Volunteer Caretakers at Cape Bruny, BI Quarantine Station, Cockle Creek and Melaleuca have reported bumper visitor numbers.
Tony and Chris Barber, from Northern Tasmania, started their placement at Melaleuca In mid November to assist Parks and Wildlife Staff in preparation of the site for the summer. Even though they had volunteered at Melaleuca for the last 2 seasons Tony and Chris said, “ every space in the walkers huts and camping area is taken! There’s lots of quite large groups heading off to the South Coast Track as well as several people walking solo on Port Davey Track and many people coming in for Day Trips.
Everyone comments on how magnificent Melaleuca is. We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to volunteer at this site. We love it!”
Cockle Creek has had 2 sets of Caretakers so far this summer. Firstly Jan and Tony Feltham from Queensland, helped out such a lot in the pre season preparation of the site. PWS Field Officer Peter Price said , “I’ve never seen the PWS Quarters look so clean. Jan and Tony have done a tremendous job of sanding and re coating all the interior walls of the PWS Quarters. The Quarters look like new. This has saved us at PWS alot of maintenance time and effort.” Xmas and New Year was particularly busy at Cockle Creek.
PWS Rangers and Field Officers worked in with Volunteers to provide information for visitors.
The next Caretakers Julie and Graham Meyer , from South Australia, just started their placement and said, “we have had 50 people through the door in our first day. We were excited to meet a couple, Kevin and Kristy , who are on a round the world motor bike and side car trip. We are really enjoying ourselves and happy that we can help PWS out a bit also.”
Cape Bruny Lightstation Volunteer Caretakers Tim and Caroline Bell from Queensland, said to Volunteer Coordinator Pip Gowen, when she called to check in, “ it’s wall to wall cars here at the Cape. On average we have had 120 cars a day. People say to us they really enjoy how wild Cape Bruny feels and that they love taking a walk up the hill to the Light or having a picnic. Most people seem to stay about 1 hour, Tim and Caroline said. We are glad that it goes quiet in the evening. That’s when we get to take a walk after our daily duties to enjoy the magnificent views.”
Pip Gowen said, “All Volunteer Caretaker sites operate between November and end of April to help meet and greet our PWS visitors over the summer months. The Volunteer Caretakers are passionate and assist us a great deal at a really busy time of the year for Rangers and Field officers. The efforts of our volunteers are very much appreciated.”