What’s New At Rose Gums?

Lots has happened at Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat since our last eNews in May 2007 and our biggest news is:

Our FOUR new treehouses have been officially opened!

But that's not all we've been up to in the past months. Read the following news articles about us winning a TTNQ Award and our Carbon Audit.

Don't miss our "Win a FREE Weekend at Rose Gums" giveaway!

We hope to see you soon at Rose Gums.

Rose Gums Opening

On 21 July Senator Ian MacDonald opened our four new treehouses. We celebrated with 60 invited guests including our local Mayor and state MP, and were entertained by Khalida’s violin. The Mullunburra welcomed everyone to country by performing a dance.

Carbon Audit

Rose Gums has completed a carbon audit by an independent consultant. We can now gauge better where we can reduce our carbon emissions and take heart in the amount of carbon our 13 year old forest is locking up.

We are changing over to more efficient lighting and appliances; recycling more since our local shire council introduced a recycling program; and all our cleaning practices and products are as green as you can get.

Thank you Enjo and Enviroclean. To offset the carbon footprint of a guest per night Costs $1–20. This is an option for our visitors.

Community Garden

As part of the overall environmental management plan we now have a community vegetable garden. This 13x13 metre area is growing corn, tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, beans, zucchinis for our restaurant, household, staff and even guests. This organic garden is being lovingly tended to by Herman Xiong, our Hmong gardener. You can’t miss it as it is right on the driveway on the way to reception, near the tennis court.

Bird Sightings

Spring is here and the birds are extremely active in their mating displays. Jon has found 8 Tooth-billed Bowerbird courts and 3 Victoria Riflebird display posts on the waterfall track.

The Channel-billed Cuckoos have arrived from New Guinea to harasss the Currawongs and lay eggs in their nests. The Orange-footed Scrubfowl and Red-necked Crakes are calling at night.

Blue-faced Parrot-finches have been sighted nearby. It won’t be long before they forage amongst the grasses at Rose Gums.

Mr Lee’s Kitchen — 7 nights a week

Our guests can now dine every night in our own in-house restaurant as the traditional Laos cuisine on weekends proved to be so popular.

Lao requests guests to book by 4 pm that afternoon so he has enough time to prepare.

TTNQ Award — Unique Accommodation

On Saturday 13 October Rose Gums received its third consecutive TTNQ award in Cairns for Unique Accommodation. Winning the award recognised a lot of hard work by our reception, housekeeping, gardening and marketing staff. We thank all who complete our survey sheets and offer us advice as guest satisfaction is the most important part of our business.

Winner of the Guest Survey Weekend

Congratulations to Scheryl Peacock of Townsville who has won the “Guest Survey” weekend at Rose Gums.

New Web Site Pages

Check out the new itinerary pages and carbon credit page.

Guest Photo

Carmel caught the glory of the bottlebrush flowers thriving in the dry season. Each morning it is a wonderful sight covered with nectar-eating birds such as Lewin’s Honey-eaters and White-cheeked Honey-eaters.

Win a FREE weekend!

Win a FREE weekend for 2 persons staying at Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat in a one-bedroom treehouse for 2 nights.

To win answer the following question: "The Rose Gums reforestation is sequestering over 400 tonnes of carbon this year. How many trees have been planted?" (clue: read "Environmental Care" on our » website).