Celeste Coucke and Stephen Fearnley are the current caretakers and owners of Cloud Farm.
Its called Cloud Farm because clouds, fog and all other variations of cloudy precipitation are a regular feature. The heat inversion between the Illawarra escarpment and the coastal air creates clouds before your eyes, which drift upwards to join other clouds, sometimes forming storms that usually head north to Sydney.
Celeste and Stephen are artists...
...as well as hosts for air bnb.
https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/15222809?location=Mount%20Murray%2C%20NSW%2C%20Australia&checkin=&checkout=&adults=1&children=0&infants=0&s=Oi2CKoZL
They also run regular worskhops in ceramics, painting and drawing.
Cloud Farm is also a certified member of the Wildlife Land Trust (Humane Society International).
Cloudfarm covers 13.35 hectares and is situated on the highest point of the Illawarra escarpment just under 800m above sea level. Mt Murray is the core of an ancient volcano- and you are right on top of it! Basaltic soils and high rainfall support a diversity of flora and fauna. Vegetation consists predominantly of tableland basalt forest (An Ecologocally Endangered Community), native grassland and temperate rainforest.
A magnificent stand of Eucalyptus fastigata crowns the top of the mountain, a remnant of endangered tableland basalt forest. Cloudfarm also forms part of an important wildlife corridor between the Macquarie Pass National Park and Sydney water catchment. We are currently taking part in the “Thin Green Line Project”. The “Thin Green Line” is a corridor which links native vegetation and wildlife between Victoria and Queensland. We are located at a particularly important part of this corridor, as it is east of Robertson that the line is thinnest. Native animals and vegetation are particularly vulnerable here, as a result of the activities of humans and feral animals.
Wildlife known to inhabit the property include bare nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus), swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor), brushtail (Trichosurus vulpecula) and ringtail (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) possums, gliders (Petaurus spp.), spotted-tailed quolls (Dasyurus maculatus), long-nosed bandicoots (Perameles nasuta), koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus), antechinus (Antechinus spp.), short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), red-bellied black snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus), highland copperheads (Austrelaps ramsayi), tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus), blue-tongued lizards (Tiliqua scincoides scincoides), frogs and fresh water turtles. A long- nosed Potoroo (Potorous tridactylus) has recently been photographed in the rainforest. This is very exciting as these animals, along with spotted-tailed quolls, are listed as vulnerable.
Cloudfarm is also home to diverse bird life which includes wonga pigeons (Leucosarcia melanoleuca), superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus), golden whistlers (Pachycephala pectoralis), eastern whipbirds (Psophodes olivaceus), superb lyrebirds (Menura novaehollandiae), satin (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) bowerbirds, wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax), grey shrike-thrushes (Colluricincla harmonica), eastern rosellas (Platycercus eximius), yellow-tailed black-cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus), king parrots (Alisterus scapularis), magpies (Cracticus tibicen), whistling kites (Haliastur sphenurus), brown goshawks (Accipiter fasciatus), tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides), southern boobooks (Ninox boobook), welcome swallows (Hirundo neoxena), barn owls (Tyto alba), laughing kookaburras (Dacelo novaeguineae), common bronzewings (Phaps chalcoptera), honeyeaters and finches.
Paradise !