Low-key luxury lands on 'Australia's Galapagos'
SOUTHERN OCEAN LODGE Eco-friendly, 21-room Kangaroo Island retreat is simple and elegant
KANGAROO ISLAND, Australia -- The development of a luxury lodge along the pristine south coast of Australia's Kangaroo Island might be one of the most controversial developments here to date. But one thing is certain: "KI" now has a resort equipped to showcase its unique coastal wilderness and a gourmet restaurant worthy of the area's bounty of artisan foods.
As we drove up the dirt path to the new Southern Ocean Lodge, rounded shadows limped across the horizon. The Mercedes SUV snaked along in the fading light entering a private section of Flinders Chase National Park, passing dozens of kangaroos feeding under a canopy of gum trees.
(Courtesy)
GETTING THERE: Visitors to Kangaroo Island must pass through Adelaide, a South Australia city worth a visit in its own right. From Adelaide, it's a 90-minute drive plus a bumpy half-hour boat ride, or take the 20-minute flight on either Air South or Rex Air.
SOUTHERN OCEAN LODGE: Rates through March 2010 start around $613 a person a night, two night minimum. The price includes all meals and alcohol, island airport transfers and guided tours; www.southernoceanlodge.com.au
Approaching a stone cottage, I caught a glimpse of what waited: spoons filled with a marron and almond ceviche and kangaroo sliders sprinkled with sheep's milk cheese. It's what the Southern Ocean Lodge, which opened in March, calls "Kangas and Kanapes."
Considered the Galapagos of Australia -- a place where echidnas and man appear to exist in perfect harmony -- Kangaroo Island long has been a treasured respite from urban Aussie life. The third largest Australian island, KI is home to countless creatures: Australian sea lions, echidnas and koalas, to name a few. But with the recent opening of this 21-room lodge on the island's southwest coast, many local residents feared the birth of a "large-scale" luxury retreat would mark the beginning of the end for this pristine corner of the map, home to 21 national parks and five wilderness protection areas.
Part of Baillie Lodges, including Capella Lodge on Lord Howe Island, Southern Ocean is the collection's flagship property. It caused quite a controversial stir in its planning stages, but now that it's here, many locals admit it's better than they anticipated.
The lodge has tried hard to limit its impact on the surrounding natural environment. It's made of recycled timber and only 2.5 acres of land were cleared for building. The remaining 99 percent of the property is now protected from further development.
I passed through the giant entry doors into the great room, where a wall of windows frames a pristine section of Hanson Bay. The mostly white room with tiny pinpoint lights twinkling from the ceiling feels a bit like a chic spaceship.
Guests can wile away the hours drinking cocktails and relaxing in the lounge. Outside, a large patio offers another mingling spot, and a small hot tub lights up an iridescent blue at night. (Note: The tub is tiny and in full view of everyone, but if you don't mind that, the view is spectacular.)
Australian architect Max Pritchard embraced a linear design, blending the lodge with the horizon. The 21 suites are simple and elegant, with handcrafted New Zealand-inspired furnishings, glass walled bathrooms, sunken lounges with white limestone floors and outdoor terraces. The over-the-top, "super premium" Osprey Pavilion even sports a wooden bathtub and private plunge spa.
If you're the least bit lazy, be sure to ask for a room close to the lobby. My room was a 10-minute walk down a seemingly endless hallway.
Waking up the following day at 5:45 a.m., I slid open my patio door to watch the sun's light flashing off the calm morning ocean. Suddenly I heard a "hop ... hop ... hop ... hop ... hop" as a wallaby took exactly five jumps past me, as if it were terribly late for work. In the distance, I spotted a shape rising and falling along the shore. It was a dolphin following the coastline.
Nature, it appears, was getting used to its new neighbor.
I wanted to get to know nature a bit better, too, so I hooked up with Craig Wickham of Exceptional Kangaroo Island Tours. He took a group of us to nearby Seal Bay, home to the third largest colony of Australian sea lions.
We headed to the beach, where sea lions dotted the sand like umbrellas. A massive one rolled over like a portly Roman in a bathhouse, while a newborn on the beach let out a harrowing bark, answered somewhere in the ocean by what must have been its mother.
A quick visit to Flinders Chase National Park to see the Remarkables Rocks, which oddly resemble many of the island's animals, reminded me that not every natural attraction on the island had a pulse.
The following day I caught a glimpse of another creature KI is known for -- the leafy sea dragon, found only in the Southern Australian waters.
Jim Thiselton, owner of Kangaroo Island Diving Safaris (www.kidivingsafaris.com), picked me up at the lodge and we drove to Kingscote, a small northeastern seaside town. There I met John, known to most islanders as "Pelican Man" for his nightly pelican feedings, one of KI's major attractions. John is one of the locals who isn't too keen on the lodge's development.
"To create a big property like that in protected wilderness," he said, "it just isn't right."
John is overseeing a major condo development right along the shores of the northeastern seaside town of Kingscote. But those dwellings are tiny boxes and the inhabitants are a crew of endangered KI Little Penguins. He hopes to have his colony, which currently totals 100 penguins, up to 500 birds in several years.
Hopping aboard Thiselton's refurbished deep-sea stern trawler, we cut the engine 10 minutes from shore, put on our wetsuits and dove below the surface.
Clusters of rainbow-colored coral turned electric in passing sunlight, and a small underwater forest of greenish brown seaweed undulated in the tide. Thiselton spotted a razor fish shell and began poking around. Out came a tiny -- and deadly -- blue-ringed octopus, displaying its cobalt circles in potentially lethal anger. Thiselton didn't seem terribly bothered, even though this miniscule creature carries enough poison to kill 26 adults and there's no known antidote.
I felt a gentle poke as Thiselton's gloved hand pointed to the elusive leafy sea dragon. More than a dozen appendages emanated from its serpentine body. Its head was topped with what looked like a crown of leaves. It was one of the most beautiful things -- in or out of the ocean -- I had ever seen.
After our dive, Thiselton took me on a tour of the island's culinary offerings.
First stop, KI Island Fresh Seafoods, where you can pick up a lobster, marron "picnic tray" and delicious deep-fried garfish with homemade tartar sauce.
Then it was off to KI Lavender Farm, where John Merlo and Bronwyn Smith grow lavender for the island and make spa products. Their land also houses a small shack beside the lavender field, which turned out to be the location of the oldest women's golf club in the Southern Hemisphere.
We wrapped up with a visit to Island Pure Sheep Dairy and Cheese Factory, run by a former veterinarian who went on to devote her life to making sheep's milk cheese and selling virtually every honey product -- candles, tea, cough drops, etc... -- known to man.
The island tour left me famished. Luckily, one of Southern Ocean Lodge's highlights is the food. Chef Tim Bourke is a master of seasonally inspired KI cuisine. That night I tucked into green lip abalone "al crudo," lemon myrtle and butter poached marron with celery leaf, nashi pear and truffle mayonnaise, washing it down with a crisp, dry white 2007 Silly Goose from the Adelaide Hills. Sourcing many of the restaurant's ingredients locally, just about every purveyor we visited that day had a place on the menu.
After dinner I made my way to the resort's stargazing platform. The sky was clear, punctuated by thousands of little diamonds of light.
Surrounded by a blanket of sea, sky and stars, I was struck by the sheer isolation of my location. People often want to halt development the second after they move somewhere, but progress inevitably marches on. Maybe all we can hope for is that places like Southern Ocean Lodge will carry the respectful torch of eco-tourism, and that the wallabies and kangaroos of the world will still find plenty of places to hop.
Nicole Alper is a New York-based free-lancer.