Escape to your own private island
This off-grid HIDEAWAY off the coast of FREYCINET is unlike ANYWHERE else.
PICNIC ISLAND IS A PRIVATELY owned island in Tasmania’s Coles Bay, within Freycinet National Park. Owner Clem Newton-Brown originally used the island for rugged camping trips with his family, but it now boasts two beautifully weathered copper-clad buildings, designed by local architect John Latham. These buildings are connected by a boardwalk: one contains five bedrooms, sleeping up to 10 people, while the other features a kitchen, dining and living space, complete with suspended fireplace and magnificent ocean views. Too good not to share, the island in its entirety is available for holiday lease.
Accessible only by boat, Picnic Island has spectacular views of the Hazards mountain range. Dolphins can be spotted passing by, and a walk around the island after dark reveals scores of fairy penguins returning to their burrows for the night. Guests can enjoy fishing, swimming and foraging for mussels at low tide. It is the ultimate setting for an off-grid getaway, family adventure or simply to reconnect with nature. And it makes for a mean artist’s retreat, too: acclaimed contemporary artist Patricia Piccinini has enjoyed residencies on the island and some of her recent environmental works have been inspired by her visits. We spoke to Newton-Brown, entrepreneur and former barrister, Victorian MP and deputy lord mayor of Melbourne, to find out what it is about Picnic Island that captures the imagination so.
What were your early experiences of Picnic Island like?
We [Clem and Jane Newton-Brown] bought Picnic Island about 15 years ago. We used it for many years as a camping retreat where we would travel from Melbourne with our three young kids and then be dropped off by charter boat with supplies.
We knocked up a little 2.4 by 2.4 metre-square shack initially, which provided some shelter and space to store gear. Our family had some incredible wild experiences on our island: sleeping in amongst a penguin colony, fishing, diving for abalone and crayfish, and close encounters with dolphins, seals and whales. We would return to Melbourne
reinvigorated and grounded in nature. While visitors can enjoy a high degree of comfort now (think hot showers, open fireplace and comfy king-size beds) the essence of a wild island adventure is still retained for our guests.
What potential could you see in the island as an exclusive holiday destination?
When [the local] council granted approval to build our retreat it presented the opportunity to share our special place with others. We could provide the facilities travellers expected, and taking guests meant we could justify the cost of building.
We knew that what we had was something just so special and unique that it would have to work as a destination for travellers. Our reviews and guest book show that we were right – Picnic Island is an experience like no other and we have been able to create lifetime memories for so many people. Ask your kids in 10 years what they thought of the five-star resort holiday and they won’t even remember it, but they will never forget going to sleep with penguins squawking around their cabin and seeing dolphins playing by the jetty at dawn.
What can you tell us about the accommodation designed by John Latham – how does it relate to the landscape?
Picnic Island is located in probably one of the most epic landscapes in Australia, if not the world. We are just around the corner from Wineglass Bay and the granite Hazards mountain range presents a 400 million-year-old backdrop, which is ever-changing.
The responsibility to ensure that what we built fitted into this landscape was a big burden. Our brief to John was to design something that looked like it had been washed up on the beach. The buildings are fully clad in copper, which quickly burnished off to a beautiful patina that ranges from browns to purples to greens. It is a living skin that blends beautifully into the landscape. The buildings are so close to the water that our lounge is cantilevered over the high-water mark and at night you can hear waves crashing underneath the bedrooms during storms.
What makes Picnic Island unique in Tasmania and the world?
Picnic Island is probably one of the only places in the world where you can sleep within a nesting seabird colony. We have little penguins as well as shearwaters that migrate to the northern hemisphere and return to their same burrow around the same day each year to nest.
Picnic Island offers the opportunity for a true desert island experience. There are no bars or restaurants or staff wandering around. It is just you, your family and friends, left to fend for yourselves in an epic Tasmanian landscape.
And what are your favourite things to do on the island?
We love settling into the rhythm of island life where, instead of clocks, it is the sun, the moon and the tides that provide the markers of time. Those birds you might see sitting on a jetty when you go to the beach you get to know when you realise that they actually live here.
We have lots of books and games and a few days on the island is an opportunity to truly slow down and spend some time with friends and family. We have a water taxi that can take you off island for hikes and visits to local wineries and restaurants, but most people end up staying put. 21