Tucked thoughtfully beside a rainforest on Petrie Creek is Starry Nights Luxury Camp. Just 70 minutes north of Brisbane airport and even though it is off the beaten track there are sealed roads all the way. Being just over 10 minutes from the main street of Montville and 20 minutes to Mooloolaba beach it is the perfect location.
Sitting gently beside the winding waters of Petrie Creek, with a near zero carbon footprint… Starry Nights Luxury Camping is surrounded by wilderness with fresh, clean air.
The owners have established a perpetual vegetation covenant over their property to make sure that the forest is never developed or cleared which provides the only link for fauna from the nearby Triunia National Park to Petrie Creek. Petrie Creek is a permanent spring fed creek with stony banks and riverbed. Koalas, numerous birds, kangaroos, Tawny Frog-Mouth owls, the occasional bush turkey and their resident chickens (providing a constant supply of eggs), have all made a home at Starry Nights.
History
Changes beyond recognition have occurred since Tom Petrie, in a long boat in 1862, ventured into the property. The virgin forests that grew for thousands of years in the region brought the timber men to the North Coast looking for the highly sought-after timbers.
Tom Petrie came to the region to set up a cedar camp. Petrie started from the North Pine River and headed for Mooloolah and Maroochy, searching for big cedar timber. The exploring party crossed Maroochy Bar and went up the river for some miles, turning at last into a creek on the left which we know today as Petrie Creek. On the banks of the creek, Petrie and his party made a camp where the group stayed for a fortnight.
At the time, they cut out 200 cedar trees. Did you know Petrie Creek was once Nambour’s swimming pool and the place where the locals picnicked, learnt to swim, frolicked and swam laps whilst enjoying the cool waters? Renowned Australian freestyle swimmer Andrew “Boy” Charlton visited in the early 1930s and swam against all challengers in Petrie Creek. The “Boy” won against all who tried to out distance him. No one could beat that great Aussie champion and the crowds that lined Petrie Creek were ecstatic.