By KATE BANVILLE
WITH health and happiness at the core of his life decisions, Ray Archer’s search for solace is spreading a little extra joy in the Lockyer Valley thanks to a dose of butterfly therapy.
Recently opened to the public, ‘The Garden of Eden’ sits on 40 acres of land at Grantham, once used to grow olive trees and create health tonics using olive leaf extract.
It was supposed to be a place for Ray and his wife Delphine Archer to return to only occasionally and to grow fresh produce, after relocating to Bribie Island upon retirement.
Now, it’s a butterfly sanctuary.
Ray hoped it could help visitors ‘take the stress out of life’, if even just for a moment.
“Everybody needs some nature therapy with the dramas that they go through in life,” Ray said.
“We want people to leave their worries in the bin upon entry and leave them there on the way out.”
Raising butterflies is delicate work but with more than a decade of experience under his belt, Ray’s “hobby” has taken on a life of its own.
“We have a licence for certain protected species like the Cairns birdwing and the Ulysses,” he said.
“I just wanted a hobby that was a bit peaceful, something that was going to help me to keep a bit more sane.
“The reason is because I’ve been in pretty fast moving businesses and 110 staff, nearly falling off the perch from time to time with stress.”
The Grantham based sanctuary comes after another successful volunteer-led operation on Bribie Island, established in 2014, called the Bribie Island Butterfly House.
And just as the saying goes, “from little things big things grow” – Ray’s dedication to these little winged wonders has resulted in thousands of butterflies fluttering happiness into people’s lives.
“It’s all run by volunteers, all the profits from the Bribie Island house goes to charities,” he said.
“We don’t advertise and are only open on Wednesdays and Sundays.
“Yet in the first six years of operation we have had 120,000 visitors through and we’ve given away more than half a million dollars to many different charities.
“And so it’s been very successful beyond our expectations.”
Open only on a Sunday for four hours, a modest $5 will get you inside the Grantham greenhouse, with a prior warning from Ray that this private garden is far from being a high end tourist destination.
“This is only open because we’re a couple of 75 year olds and it’s an extra to our veggie garden,” he said.
“Delphine loves growing the veggies and caring for the trees that we plant in the orchard, where there’s probably 130 or so.
“It’s like a secret garden in there, where we’ve placed more than 150 positive sayings for people to walk away saying they’ve taken something with them towards a happier life.”