rose gums

What is a Treehouse?

Treehouses are magical places reminding us of happy childhood days spent climbing the branches of the back yard tree. They arouse our primal instincts from the times our ancestors were tree-dwellers. Treehouses kept us safe from the dangers of prowling animals or human attackers and this instinct has stayed with us in our subconscious. Sleeping in a treehouse is a beautiful and intimate experience. Perched up in the leafy canopy with the clouds and sky, just that much closer to heaven or our cosmic beginnings, one looks down on our earthly world, surrounded by wildlife and the natural world. One cannot help but feel in harmony with oneself and with nature. It transports you far away from the cares of the earthbound world. Stories abound in our culture about the life in a treehouse from the castaways in Johann Wyss' 1813 book "Swiss Family Robinson", the Tarzan and Jane books and movies, A.A.Milne's Winnie the Pooh and his friends, the elven city in Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, the1991 movie version of Robin Hood and more recently the movie megahit, Avatar with its potent message for saving our planet. Treehouse today are 'playhouses' for both the young and old.

Rose Gums gives that experience to our guests, through careful design and planning. Our treehouses, each individually named after our unique birdlife, are large at around 70 to 120 square metres, and designed not just to blend into the environment but be an important interactive part with the unique rainforest ecology. Each site dictated the design of the treehouses, hence are perched over the ridge line in harmony with the landscape, yet accessible with one step from the carport. The timber pole structure, using termite resistant local turpentine trees, gives sugar gliders a platform to cling to, then spring and glide to another tree trunk in search of nectar dripping pollen or the sticky manna-like sap of the local wattle. The timber cladding assists the long-tailed pygmy-possums, all 103 mm long, to climb to the roof top and scurry along an overhanging quandong branch to its family nest in the tree canopy. The elevated platform of the house allows rainwater to flow naturally along the contours underneath and not obstruct animal hunting paths, such as the long-nosed bandicoot digging for a feed of worms. The elevated verandas, ranging from 3 to 8 metres to the ground, enable a dual view of, the tree canopy where the real business of the rainforest is conducted, and the forest floor. The ubiquitous Brush Turkey, gardener of the rainforest, struts by, while the grating call of the Victoria's Riflebird beckons from the tree canopy. The large windows and glass doors offer panoramic views of the splendid wilderness, the largest tree on the property, eucalyptus grandis or Rose Gums spearing upwards along the ridgelines. The high, outward leaning poles that support the sails over the carport and decks are not only functional to stop the rain and sun beating into the building but allow for brilliant vistas of the sun and moon rising over the mountains to the east, star gazing out to the Southern Cross and Milky Way, and the ever present wildlife flying over the treehouses or being harboured in the tree canopy such as the mesmerising electric blue of the Ulysses as it dances around the vegetation.