Meredith and Benjamin Cowdrill are the owners of Common Grounds, a property situated in in Pillar Valley approximately 20km southeast of Grafton, New South Wales. The property marks the start of the Coldstream Catchment, featuring seasonal creeks and one small, spring-fed waterhole. Common Grounds is also a Hipcamp campsite with one powered and three unpowered camp sites for campers to come and enjoy the beautiful surrounds and native area. The sanctuary is nearby to Minnie Water and Wooli beaches and just 5 mins from the M1, for easy stopovers between Coffs Harbour, Yamba, and Byron Bay.
Common Grounds spans 44 hectares of dry sclerophyll forest, planted 30-50 years ago and is largely comprised of eucalypt woodland and native grasslands with 1.2 hectares cleared for the house, lawn, firebreak and gardens.
The property is home to an abundance of native wildlife, including eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus), brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), yellow-footed antechinuses (Antechinus flavipes), swamp rats (Rattus lutreolus), dunnarts, rufous bettongs (Aepyprymnus rufescens), squirrel gliders (Petaurus norfolcensis), microbats, pretty-faced wallabies (Macropus parryi), whistling ducks (Dendrocygninae spp.), king parrots (Alisterus scapularis), yellow-tailed black cockatoos (Zanda funerea) and spotted pardalotes (Pardalotus punctatus). A variety of threatened species are also present including glossy black-cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus lathami), barking owl (Ninox connivens), brush-tailed phascogales (Phascogale tapoatafa) and southern greater gliders (Petauroides volans).
