SOUTHERN COMFORT
Southern Comfort - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Southern Comfort | |||||
| By: Hilary Doling, Issue 35 – Winter 2008 | |||||
| (Southern Ocean Lodge – South Australia, Australia) | |||||
| A DRAMATIC VIEW OF KANGAROO ISLAND’S WILD AND RUGGED COASTLINE IS ONLY ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MAKE THE NEW SOUTHERN OCEAN LODGE SUCH A SPECIAL PLACE. | |||||
| There is something about bouncing down a dirt road or landing on a grass airstrip that always gives me a thrill of anticipation – you know you’re going somewhere out of the ordinary. And when there’s a promise of luxury on arrival, so much the better. The road to Southern Ocean Lodge promises a lot, in the late afternoon sun the Kangaroo Island soil glows bronze, our 4WD is satisfyingly dirty and behind us there’s a cloud of dust. We’ve been touring this South Australian island and getting up close and personal with the bush and the wildlife. The newly opened lodge is our treat at the end of the trail. | |||||
| Through the pearly white-walled entrance gates (are we really on our way to heaven?) and there’s still a kilometre or so of dirt road to go, a ribbon of orange custom-cut through the lush green to get you to the Lodge. The architecture grabs you from the moment you arrive. We walk in along a recycled wood boardwalk and through the imposing double doors and there it is, right in front of me, a view to make me catch my breath. I am standing in a place where opulence meets the ocean. The whole of the Grand Room at the heart of the lodge has a semi circle of floor-to-ceiling glass and beyond it the petrol blue Southern Ocean. It is like standing in the prow of a great liner with water and sky all around you. Everywhere there is light and air and space. | |||||
| Southern Ocean Lodge was created by James and Hayley Baillie, the talented team behind the beautiful Capella Lodge on Lord Howe Island, so it is no surprise that they’ve found another idyllic, unspoiled spot for their next luxury creation. The lodge is sandwiched on a swathe of land between the Flinders Chase and the Kelly Hill National Parks and the architect, Max Pritchard, a Kangaroo Island local, has created a building that follows the natural cliff line. From the outside it is barely visible and clever boardwalks linking the lodge to the spa, the beach and a stargazing platform mean there is minimum impact on the surrounding flora. Indeed this project has been masterminded with conservation and sustainability top of mind. Southern Ocean Lodge has brought a standard of previously unknown super-luxury to KI without impinging on its natural beauty. The interior design is homage to the sea and the sky and the wild rugged coastal landscape with subtle coastal colours, recycled timbers and a chalkwhite local limestone wall that undulates like a wave through the main building of the lodge. | |||||
| There is a real spirit of place too. Suites are named after ships wrecked on the rocks below and the work of Australian artists (the more local the better) is much in evidence. Design luminary and South Australian Khai Liew has created many of the artisan timber furnishing, other furniture comes from Melbourne duo Pierre & Charlotte Julian. Florence Broadhurst is responsible for many of the soft furnishings and Mambo artist Bruce Gould (who also worked on Capella Lodge) has created some signature prints. Hayley’s father, explorer and entrepreneur Dick Smith fell in love with the leafworks of local artist Janine James and her works, patterned from leaves found on the property, grace the restaurant walls. My personal favourite are the little driftwood penguins and fish sculpted by another Kangaroo Island resident Indian James. Touches of Australiana appeal to the overseas market (The New York Times has already been to stay) without being too kitsch for sophisticated Sydneysiders or Melbournians. For example the subtle kangaroo motive on the soft furnishing created by Julie Patterson of Cloth or the touch of humour in the Dinkum Dunny book Hayley put in the bathrooms, “I loved it as a child and although it is out of print, I sourced 25 copies on eBay. Now we’ve had visitors wanting to buy a copy,” she says. It’s this kind of attention to detail that makes Southern Ocean Lodge special. The Baillies have put a little piece of their souls into the place and it shows. | |||||
| Down a boardwalk reminiscent of an old style country verandah with its louvered windows and water tanks are the 21 suites. All have such heart-stopping views that it is difficult to drag yourself away but staff are keen that you appreciate the great outdoors around you. There is a reason Kangaroo Island has been called ‘Australia’s answer to the Galapagos’ and the complimentary tours offered by the lodge ensure you appreciate it all in style. Each day you’ll be given a suggested itinerary, there’s no pressure, but really what’s on offer is too good to miss. There’s the Kangaroos & Canapés sunset experience where you drink champagne as the wallabies come out to play or the lodge signature tour. Wonders of KI, introduces you to the spectacular coastline, Cape Coudiac lighthouse, the Remarkable Rocks and a unique fur seal colony. Other customised tours will take you to the sea lions of Seal Bay or the sinkholes and caverns of Kelly Hill caves with their twisting stalactites and stalagmites. | |||||
| One evening after dinner we stroll along the boardwalk to gaze at the clear southern skies through a high-powered telescope. Another day we walk the cliff path and look at the water crashing on the rocks. At breakfast on the terrace we see a whole school of dolphins frolicking in the foam below us. | |||||
| Visitors to the lodge exist in a bubble of comfort and style. The tariff is all-inclusive so good South Australian wine flows freely and local food (prepared by Tim Bourke, the talented exchef of Capella Lodge) magically seems to appear just when that bushwalk has really helped you work up an appetite. There is also a tea menu, which has to be one of the best in Australia. | |||||
| And once you’ve finished beating about the bush you can indulge in its natural remedies with a L’itya treatment at the sublime Southern Spa perched on the cliff top at the end of the boardwalk. This is one of the most beautifully situated spas I’ve even been in, and I’ve had the odd massage in my time. Showers have glass walls onto the ocean and the therapy rooms have such spectacular vistas down the coast that it’s almost a crime to be lying face down. | |||||
| On the last day we have a morning-scheduled flight from the other end of the island, although you can charter a flight to nearby Vivonne Bay, so it’s up early and out fast. We drive down the road and through those pearly gates – expelled out of paradise and back into the real world. | |||||
| Details: | |||||
| Southern Ocean Lodge | |||||
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