What a great project and piece of land for your retirement. That would be my husbands dream.
This is a plan from a small home being built near us. It appears to have the rooms you require, but maybe a bit more open to the outside with your wonderful views. Sorry this may make things more confusing.

Meant to mention, with my posted plan. Your double garage could go on the laundry corner. And front door foyer near kitchen area. Just more food for thought.

Thanks dreamer, we're getting used to changing tack. We've been convinced on 3 or 4 occasions we had things planned to our satisfaction, but then wake up next day & see that we'd overlooked something or weren't completely happy. I omitted to say in OP that to fit in building envelope house has to be no wider than 14.1 metres across back (slightly less at front) & 18.74 metres in length (we really are getting down to cm in our planning!)

You are wasting a lot of space in the corridor. By getting a design where the centre is opened and room off this you would gain 10-15% more useable area. Are you using an architect? I am currently building on a smaller block of 420 sq Mt, 3 bedrooms, walk through study, all within the Universal Access code. You need some ver creative and knowledgeable about extracting multi use out of every sq millimetre.

Thanks for your input HU. We are going back to architect but they've been basically working on ideas we've put forward. Forgive my ignorance but what's Universal Access code? Also, who are you using, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm guessing the answer is No , but are you allowed 2 storeys , or even do a basement a metre in the ground or similar ? That would make it twice as easy and 10 times more difficult haha .

Thanks pottsy99. We have looked at second storey but trying to avoid it as we get older. We may consider if we can find suitable plan with just BR 2 & 3 & bathroom upstairs. We'd want to keep main BR downstairs though.

Thanks Siriuskey - I'll have a good look at that

You've almost convinced me pottsy99. I agree with all the points you've made. Budget has been in the back of mind in relation to a second storey - I've been told it's quite a bit dearer than single storey. The average build price around seems to be $1,100-$1,400 per sq metre range for your average house. I must do a bit of research on double storey prices.

Happy to help you with other ideas

Much appreciated siriuskey

Thanks very much for photo in Ideabook Siriuskey. We're looking at option of double storey with BR's 2&3 plus bathroom upstairs. It would give us a lot more flexibility downstairs & give us more room in living & elfresco.

Sounds like a plan and fits within your budget

my suggestion for a retirement home for two (plus MPR and/or guests) is a single storey house with more generous rooms instead of upstairs to make ageing at home much more comfortable and this plan easily fits within the 14m x 18m envelope with good sized gardens (maybe a small pool with direct access to master suite) room for two cars or a car and golf cart and a gable roof would allow raked ceilings and skylight over kitchen to enhance feeling of spaciousness

Go with A - its a tidy little plan, the others are a poor use of space/design, etc.

Personally I would remove the street facing window from bathroom, rework the bathroom to include a toilet and remove the powder room to increase size of linen (broom cupboard/vaccum space as well). I don't believe powder rooms are necessary when there's already 2 bathrooms that can take toilets.

I agree with A as the best of what you already have

UAC is the building for disabilities and ageing https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2010L00668. It is a big document covering all situations. There are plenty of sites on the web that synthesise the necessary things to consider when building post retirement eg https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2010L00668
The principals that I gave my architect included : wider doorway, no corridors, plenary of storage, little maintenance, thermal efficiency, self cleaning glass, no sharp corners, no trip hazards such as steps, and courtyards so I can garden. What is being built delivers to my specific needs. Houzz has some inspiring sites. I gave the architect my Houzz design book, and Matt has used this to gain the ‘feel’ of what I was after.

in Houzz stories - How to future proof your house Things You Can Do Now to Future-Proof Your Home As You Age

My architect is Matt Smith from Jamin Design https://jamindesigngroup.com.au/#our-portfolio

Thanks for that oklouise, you do great work in these discussions. You've put plenty of thought into your plan & we'll pour over it tonight.

Thanks for those links kbodman14

HU-549858008 & siriuskey. We did like plan A except patio & living area were too small individually (we ended up increasing patio area & taking out living area - which feels a bit strange being indoor patio/elfresco). Re separate toilet, we removed that from bathroom for BR 2&3 as we don't like a toilet in the open in bathroom.

Noel, great location.
I am currently out our holiday house down the road in .bundalong.
I think you need to plan a patio that extends to the northern corner of the spouse so you can get the cross breezes. Your current indented patio won’t provide that.
For resale a double width garage or go a 4 m wide by 15m long with an over
Height door to fit the big boat in or your 2 jet skis and golf cart!
Cheers kate.

Thanks for the ideas Kate. Good point on the patio, we're playing around with different positions for that.

I love the master bedrooms with the wardrobe behind the bed head - am a total convert since having one in our current rental. Ours has shelves deep enough that suitcases can slide into the top area. You do need a reasonably long room to fit it in, and good lighting otherwise the wardrobe can be dark.

Thanks for your input Melt In ACT.

You will see our wall extends each side of the bed head. Allows 4 full doors behind

Love the plan! We too are trying to find something to downsize to ans I'm curious to know whether you would share your experiences? Also whether you had architect input or designed yourself?

No problems Alba, happy to share any experiences. We've been working on a plan for nearly 12 months now. A friend had a plan we quite liked so lately we've been playing around with that on graph paper. Have had 1 plan drawn up by architect but discarded that (see first plan in OP). We think we've got latest plan to our satisfaction so we'll sit down with architect in next fortnight & get things moving. Let me know if you've got any questions, all the best with it.

You are moving along well. Can I ask your experience with the architect & your reasons for choosing to involve an architect? Also, what sort of fee structure did you work on with them? I'm in some difficulty with trying to decide what to do next, but then we are in a tight budget constraint, 400K & struggling to find anything we like that fits our block with volume builders. I've gone to an architect, feel certain they will give me what I want in design, but can't see myself paying out money before I know that what I'm wanting to build is within our budget. Curious to hear about your experience.

Hi Alba, we chose a local architect on a builders recommendation. I can't find copy of their fee structure but we paid around $4.5k. They allowed three go's at getting plan right & then charged extra for each alteration (which we had one). The architect we used was excellent, turn around time was very quick & they were easy to deal with. In saying that, though, we'd sketched up the basic plan of what we'd wanted, including room measurements and placements & got them to draw them up properly. We spent heaps of time googling plans on the internet & modified to what we wanted. We changed our mind many times over the period & eventually came across a plan a friend (builder) passed on that we were able to modify & be happy with result. We also tried to get an idea on a reasonable cost per square metre for our area. We asked a couple of builders for estimates on plans we had & also checked volume builder web sites (some will give size of plan together with cost). That way we can approach potential builders with a fairly accurate budget in mind, without wasting their's & your time. In regard to reason for engaging an architect we felt they could give us good advice on getting house to function at it's best (use of light, cladding, insulation, plan tailored to our tastes, extra set of eyes etc). We figured that an investment of 1-2% of build is good value.

So Noel which plan are you using ?
The first one ?

We are doing the same, small block, smaller house, mid 50's, no kids now...YAY!!!
It's in council now.

If it is #1, can you extend pantry all the way along back wall?

Maybe you can't, you have something it would bump into I think...

Hi kiwimills
We’ve modified B a bit more & are happy with that. Moved patio to back of house so now more room in lounge/living. Good luck with your build

Thank you.

Can I ask how many sq mets.. Not including patios or front entry things.. Just over brick.?

Original plan was 183 living, 50 garage & verandah. New one we’re about to get done should be very similar in size

233 plus verandah..?

OK cool.

We are moving from 242, to 150..incl garage, lol

Enjoy all that wonderful space!!

Thanks. Did you cut back to 2 bedrooms?

233 included verandah & garage kiwimills

Thanks Noel... You have given me confidence to keep trying. After all it's not as if I want luxury, I'm more interested in all those things you mentioned for going to architect & why I felt it was an appropriate place to go. So thank you for the moral boost & good luck for your build!

I really love the work of Ross Chapin, he has really influenced my approach to homes in general! He is a US (i think) based architect who champions small homes and has a concept called a pocket home. I've read a lot of his articles and he likes homes that are homey and cottagey and small neighbourhoods with common parklands and great greenspace access. One feature of his homes is they are typically 1-2 bedroom a thing he often does is replace what would in other homes a whole room with a nook. So for example, a hallway might be extra wide but have a nook for an office that could be closed off with a sliding door into a spare room. Or an attic space that can sleep grandkids, dining nooks off the kitchen so entertaining is possible, like an oversized bay window. Decent living spaces. His designs are worth a look at to get some ideas.
https://rosschapin.com/plans/small-houses/
I've also stayed at a newly built unit for an elderly person. There was this large foyer space at the entrance with an extra wide door that was level with the paving, no lip at the entrance. It was designed so ambulance access would be easy in an emergency. The large foyer had cupboards with a laundry and storage, and then there was a bathroom directly across, again for easy emergency access. There was a phone in the bathroom too in case of falls. The whole area was tiled from door to bathroom for easy maintenance and access. The kitchen was simply run across one wall of an open plan dining and lounge area with like a corridor of tiling to designate it as separate. You can use flooring changes to create different spaces. It there were no awkward pokey spaces and it was the easiest place I have ever stayed for cleaning and organising. There is a universal access guideline, its worth checking things like bench heights etc...
https://www.architecture.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Universal-Access-Policy.pdf

Love a lot of those ideas & the concept fianou. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out further.

I am building ‘UA’ house now in Brisbane. Big issue the majority of LGA’s and building certifiers haven’t experience with bespoke houses with UA. They deal with respite centres and multi unit care arrangements. One design to one’s need does take effort ($$$s) to gain a building application approvalI had to have variations to the building code for no steps from the outdoor ares to doors, and was required for each door to have a SS drain. My architect has been very creative with wider access, multi use of spaces and low maintenance. So happy with the build

HU, I'm calling you HU for short, I love hearing about your UA build. I have physical limitations and its like a dream for me to one day build a home that suits my needs!

... and yeah the unit I visited was an elderly care place, and I found it so much easier to function in. And I remember feeling like "why can't I rent a place like this!" I have similar needs really, but being young it's not an option.