drawn … it was meant to be.
"The dream of sitting amongst a mob of kangaroos or watching the black cockies, you know, it's still thrills me to this day."
When the Tompkinses bought their home, there were whispers of the plan to build a highway, but nothing was set in stone.
By early 2021, work had started on the $1.4 billion Bunbury Outer Ring Road, now called the Wilman Wadandi Highway.
Years of construction on his doorstop has been "confronting" for Mr Tompkins.
He has dealt with noise, dust and even human waste left behind by a construction worker.
Mr Tompkins walks along the sound barrier wall that separates his property from the highway. (ABC South West: Jacquie Lynch)
His block was no longer the quiet hamlet he moved to.
"It doesn't matter where you sat in the house, there was shaking and vibration," he said.
"We have drawn strength from others. You know when times are really bad and the house is shaking to a point where you're taking ornaments down off the shelves and the windows are rattling and that's gone on for an awfully long time."
The highway officially opened last week.
About 15,000 cars are expected to drive past his home every day, but Mr Tompkins said he would learn to live with it.
"The road is open, nothing is going to change in regard to that but I believe that we as locals need to learn to live with our new normal," he said.
"Do I still love where I live? Absolutely. Am I still enthralled by the native Australian bush? Absolutely.
Jeff McDougall overlooks the new $1.4 billion highway in WA's South West from his property. (ABC South West: Jacquie Lynch)
Jeff McDougall, whose property looks over the road, is also learning to live with it.
"It's like that movie, The Castle, we're the king of the castle on top of the hill," he said.
"We can see the ocean from the front door, we got Roelands out the back way and now we have got the view of the freeway of people coming and going.
"It opened about five or six o'clock in the morning and as the first bit of the traffic started rolling through, we had our bedroom window open and you could hear cars buzzing."
"It's a lot noisier that what we anticipated. Hopefully we will get some sound walls and a bit of sound proofing to help get our little lifestyle back the way it is."
Mr McDougall is learning to live with the road and says it had to go somewhere. (ABC South West: Jacquie Lynch)
'It changed our life'
Debrah Lim lives about 700 metres from the road.
She can't see the traffic from her house, but she said she could hear the "whoosh" of cars going past.
"It has changed our life. Before it was just peaceful bird noise and bush sounds," she said.
Debrah Lim says it was devastating watching land being cleared to make room for the road. (ABC South West: Jacquie Lynch)
"[It's] sad really and sometimes I feel angry because I think there were other options that would have been better."
She said it was hard to watch the road go in.
"When the trees went down it was absolutely devastating. We knew there were thousands of trees in there that were providing habitat for critically endangered animals," she said.
"Hearing the crashing of the trees and the sawing of the trees, that hurt me the most I think."
One of the conditions from the Environmental Protection Authority was to rehome the animals.
Ms Lim has put up cockatoo hollows and bat boxes after the new highway removed habitat. (ABC South West: Jacquie Lynch)