Girraween Rural Retreat

David and Susan love the rural environment being surrounded by indigenous bush on the property. David is a professional photographer and only too happy to impart photographic tips if required. David and Susan have extensive knowledge of the indigenous fauna and flora and bush food located on the property. They also have two domesticated pure Alpine dingoes that love to greet you. We enjoy discussing the attributes that make up a dingo, and their characteristics that set them well apart from domesticated dogs.

Davids has a particular passion for the bird life on the property and has put together a portfolio of bird images photographed on the property along with indigenous flora images. Having observed the variety of birds on the property over 15 years, he has much to talk about the birds and their habits and nesting sites.

David and Susan spent years in Arnhem Land so are happy to impart aspects of aboriginal culture they have learned while living in aboriginal communities. David managed an Aboriginal Art Centre on Galiwinku and has samples of aboriginal artifacts and art that he is happy to discuss from stone axes to artwork on bark. This includes the uses of indigenous flora and their aboriginal uses.

We very much enjoy having guests share our property and discussing how special the property is. Of course, there is much to see off the property and are happy to assist with knowledge we have gained over our 46 years in the Northern Territory.

We enjoy seeing the pleasure of our guests relaxing on the two decks or in the pool. If requested we also enjoy handing on cultural, fauna and flora knowledge of the area. If requested we are happy to impart knowledge of what to see and visit off the property within the neighbourhood and draw on our 46 years in the Northern Territory.

In the morning and evenings of the cool dry season we love lighting the campfire and having a chat over billy tea, campfire cooked treats and the inevitable fire melted marshmallows.

Both Susan and I are bushies at heart, and at our first opportunity moved from suburban life to a rural lifestyle. We love gardening and have enjoyed landscaping around the main house and your unit. The rest of the property is indigenous flora and we have propagated additional indigenous species that attract birds.

The black skies at night, without interference from artificial lights, give amazing stargazing conditions of the constellations and the milky way. Waking up in the morning to the sounds of a multitude of birds is as pleasurable as hearing rain on the corrugated roof and the smell of the wet earth.

Once the birds have roosted at night, the silence without traffic and the normal associated sounds of city life is healing as is the howls from our dingoes. Guests have reported it brings a smile to their face when they howl in harmony.

One of our pleasures is with coffee or tea in hand, we walk the several kilometres of well-maintained tracks in the cool of the morning and evenings. Of course, our dingoes tag along while we are engaging with the presence of the bird life. The odd lizards occasionally scamper by and we search for animal tracks on the walking track that tell us the story of activity over the previous night.

As a treat, when in season, we indulge ourselves in the pickings of indigenous bush tucker picked of bushes and trees as we walk the track. One of the skills we learnt from aboriginals while living in Arnhem Land.

With all these pleasures of rural life we are only 12 kilometres from Coolalinga that boast two supermarkets, a shopping centre, two cafes, gymnasium, hairdresser, restaurant and fuel. What you can't find at Coolalinga you will find in the satellite city of Palmerston only a further 11 kilometres.

Further afield by 40 km is Fogg Dam where the fauna and flora are stunning in their natural habitat. Closer to your unit is McMinns Lagoon where birdlife abounds and a circumnavigating walking track.

Girraween Rural Retreat is unique in that as little as possible we have not changed the natural landscape. We have planted additional indigenous flora types to attract more birds. By respecting the bird life, we have annually returning birds such as the Imperial Torres Strait Pigeon that flies from Cape York Peninsula in Queensland to nest in the same tree on our property each year.

We have resident Tawny Frog mouths and Orange footed scrub fowls that treat the property as theirs. The kilometres of well-maintained walking track meandering throughout the property is an absolute first in the rural area and is regularly graded. This enables easy access to the fauna a flora over the entire property.