Check out our website for more action www.ethicaladventures.com and Litchfield National Park Tours and Adventures
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Yes I know, it has been too long (again) since our last post however hopefully you will forgive us.
Time just seems to get away J
It is hard to believe that it is now almost April and we are
ready to roll with our tours. Vehicle is
ready, itinerary is awesome, brochures are in the printers, business cards
done, online marketing happening and the big one ....the website! We finally finished it. Made from all our own photos and built by us. We are happy with it (www.ethicaladventures.com
) check it out and tell us what you think.
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| ethical adventures brochure page 1 |
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| ethicial adventures brochure page 2 |
And to top it all off we have our first booking! Here we go!!!!!
But what have we been up to?
Well in between
getting the business ready we have been back and forth to Melbourne, into NSW
and even to Qld catching up with family, making business contacts and checking
out opportunities for our environmental programs.
Last year our friends Jules and Bobby were visiting us in
Darwin and they were contemplating a change in life. Specifically they were thinking of leaving
there comfortable existence in Armidale, NSW, pack up their bags and just go
... A fairly big step. No destination in
mind they were thinking it was perhaps time to go gypsy. Having made the decision they looked online
to see what sort of work was out there for people such as them and found an ad
for a volunteer caretaker position on an island.
This sounded promising they thought. Checked it out and applied and 2 months later
they took up the role on St Bees Island. Immediately on arrival we started getting messages of how lovely it
was, how the wallabies are so cute, sunsets sublime,
koalas, owls and ospreys and the list goes on.
They painted a picture of paradise with their words. And now having been there we understand what they were talking about..
St Bees Island is found just of the Mackay Coast next to
Keswick Island. As part of the Cumberland
group of islands it is in the southern part of the Whitsundays (home to
Brampton and South Mole Islands) and as such is capable of getting cyclonic
weather during the wetter season but for the main has a mild tropical climate.
At approximately 1000
ha it has woodlands, rainforests, grasslands, mangroves, reefs, streams and a
variety of animals and plants within each ecotype but most importantly no
deadly snakes!!! Can you believe that? It
is an amazing feeling to walk through long grass in the Australian bush in
summer and NOT have to worry about snakes (little things make me happy).
Since 1920’s it has also been home to a healthy introduced
Koala population which sprung up in the face of rampant hunting on the mainland
and fear that the poor little critters would soon become extinct (luckily for
them hunting ceased after the market for Koala fur dried up in America towards the end of the 1920's). These now form the basis of
ongoing research being conducted by San Diego Zoo and Qld NPWS.
Throughout settlement time St Bees has also had a private
lease arrangement on the island which began back when the island was being used
for farming purposes (1907). The big things
here were sheep, cattle and horses which it has been said were often swam from St Bees
to Keswick for grazing and provided for the occasional feast for Mr Shark that
lives nearby.
Although the island is now
a national park it is said that there still may be the odd cow getting
around. What is for certain is that
there were thousands of goats running rampant on the island up until 2007 when
they started culling them. Although kinda cute goats are incredible forages and can
completely denude any landscape if left unchecked (see islands of Norfolk) so
they are now in drastic decline and the native eucalypts which the goats
devastated are making a comeback ... more food for the Koalas also!
Unfortunately nothing ever is that simple and what appears
to be happening on the island is weed species such as lantana and prickly pear
are now spreading as the grazing pressure from goats has been removed.
Enter QNPWS who along with the Koala research
are now experimenting and implementing a fire management strategy which to date
has shown remarkable success.
I did say a private lease arrangement exists. Actually around 4 ha is private lease and
the rest is national parks. The leases
have the title for another 20 years after which...? And it is their interests that Jules and bob
look after.
So what did we do with ourselves on what is essentially a
deserted island? ... a day in the life ...
0600 open eyes and peer through the open doorway to the
beach scene beyond from the comfort of my double bed ... wallabies grazing on
the grass ... rays of light beginning to light up the bay
0700 get out of bed, wonder down to the centre house and
catch up with bob & jules, breakfast on the beach ... the solitary seagull
pays his respects...
0800 pack some supplies and head of into the hills for a half day explore ... koalas, tree snakes, lizards, goanna’s, owls, wallabies, roos, a couple of goats ... follow coastline back to base
1300 lunch with bob & Jules ... a bit of a read ...
afternoon nap
1600 wonder down to the rocky section of the bay ... watch the fish as they swim by and the
small sharks racing through the water and the little creatures of the sand.
1730 back at base for a couple of gin and tonics... sunset,
dinner and starlight.... and a foot spa !!!
2100 ...zzzz
I don’t care what you say I would live on an island forever
if I could.
