Friends of Mount Leura secures Take it Outside Grant from Active in Parks

February 20 2018

‘Outdoor Education and Community Engagement Program’

This grant will help us to develop and expand our current programs and help us work towards achieving our vision.

The materials and equipment that we would be able to have access to through this grant will be invaluable in helping us to encourage more visitors to the reserve, allowing more people to connect with nature and experience this very unique environmental, geological, educational, cultural and recreational resource. Engaging greater numbers of visitors, both locally and from outside the area, will also help us access and utilise valuable resources (financial and human) to help ensure the future care and management of the reserve.

Tania Moloney, Founder of Nurture in Nature and a representative of the Mount Leura and Mount Sugarloaf Development Committee, designed the program to be a multi-sensory, experiential treasure hunt.

“The Nature Bucketlist Challenge is a great opportunity for families to get outside for some good, old-fashioned outdoor fun. At the same time they get to learn about and interact with this incredible natural place we have right on our doorstep”.

The kids reported back that on their adventure they saw a wallaby and had also kept an eagle eye out for some of the fantastic birds of prey we have on the reserves. Unfortunately they didn’t see any on the day but they were excited to come back again in the future to see if they could spy one of the Wedge-tailed Eagles that can often be seen catching the updrafts between the Mounts along the Panorama Trail.

The adventure was capped off by the kids drawing some fantastic pictures of the volcanoes and of wildlife they’d seen, followed by some excellent cubby building and a pretend campfire (the kids were very aware of the importance of “no real fires” on the Mount) … and, of course, there were marshmallows too!