Clearview Retreat offers a closer connection with the elements of the natural living landscape.

We are located 430 metres above sea level on an eastern spur of the Tallarook Ranges. The ranges are in fact a large plateau, 360 million years old, made of massive granite boulders and a hard stone called hornfels.

This land has been managed and cared for by its Traditional Owners, the Taungurung people, for tens of thousands of years, and the beauty and ecology of the landscape now is a direct result of their long-standing care and understanding.

We overlook the valleys of the upper Goulburn River, the King Parrot Creek and the Yea River, with views of the Highlands to the north, Mt Buller and Lake Mountain to the east, and the Mt Disappointment ranges to the south.

It is an extraordinary view, not only of a wide, rolling and deep landscape, but also of an immense section of the sky, the weather and bright night stars. It is a great location for watching sun and moon rises, and keeping an eye on the cycles of the moon, planets and constellations. In winter the snow on Mt Buller stands out very clearly on the eastern ranges.

Occasionally at dawn, a "cloud sea" forms in the valleys below us, stretching out to the eastern horizon, bounded by the mountain ranges, and with the tops of hills floating like islands.

We border the Tallarook State Forest, a mix of mainly blue gum, red stringybark, blackwood, black and silver wattles, and river tea tree. This forest is regrowth forest, regenerating from having been cleared for pasture in the 20th century.

The forest contains deep tree-fern gullies with rock pools and occasional flowing water in season. Our seasons alternate from warm, dry and brown in summer and autumn, to cool, wet and green in winter and spring.

Clearview Retreat's 87 acres are about one-third forest and two thirds hilly grassland. This land supports local communities of kangaroo, wombat, wallaby, possum, echidna and koala.

Birdlife includes king parrots, crimson rosellas, eagles, owls, kookaburras, cockatoos, currawongs, magpies and ravens, as well as blue wrens, swallows, grey butcherbirds, kestrels and a range of more rarely seen birds. Three dams bring ducks, herons and ibis in season.

The grassland, having been managed pasture in a previous life, has a high proportion of introduced grasses and plants, but local indigenous vegetation is returning as the natural ecology re-establishes itself.

We provide guided walks through this varied landscape, and also encourage guests to explore Clearview's land and the Tallarook Forest. For those who want to help with the restoration of the indigenous ecology, we also provide opportunity for replanting activities, and the clearing of introduced species.