WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO VISIT?
What a great question! I'm not sure how to answer it, but here's my opinion:
WINTER
Winter is a stunning time of year to get away and experience the Dandenong Ranges. It is the most sensory of the seasons, the ground usually turns to mud under all the rain, the air is cold on your nose, tree ferns seem to double in size and you can snuggle up by the fire and toast marshmallows while King Parrots fill the trees - it's just beautiful. Kids especially love winter on the farm. Not often do city kids get to experience the fun of winter, usually choosing to hibernate inside instead so breaking up your winter with an outdoor getaway is the perfect thing to lift your spirits.
At the farm, the animals always need feeding and especially love extra attention in the cooler shorter days of winter. Fluffy coats are a crowd favourite and their warm body temperatures keep our hands toasty while we’re scratching them. Raincoats and gumboots are recommended at all times of the year but especially in the winter as our activities carry on regardless of the weather. But we guarantee that you will enjoy your winter escape from the boring "insideness" that you usually experience in the Melbourne winter.
SPRING
When Spring blooms around August, it is just beautiful in the hills surrounded with all of the stunning flowers.
The wattle bloom is the first to wake up from hibernation, adding sunshine to the entire bush - every everywhere you look is yellow and vibrant and just beautiful.
Next comes the imported flowers - the daffodils and tulips - the tulip festival is a massive celebration just 10 minutes up the road in Silvan. The cherry blossoms explode in the Dandenong Ranges Botanical Gardens and the festival at Cherry Hill lasts for just two weeks, but my favourite is the wattle bloom.
The birds all come out of sleepy time loving life enjoying the warmer days and the sun thawing out the ground.
SUMMER
Summertime is my least favourite season - loving the cold of Melbourne winters, I struggle in the hot summer.
Luckily, it really doesn't start to get hot until late January, then in Feb/early March, Autumn snaps and my grumpy hot pants get put away for another year. That said, in the hills with cooler temperatures on average compared to the city and the coolness of the temperate rainforest at our doorstep there is always a cool place to escape the heat of the day.
The nights most often cool down so there is lots of time to enjoy outdoor BBQs and the longer days, time with the animals is very chilled out, they tend to rest more and are quite happy for pats and scratches in the shade
AUTUMN
My favourite season of all is Autumn. Autumn in the hills is just magical.
In April/May the leaves flash with different colours every week. They change until they drop and leave the stunning tree skeletons to admire for a few months - all of the Aussie trees of course keep their leaves so we retain our privacy and seclusion, with bright pops of colour and textures.
Mushrooms and fungus litter the ground wherever you go, some edible others stunningly magical. Chestnuts fall from the trees and we even have a chestnut festival in Kalorama in May. The nights snap cold and cozy but in the days the sun still shines and warms the Earth. Grass grows deep green, animals fluff up with their winter coats getting ready to bunker down for the winter period.
So have I answered to your question; when is the best time to visit Nurture Creek?
The answer is; Any time you’d like to escape your reality, connect with yourself and loved ones, get back to the Earth, nature and just be. We recommend you escape from your every day whenever it's too overwhelming and you’re not feeling happy on the inside.
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