Arriving at Southern Ocean Lodge on Australia’s Kangaroo Island captures the grand sense of theatre that owners Hayley and James Baillie wanted for Australia’s first super lodge.
An impenetrable carpet of green scrub, showing no sign of human intervention, fills the northern horizon beyond a long timber walkway that leads guests from a narrow limestone road. Then the vista dramatically changes; upon opening huge rust-metal doors, the wild ocean bursts into view through a vast light filled room.
High glass walls surrounding the entrance lounge allow a panoramic sweep from this cliff-top vantage point over Hanson Bay. It’s an awe-inspiring vista, with its amplified sense of grandeur making a definitive statement about the wild natural beauty of Kangaroo Island’s southern coastline.
Selecting Kangaroo Island-born architect Max Pritchard to create this $15 million building was integral to achieving such an optic success. His ability to design buildings in seamless harmony with their surrounding environment was crucial for this project.
Indeed, the finished lodge, which opened for business in April, is exactly as Hayley, James and Max envisaged. The sweep of rooms that cascade down the ridge above Penguin Cove allow each room an angled view of the coast, yet do not intrude on the privacy of any other room. As such, each suite is like a private compound; sunken lounges open to patios with daybeds that afford uninterrupted views.
There’s a sense of drama about the fixtures used in each suite; methylated spirit fireplaces allow flames to dance inside bold limestone fireplaces. Deep coloured recycled timbers form a bold headboard against a plump chocolate and cappuccino coloured king sized bed. A large shower alcove, with a huge rainforest showerhead, remains open to the ocean view. Some suites have deep tubs against picture windows facing out to sea. Automated blinds slowly ascend at the flick of a bedside switch to invite the morning sunlight in.
Within the Osprey Pavilion, the “ultimate” room in the lodge, a private spa tub sits on a perched patio between the bedroom and large sunken lounge. Nothing interrupts a view of the undisturbed land; even the timber boardwalks running from the lodge to cliff top paths and secluded sandy beaches are neatly concealed by the scrub canopy.
The seed of this idea was sewn in the late 1990s, when James, then working as managing director of P&O Australian Resorts, was invited by the SA Tourism Commission on a familiarisation tour of Kangaroo Island. He didn’t immediately invest but was impressed and realised it had the winning ingredients as a premium destination for international travellers.
“It has the wilderness that they want to experience when they come to Australia,” James says. “To put a luxury lodge into that setting seemed the perfect combination.”
When the Baillies hatched their own superior lodge enterprise in 2003 by purchasing and refurbishing Capella Lodge on Lord Howe Island, the notion of building a super resort from scratch in a most dramatic location was foremost in their planning. Kangaroo Island was their preferred location, and the couple started visiting five years ago with a view to purchase appropriate land, driving and flying around the island to identify potential sites.
Friends had told them the north coast was the only area to consider, but they found only cleared sites adjacent to farming land. Hayley’s parents — entrepreneur Dick Smith and wife Pip — had stayed at the Hanson Bay cabins previously and suggested the isolated stretch of the southern coast.
Hayley and James arrived on a stormy day, walking the beach under grey skies and into a fiercely cold wind. “It was wild weather, and the Southern Ocean was pounding into the coast. It was spectacular,” says Hayley. “We both just stopped in our tracks and knew this was the place.”
Fortune smiled upon them; the land was part of a 400ha freehold plot squeezed between two conservation parks, and while it wasn’t for sale, their pitch to the American owner resonated. After long deliberation, he sold it to the Baillies. “He just liked our idea,” says James.
Many more have since been impressed by the lodge’s stark location. American guests have told Hayley their New York travel agent recommended Kangaroo Island ahead of visiting Uluru, arguing that the Southern Ocean Lodge would give short-term visitors to Australia a greater diversity of “real” experiences.
This is being realised through the lodge offering guests day tours and activities, in partnership with KI tourism operators, such as Flinders Chase tours, and enjoying sunset canapés and sparkling wine at the adjacent Grassdale park to watch colonies of grazing kangaroos, included as part of the guest fee.
Indeed, all meals, snacks, drinks (except super premium wines that are for sale), transfers to the airport in the lodge’s black Mercedes vans and activities are included as part of the room charge. An extensive range of spa treatments performed in the separate spa centre on the hilltop above the main lodge are the only additional cost to guests.
The fine attention to detail within the lodge is the difference that sets Southern Lodge Resort apart, largely the result of Hayley and James’s personal touch. Their décor choices were deliberately focused on the work of South Australian artisans. Khai Liew created the distinctive communal timber bar, curved lounge couches and limber light shades, and Frank Bauer designed and installed the curious metal light sculpture in the dining area. The Baillies bought works from local art shows to put in the rooms, along with Jam Factory glass ornaments.
A range of spa products created specifically by Ancient Secrets is featured in rooms as well as the professional spa centre; vanilla honey bath crystals (from Kangaroo Island Ligurian bees), mineral salts from Bay of Shoals, and wild lavender milk bath sourced from Emu Bay, to name a few.
Wines in the cellar and large guest bar that flank one wall of the Great Lounge are from across South Australia but focus on KI leading producers; False Cape cabernet sauvignon from KI vineyards is offered in each guest room.
Chef Tim Burke, who previously worked at Capella Lodge, spent a week travelling Kangaroo Island to familiarise himself with local produce. Impressed by the freshness of the seafood, he has constructed a menu around dishes such as nage of marron with ginger, lime leaf and snow pea; slivers of green lip abalone and cucumber marinated in lemon myrtle; a salad of rock lobster with tomato, zucchini flower, chervil and a lobster vinaigrette. The menu turns so that guests staying a minimum of two nights taste a variety of offerings.
A sense of history has been embraced within the lodge, with each of the 21 rooms named after a shipwreck in Kangaroo Island’s treacherous waters. Plaques at the doorway detail the date and location of their doomed fate. The main library has books about shipwrecks among sets of Australian encyclopaedia, classic novels and history books, contemporary authors from Peter Carey to Colleen McCullough and Bryce Courtney — even a copy of the 1970s humorous picture book Dinkum Dunnies is placed in each suite’s toilet.
“To show off our sense of humour, to allow our true personality to shine through, is a very Australian attribute,’’ says Hayley. “That is what ultimately sets this place apart from other great lodge experiences in the world.”
The building footprint on the environment has been minimal. This is how the completed lodge already appears so settled and established. As such, the Baillies want to make their presence on this expanse of wild coastline minimal.
“We need to preserve the site. That’s why we have built on only one per cent of the 100ha property,” says James. “This lot is surrounded by 3000ha of park properties, so we can never be built out. The views here will remain unchanged. We understand and appreciate this. It is precious.”
For further information about Southern Ocean Lodge, click here.
Photo Credits
All photos courtesy of the South Australia Tourism Commission
Article reprinted with permission of David Sly
After reading this article I have added this destination onto my list of must see places. How absolutely beautiful is this country