Hi! Welcome to Daintree Homestead 😊 our blog about sustainable living in the beautiful Daintree Rainforest.
Daintree Homestead
If you’re like us, you’re concerned about the impact humans are having on this planet. You worry about the wasteful, ‘throw-away’ society that we live in today. You are also passionate about the environment and want to do your bit to preserve it for future generations.
Perhaps you feel overwhelmed by busy, modern living and wish for an easier way of life? You dream of escaping the rat race, and of owning some land where you can get back to your roots and be self-sufficient.
Or maybe you are looking for some everyday tips for greener living to help reduce your ecological footprint? Whether you live on a homestead, an acreage property, in a house in the suburbs, or a tiny city apartment.
Whatever your situation, we created Daintree Homestead to show you that it is possible to live a more sustainable life in the 21st century, and you don’t have to give up today’s creature comforts to do so (unless you want to of course!).
We also wanted to highlight all that the Daintree Rainforest has to offer. So this unique part of the world can be appreciated and protected for years to come. The Daintree Rainforest is our inspiration for greener living, and we want to make it yours too!
So, Who Are We?
We are Rachel and David, two greenie nomads who are passionate about the natural world and the wildlife inhabiting it.Â
Our paths crossed whilst backpacking in Byron Bay in 1999 and we then spent the next few years travelling together. We were lucky enough to visit and explore many of the world’s natural wonders. However, reality eventually hit, and it was time to settle down and call somewhere ‘home’.
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At first, we tried living in Brisbane. The problem was that we knew the suburban life was not for us. We would never be content living in the city long-term. We wanted to escape the rat-race and live a slower pace of life. To reconnect with nature and live more sustainably.
In 2006, we decided to take the plunge and moved from Brisbane to Cairns in Tropical North Queensland. We had a crazy plan to buy a large block of land in the rainforest, but with no idea how we would do so.
After all our years of travel, we knew that Tropical North Queensland would be perfect for us. How could we not love a place where ‘the rainforest meets the reef’? A place with two natural world heritage sites right on our doorstep!
Daintree Homestead, Our Dream Come True
We didn’t have much money at that time and had to work hard to save for a deposit. Two years later, we finally had enough saved to convince the bank to give us a mortgage! We then purchased a 10-acre property in the Daintree Rainforest.
The land had no house, no mains power and no sewerage. It was accessible by a small ferry over the Daintree River from the south or a 4-wheel-drive track from the north. In the wet season, both routes can be impassable!
Some people thought we were mad, and they probably still do 😉.
Once we bought the land, we continued to live and work in Cairns to save money to build our rainforest home. In the meantime, we spent many, often VERY wet, weekends trying to keep on top of all the work required to maintain our property.
It was a chore to drive 2 hours from Cairns, to do manual labour and sleep in a soggy tent full of mosquitos. But we persevered! Then, in 2010, we built our eco-friendly, off-grid home, complete with solar panels and rainwater tanks. Daintree Homestead was born!
Our focus then shifted to the impact the rest of our lives were having on the environment. We realised that we were unwittingly harming the natural world with many of our daily choices, and we decided to make better decisions to minimise our impact on the environment.
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How Can We Help You?
We are incredibly fortunate to be ‘living the dream’ at the Daintree Homestead. We want to share our trials and (cape 😉) tribulations with you to encourage you to live a more sustainable life, no matter what your current circumstances are.
It is possible to live sustainably without sacrificing modern-day comforts. You can live ‘off-grid’ and still have running water. You can experience all this beautiful world has to offer, with minimal impact on the environment.
We also want to inspire you by showcasing the wildlife and eco-systems of the Daintree Rainforest, our main inspiration for sustainable living. Our travels have made us acutely aware of the effect humans are having on this planet. Without a change in our behaviour, the Daintree Rainforest and other natural wonders of the world will not survive.
We still have a lot to learn; however, we believe that by sharing our experiences, we can help and inspire you to make more eco-wise choices in your own life. We all have the power to choose wisely, to make better decisions for our planet, our health and our well-being.