John Powrie is the owner of The Eco Retreat, a property situated in Wootha, approximately 50km west of Sunshine Coast, Queensland. The property is a wildlife-friendly sanctuary as well as a recreational site and tourist accommodation, featuring a campsite and walking tracks. John wishes to build an eco-friendly retreat on the property with off-grid amenities, an organic garden and a sustainability education centre.
The property covers 21 hectares and is comprised completely of native vegetation, with around 80% consisting of subtropical rainforest habitat. The land is U-shaped and features ridges and steep slopes.
A range of wildlife is present including koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), swamp (Wallabia bicolor) and red-necked (Macropus rufogriseus) wallabies, lace monitors (Varanus varius), carpet pythons (Morelia spilota) and red-bellied black snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus).
Birdlife is abundant and includes red-tailed black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii), laughing kookaburras (Dacelo novaeguineae), eastern (Platycercus eximius) and crimson (Platycercus elegans) rosellas, brown cuckoo-doves (Macropygia phasianella) and finches.
