Parks and Wildlife advise that civil works in the ‘gateway’ (area immediately across the bridge when entering the national park) will commence Aug 10 and take approximately 2-3 weeks to complete.  During this time, there may be some traffic control in place once visitor cross the bridge and enter the National Park.  The carpark in the National Park will be closed for the duration of the civil works. Visitors wishing to undertake the South Coast Track or South Cape Bay walk are asked to park at the pull off area prior to the bridge, which will be signed to inform visitors.  Access to the Whale Sculpture and Fishers Point will be open, noting there may be some slight changes to traffic flow once across the bridge due to civil works.

23-29 OCTOBER 2017 
Spring has well and truly sprung, and birds are singing and nesting – ready to be counted for BirdLife Australia's fourth annual Aussie Backyard Bird Count.

Huon Bush Retreats and Buttongrass Retreat are offering discount rates for selected multi night stays around the time of the Great Aussie Backyard Bird Count. Spend two or three days enjoying nature walks and counting birds as you go.
Minimum stay is 2 nights, (minimum 3 nights if including a Friday or Saturday night at Huon Bush Retreats) Rate includes 2 adults using one bed. Extra people can be added $40/nt. All cabins include one queen bed. Extra beds might be bunks or rollaway beds. The exact cabin will be allocated on arrival.
Full payment by Visa or Mastercard at time of booking, no refunds, no changes.

​Book your accommodation using the chart below, then go to the Great Aussie Bird Count website to register and get your app.

The #AussieBirdCount is a great way to connect with the birds in your backyard, no matter where your backyard might be — a suburban backyard, a local park, a patch of forest, a farm, down by the beach, or the main street of town. Your backyard can be anywhere you find birds.

Each count takes 20 minutes and the data collected helps BirdLife Australia to better understand the birds living where people live. You can do one or more counts during your stay. Maybe do 2 different times of day in 2 different habitats. And as a little extra incentive, there are some incredible prizes to be won!

​The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is about to peak. It will continue through August, overlapping with the Perseids meteor shower. The best viewing time is roughly 1-4 a.m. Find an open sky away from artificial lights, lie down on a deck chair or an outdoor bath and look directly upward. This will naturally direct your gaze to near the apparent centre of the shower. Delta Aquarid is expected to produce 10 to 20 meteors per hour, under a clear dark country sky, like at Huon Bush Retreats or Buttongrass Retreat.
You don’t need to locate a shower’s radiant point to enjoy the meteors, but the concept of a radiant point adds a new perspective.  If you back trace all the Delta Aquariid meteors, they appear to radiate from a point within the constellation Aquarius. That is pretty much directly overhead during late winter in southern Tasmania.
Find the Great Square of Pegasus, draw a line to Fomalhaut. That is the very bright star in the dim constellation Piscis Austrinus, or Southern Fish. Half way along that line is the apparent origin of the Delta Aquarid meteors. See the graphic of the Southern Hemisphere Star Map, and Clifftop cabin at Huon Bush Retreats.
Winter discounts are available. Click here to book now.

Buttongrass Retreat at Lune River in Tasmania's far south will be closed for a couple of days due to a fuel reduction and habitat management burn. Buttongrass moorland requires a fire frequency of 5 to 15 years to remain as predominantly low grass and shrub type vegetation.

For the next few months, part of the view from Buttongrass Retreat will be blackened, but come Spring, the fresh growth will bring a field of green shoots and wildflowers. A mix of different aged vegetation created by differing fire regimes, is essential for the ground parrots living in this heathland.
​
During Autumn, Tasmania Fire Service and Forestry Tasmania will be conducting burns across Tasmania, subject to suitable weather conditions. These burns are part of the Fuel Reduction Program, aimed at reducing Tasmania's bushfire risk to protect lives, property and the environment.

See more info about:

• Tas Fire Service Fuel Reduction Program: www.fire.tas.gov.au/Show?pageId=colFuelReductionProgram
• Buttongrass habitat:
• Buttonrgass Retreat Eco-cabin  http://www.huonvalleyescapes.net/buttongrass-retreat.html

​

Many years since fire, the moorland around Buttongrass Retreat is becoming more of a scrubby heathland. Today's planned burn will reset the vegetation to a grass dominated landscape.
Within a year after buttongrass moorland has been burnt the vegetation starts to regrow, producing succulent shoots that attract herbivorous animals such as wallabies, wombats and grasshoppers. However, these species, particularly wallabies and wombats, also require nearby areas of unburnt habitat were they can shelter.
See more info about Buttongrass habitat response to fire at:
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/indeX.aspX?base=2876

Built in a fire susceptible and fire dependent vegetation area, the eco-cabin at Buttongrass Retreat has been designed to provide short term protection.
If you are ever in the path of an approaching fire, leave well before the fire reaches you. However if you become trapped, a fire resistant building is a good refuge. Radiant heat is the biggest killer in a wild fire. Radiant heat can be blocked by a solid object or barrier such as a concrete wall or building. This heat travels in straight lines, radiating out from a bushfire ahead of the flames and will bounce off solid objects and will travel through glass.
Stay inside, shielding yourself behind solid furniture, away from windows, while the main fire front passes. This will only take a few minutes. Houses mostly burn down after the fire front has passed.
For more fire safety info see:
www.cfa.vic.gov.au/fm_files/attachments/plan_and_prepare/frk_2013/Section3_Duringafire_ifyoucannotleave.pdf

About 45 minutes drive and 20 minutes walk from Huon Bush Retreats, is the worlds tallest flowering plant. Named Centurion (vaguely translated latin for 100), this monster is just over 100 metres tall. It is surprisingly slender raising the question how does it stay up.

The answer is partly the protection offered by the surrounding other super-tall trees. Lightning and wind are common causes of tall tree damage, knocking the top metres off. Centurion is protected by other trees around 80 metres and is on a slope protecting it from the westerly winds.

Another risk to very old trees is disease. It is really important to thoroughly clean your shoes before visiting a native forest. Great attention to all the little crevices with a scrubbing brush dipped in a tray of bleach does the trick. Be sure to remove your laces and complete the cleaning process with the shoes off your feet. You might like to choose an old pair of shoes so the bleach does not damage your good ones. The walk is quite easy, you don't need fancy walking boots but you do need moderate fitness and good navigation skills.

Book at least 2 nights at Huon Bush Retreats and we can loan you a tray, bleach, brush and map.

It is quite a challenge to get a good photo. The full height photo shown here is a composite of 3 images.

In 2015, Huon Bush Retreats participated in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count.

AUSSIE BACKYARD BIRD COUNT
17-23 OCTOBER 2016

The Aussie Backyard Bird Count is back for its third year — with over 40,000 participants and over a million birds counted last year, this is becoming one of Australia's largest citizen science projects.

It’s easy to get involved. You can:

• Register your interest as a Counter on the ABBC website

If you already have the Aussie Bird Count app on your phone or tablet, don’t delete it, an update will be available on 1 October
If you don’t have the app, download it for free from:

• the Google Play or
• iTunes app store

The results from 2015 saw the 10 most common bird species remain unchanged from the previous year, with the Rainbow Lorikeet once again taking out the number one spot. There were minor changes in the order of some of the top 10 birds – Common Myna, Galah and Silver Gull were bumped down a place or two, with House Sparrow, Red Wattlebird and the Welcome Swallow moving up the list.

Huon Bush Retreats is part of Sustainable House Day on Sunday 11 Sept 2016. There are 7 Sustainable houses open for inspection in Tasmania: Click here for the list and to register
You can now start planning your Sustainable House Day tour as addresses for open houses have just been released!

To obtain these addresses you need to register here: http://sustainablehouseday.com/subscriber-registration/

All subscribers go into the running to win an annual subscription to Sanctuary Magazine!

Registered SHD participants are eligible for discounted accommodation at Huon Bush Retreats for the week before or after the open day:

• 1 night for $185 or 2 consecutive nights for $250, inc up to 2 people using 1 bed. Extra people $40.
  
• On Sept 11, you will need to depart your cabin or tipee by 08:00 so we can get it ready for the inspections or checkin after inspections finish at 16:00.
  
• The 2 night rate can be used between Sept 4 to Sept 15 but not 11 and 12.
  
• Exactly which cabin you get will be allocated at time of checkin.
  
• Full payment by Visa or Mastercard at time of booking, no refunds, no changes.
• Book by phone 1800 770 224 and ask for the Sustainable House Day Special
  

Here' a sneak peak schedule for Saturday Oct 10th

8 - 9AM REGISTRATION & BREAKFAST
Tea/coffee and optional hot breakfast provided by Roy Leurs and students of Trade Training Centre Culinary Program

9AM - 4PM FIELD TRIPS...
Two field trips will run concurrently at this time. Both include morning tea, transportation, lunch and will depart and return to the Huon Trade Training Center around 4pm read details here

2PM - 4PM SKILL BUILDING WORKSHOPS
Registration 2pm for 2:30pm start. Departing: Huonville (private trasnport required). There are 4 workshops concurrently that you make choose from. Details released next week!

6PM PRE DINNER DRINKS 6:30 AWARDS AND DINNER CELEBRATION
Tasmanian Landacare Awards Ceremony and long table dinner by Roy Leurs and the students of the Huon Trade Training Centre made from local produce. Dinner tickets include drinks and transportation options available to and from the event.

To book any of these accommodations,
phone: 1800 770 224 from 8am to 8pm
or  Email anytime: info@huonvalleyescapes.com.

Millie, the rufous wallaby, was recently orphaned when her mother was killed by a car. She was found wandering the roadside and brought to us at Huon Bush Retreats. Bottle fed each 2 - 3 hours until now, today is her first supervised day outside, within the security of a fenced area. it will be a couple more months before she is big enough to wander on her own and learn the ways of the wild wallabies here at Mount Misery Habitat Reserve.

This little possum appeared unexpectedly at Huon Bush Retreats. His habits make us think he was raised by humans and brought here for release.

Instantly tame and looking for cuddles and treats, he needs to learn the ways of finding his own food and his place in the possum hierarchy (right at the bottom).

So small that in the wild he would still be following his mother, and with fluffy fur, not quite ready to totally fend for himself. For the next few weeks, he will receive privileged treatment, while he learns how to look after himself in the semi-wild habitat here.

Orphans ready for release are welcome at Huon Bush Retreats. If we know they are coming, we can help them settle in with supplementary food and shelter during their transition.

I was about to go to bed at about 10pm. I noticed the sky behind the trees was unusually bright so I called Olivier, from France, who is staying at Huon Bush Retreats. A few hundred metres to the labyrinth gave us a clear view of the southern sky, where the Aurora was active. Not a spectacular show tonight but a subtle green glow with just a hint of a few pulsing red beams.

Several Huon Valley Escapes properties have views to the south. Come for the waterways, wilderness and wildlife that we have on display every day. maybe you get lucky and see an Aurora as a bonus.

Tasmanian tourist town, Coles Bay, was the first to recognise that plastics are a major pollutant in our environment and waste valuable resources. They banned single use plastic shopping bags years ago.
Now, the ban is being implemented by the Tasmanian Government and applies to all Tasmanian retailers. In a bid to reduce litter and plastics pollution of our waterways and oceans, from 1 November 2013 Tasmanian retailers can no longer supply shoppers with non-biodegradable, lightweight plastic shopping bags.
You can buy a few reusable bags when you do your first shop in Tasmania, then help reduce the number of plastic bags by bringing your own bag each time you shop.
See http://www.plasticbags.tas.gov.au/