"We spent the entire year fixing up the house, completely renovating it," Mr Bartlett said.

But tragedy struck twice less than a year later. First, Ms Costin suffered a miscarriage in January, then the Black Saturday bushfires struck.

"We realised it was going to be hot and windy but never expected that," Mr Bartlett said.

"We had embers landing in the paddock in the morning.

"We were planning to stay and defend. At 5pm Dad and I drove down to get some pumps in case we'd need them and within that 45 minutes the fire was already there.

"Ruth and my nephew and my brother were driving out and we couldn't drive in.

"We drove in the next morning and the whole place was gone.

"It was gut-wrenching, shocking - we didn't know what to do."

At the same time, they counted their blessings. "We're the lucky ones, we're alive. We got our dogs out as well," Ms Costin said.

"Even as I was leaving that day, at 5.30-6pm, going down the street there was a fire on the corner. I thought we were just getting out to be careful.

"Then Mitch came back and said it's all gone.

"I was pretty shattered."

The couple moved back to Croydon, where they stayed with Mr Bartlett's father, and knew straight away they would rebuild. "Absolutely!" Mr Bartlett said. "Within two weeks we'd already had new plans drawn up and went straight to the shire. I think it took only five days to get a permit.

"We poured the slab on the last weekend in April.

"It's the same site, but it's a bigger house and better layout. The old one was weatherboard, this one is solid concrete. We built the whole thing ourselves."

And in April - in front of friends and family who had organised a fund-raiser for the couple - Mr Bartlett proposed to his girlfriend.

She became pregnant again, making it a race to get the house built before the baby arrived. Luckily, it was completed by October, leaving just enough time to move in before Ms Costin was induced because of high blood pressure a couple of weeks before her due date.

She gave birth to daughter Tatum at the Angliss Hospital on November 12.

"She's awesome, she's perfect," Mr Bartlett said of his daughter.

"It's a good end to the year," his partner added.