NEW IN NUNDLE: John Krsulja gets up close and personal with Sandy and Sahara.
HE’S built his tourism brand on the back of sheep but now Nundle farmstay boss John Krsulja has brought a bit of outback Australia into the hills of gold to attract even more international interest.
His historic old DAG Sheep Station has just become home to a couple of decidedly less woolly animals – in fact two “ships of the desert” have pulled up in the hills and are the latest calling card to entertain backpackers and weekenders who make the tourism trek to the old mining village.
Sandy and Sahara have joined the Krsulja family’s place straight from out the back of the Northern Territory via the Silverton camel farm in outback NSW.
Named for two famous deserts in Australia and northern Africa, the two young camels arrived after a 1000km truck ride with their owner and third-generation cameleer Harold Cannard.
The DAG’s former woolshed and shearers quarters now are home to a couple of young female cow camels and they’re carrying some new big hopes in their saddle bags to give tourists more of an adventure travel experience.
According to Mr Krsulja, the camels offer international guests another chance to meet some interesting Aussie characters or animals – and that’s a big drawcard when it comes to Aussie tourism experiences.
He said the DAG had signed a contract with one of the world’s largest adventure travel companies, the Canadian-based G’Adventures, which is set to bring up to 32 tours in 2013 from Sydney to Brisbane via Nundle and also Bingara and then to Yamba and Byron Bay.
And he hopes the camels will prove a winner as an educational tool for visiting schools for students studying some of their Australia history modules.
The DAG Sheep Station was originally the main woolshed complex from the historic Wombramurra Station and famous for merino fine wool sheep.
The camel bloodlines are also somewhat elite when it comes to pioneering history – the originals were brought out by Afghani camel herders to help early explorers travel and open up new lands in Australia’s harsh dry continent.
Mr Krsulja also hopes they will prove a bit of a bush hit for the DAG’s wedding and function activities too – but also for the feast of other Nundle calendar events, like the Go for Gold Chinese Easter festival and open days.