Danggaja Nature Refuge

The timber home with polished floors has windows and verandas on every side for excellent cross ventilation – no air-conditioning required. Spectacular views of Mt Bartle Frere to the north frame views of the Coral Sea and Barnard Islands to the east. A wood stove in the middle of the house keeps winter chills at bay and black wattle from the rainforest margins provides a sustainable source of firewood. The house is self-sufficient for rain-water with 80,000 L of tank storage.

Upstairs are spacious living areas with verandas, three bedrooms, bathroom and separate toilet while downstairs has two more bedroom/studies, a second bathroom, linen cupboard, laundry, covered clothes lines and two spacious undercover carports. Every room looks out onto garden or forest. The old dairy has been converted into an extensive shed complex with workshop, art studio and air-drying shelves to store cabinet timbers. A controller and inverter are installed, ready to connect to solar or wind power.

An above-ground, salt-water pool is joined to the house by a wooden walk-way which also provides wheelchair access to the front door. From the pool deck, Hinchinbrook island can be seen in the distance. There is a large fenced garden with fruit and nut trees and 4.7 hectares of fenced paddocks with agroforestry and cattle yards. Two permanent creeks traverse the property, with a waterfall and swimming hole just below the house.