Public sale not out of the woods

NATURE lovers will struggle to look past this large secluded property surrounded by national parks with private access to a freshwater creek – only the second of its kind to be sold to the public.

Mission Beach conservation group C4 partnering with the Queensland Trust for Nature will soon offer a revegetated 16ha block on Old Tully Road, Feluga, at the footsteps of the Djiru National Park.

The former banana farm was purchased by the QTFN in 2019 and is being converted into a private forest by C4 featuring more than 7000 trees including over 100 native species and will be ready for sale “in the coming months.”

C4 president Peter Rowles said similar forest buyback projects had been undertaken in the Daintree region, but this was a first for the Cassowary Coast.

“We’ve sold one revegetated block already, at Mission Beach, but with this one we’ve allocated about 4000sqm for (a) house here too, with the creek as your backyard.

“We’ve identified this patch as a very important corridor connecting parts of the Djiru forest, and you will see cassowaries wandering here – especially after the (Smith’s Gap) bridge is complete.

“Already there has been a lot of interest in this block and we’d like to do a deal with the owner where we continue to maintain the forest for them.”

Mr Rowles said QTFN had agreed to donate the proceeds of the sale back to C4 so it could continue its revegetation efforts and he expected the 16ha block to sell for more than $200,000 but the price would be set by QTFN.