Ice Cream Betty bowing out
Floravilla For Sale
It’s been a Daintree institution for forty years, but who wants to live in an institution? We’re kidding of course, Betty Hinton has been a loyal citizen of the Daintree and a local legend who’s been providing healthy frozen goodies for almost half her adult life. Now she’s wanting a bird change..
Betty is selling Floravilla, her much loved iconic oasis at Cow Bay. The Floravilla Ice Cream Factory & Art Gallery has developed its business of Biodynamic Organic Ice Cream which is made onsite and recognised not only Nationally but Internationally. Biodynamics is a holistic form of organics and Floravilla uses the locally produced Mungalli Biodynamic Organic Dairy products to create their magnificent offerings.
During Covid when many businesses were fighting off closure and wondering where the next dollar was coming from, Betty was hiring contractors to build a larger factory out back. She knew Covid wouldn’t last forever, and that locals and visitors would return to the Daintree and her business would be viable again. When Newsport visited Floravilla this week the carpark was once again filling up with visitors searching for a healthy icy treat to be enjoyed in a cooling rainforest backdrop.
Raine and Horne Port Douglas/Mossman are handling the sale which comes with a tinge of sadness for Betty, who has been at this location since the early eighties “We bought the property on October 27, 1982 and I put it on the market on October 27 2022, so exactly forty years” she said “I’m not leaving because I don’t like living here, I love it, in fact the longer I’ve been here the more I love it, but I work 7 days a week and I want to do other things in my life” said Betty.
For the birds
Those other things are her art and bird photography. Yes, bird photography. Our region boasts so many species of birds, many of them endemic to the Wet Tropics and if Betty had her way, she’d photograph each and every one of them. Betty wants to set up base in Julatten, so at the next census they should have a population of 1,092 people. It will be the Daintree’s loss and Julatten’s gain because believe me people like Betty don’t grow on trees “hundreds of times I’ve been up to Julatten and know Mt Lewis very well, so I know where the birds are” she said. Betty told Newsport that to come up with a great bird photograph you can’t just snap away and hope for the best “no way, you need to go and sit on your own quietly, eventually they come hopping by, they don’t know you’re there and then click! it really does involve hours and hours of sitting” she said. Betty wants everyone to be more aware of nature and its role in our lives “I want people to know how wonderful it is to do these things, I mean I come out very early in the morning here at Floravilla just after dawn and watch the birdlife and their interaction with each other, it’s so beautiful,” said Betty.
People power
Betty is also a call a spade a shovel sort of gal who’s never afraid to speak her mind about Local, State or Federal politics or anything else that holds the Daintree back from progress. The present Federal Government has signed a $19.3 million deal with the Brisbane-based Volt Advisory Group, which is planning to construct a microgrid in the community later this year. Power generated by new and existing solar panels will be fed into the microgrid and turned into hydrogen, which would power about 700 homes and be used for seasonal storage and large-scale generators. Good news says Betty but long overdue “Now the Federal Government is supporting the Hydrogen scheme to bring power to the Daintree and for years they stood in our way, now they’re for it for the environments sake, incredible!” she said. At the same time Betty reckons she doesn’t care who brings change, just get on with it. By the way now that they’re getting electricity into the Daintree in the foreseeable future and doing away with those noisy smelly and polluting diesel generators, Floravilla becomes an even more attractive proposition.
Top secret
The recipe for her ice cream has always been a closely guarded secret, which Betty says is in her head and not written down, however when the new owners finally settle, she will pass it on. Betty when you do eventually leave the Daintree go with all our best wishes and happy snapping.