2287 Mt Elephant Road

Gray TAS 7215

Elephant Hide Mount Elephant
This high priority conservancy area of temperate rain forest occupies two adjacent lots of 40 acres on Mount Elephant, overlooking the Chain of Lagoons Beach. In an extensive report by the Tasmania Land Conservancy, formerly the RFA, this old growth forest received its top score for fauna and flora species largely because of the strands of endangered Brookers gum,native olive & dogwood as well as its threatened wildlife, notably the blind velvet worm. Within easy reach of facilities at St Marys and the seaside town of Bicheno via the scenic Elephant Pass, this secluded rain forest enclave is 4km along Elephant Farm Road, the original convict-built track that weaves its way through dense man ferns and eucalyptus and offers glimpses of the ocean below. A steep, gravel-lined track at Elephant Hide leads up to a terraced clearing surrounded by a gracious stand of mature Blackwood trees and once proposed as the site for a small eco lodge. From here there are framed views of the ocean and sensitive bush tracks that lead to waterfalls, other ocean and valley look-outs and hidden refuges of man ferns in rocky settings. This is a special place of undisturbed nature, amongst plentiful wildlife and in a rare rain forest environment along the Sunshine Coast, yet is within a short distance from a number of towns, the Douglas Apsley National Park, Freycinet National Park and the ski fields of Ben Lomond. The original lease was surveyed in 1891 and again more recently in 1998.