Karl Gallienne

About Karl Gallienne - Real Estate Agent

My home began in France, born to French parents (hence the name Gallienne), who dreamed the Australian dream of owning their own home.

Arriving in Sydney our first home was in migration housing, where I would announce to my parents I had learnt to speak some Australian.

A story that is now often told with laughter around the dinner table when we are together, I was only 4 and had actually only learnt some Italian whilst playing with the other kids.

Then began a journey with my parents in an old converted camper truck, up and down the east coast of Australia as fruit and tobacco pickers.

Home took many different shapes throughout these very adventurous times.

Then my parents decided this wasn’t the life they wanted for my sister and I.

Settling on a stone homestead in semi outback Oz with an orange grove in the Riverland of SA, home took on a whole new meaning.

We became an open door to anyone passing who needed a job, or a place to stay.

A variety of international languages and food flowed through this home and greatly influenced me.

Growing up here is were some of my best friends still come from. We all had canoes, built billy carts, rode our bikes and went fishing on the Murray River.

With my parents always working and entertaining travellers, I became very self sufficient at a very young age.

This gave me valuable life confidence.

On leaving home, I moved to Adelaide where I did a University Degree, a Bachelor of Arts, then in Cairns, I completed a diploma in Photo-journalism.

But I still had the travel bug and the need to find where home would be for me.

I travelled back to France and began a new understanding as a young adult of my home country and discovered my origins had always stayed with me.

It seems that my heritage opened up a whole other world that many others didn’t have the privilege of experiencing and this I cherished.

Hospitality allowed me to move around a lot and also set me up to really understand the differences in people and the importance of good service, pleasing the customer so that they had a great experience.

The next chapter took me to Margaret River WA, which became my home for the next 10 years.

Here I took an interesting turn, I assisted in setting up a vineyard from scratch, established and managed a cellar door sales, looked after the marketing, and then moved on to winemaking.

This wonderful time in Margaret River is also where I met my wife, Cheryl.

We travelled together for 2 years around Europe before returning to Margaret River where we built our first home together.

Home took on an even bigger meaning and it became a place of building memories, I now had someone to share it with.

During this time we had a holiday in Tasmania, back in 2003, the typical 2 weeks in a camper doing ‘the loop’ expecting to do and see everything.

We fell in love, and little did we know at the time that in a few years, Tasmania would become our forever home! In 2007 we sold up and bought a new home in the Huon Valley where we are today.

Only spending a couple of days in the Huon on our flying visit was enough to draw us back here again.

There was something magical, was it the people, the landscape, the sense of community or a time gone by and all this so close to Hobart.

Cheryl and I purchased in the hills of Franklin, right in the heart of the Valley, now we cannot see ourselves anywhere else. 15 years later, this is still home. We found it!

During the first 6 months in Tassie, we worked for Home Hill winery and I helped a local builder build sheds. Then an opportunity came up to move into the real estate industry.

Suddenly I had now found both my forever home and work.

Growing my skills and knowledge over the last 15 years has been a fulfilling and rewarding experience.

I have found so much joy in helping so many people.

My first mentor in the industry taught me very early on it’s about people, you just need to listen, how right he was.

I often get told that I am ‘not like other real estate agents’.

It turns out that just doing the right thing for the right reasons has unknowingly been the most important thing in today’s modern real estate world.

I thrive helping people with their dreams or simply taking away the stress of a difficult situation.

Connect with Karl Gallienne on social media Facebook, LinkedIn.