Top five things to do on King Island
1 No trip to King Island is complete without a visit to KING ISLAND DAIRY, where complimentary cheese tasting plates are available.
2 A southern expedition of the island will thrill the senses, taking in the breathtaking sights of SEAL ROCKS RESERVE, including the SEAL ROCKS BOARDWALK, the CALCIFIED FOREST and the COPPERHEAD WALK, as well as the southernmost tip of the island, STOKES POINT.
3 An expedition to the north of the island excites for its difference to the south, with the white sandy beaches of MARTHA LAVINIA and DISAPPOINTMENT BAY, as well as the tallest lighthouse in the southern hemisphere, CAPE WICKHAM
LIGHTHOUSE. We also recommend a trip to PENNYS LAGOON, a perched lake on the way to MARTHA LAVINIA.
4 For the golfing enthusiasts, you are spoilt for choice, with some of the world’s best links golf courses: CAPE WICKHAM GOLF LINKS, OCEAN DUNES GOLF COURSE and the locally run KING ISLAND GOLF COURSE.
5 Just breathe. KITTAWA LODGE and
KING ISLAND invite guests to sit back and relax, and do as little or as much as you like.Yes, we can fill your days with amazing walks, experiences and sightseeing, but why not take the chance to finish that book, master chess or scrabble, paint a landscape, take a long bath or, as many of our guests do, contemplate and plan for the future?
WHEN I GET SWEPT away in fantasies of owning a pocket-sized hideaway in the country, Five Acres’ (fiveacres.com.au) cabins are what I envisage. A rural retreat that feels light years from civilisation – but is, in fact, less than a 10-minute drive from the town of Cowes – it’s the kind of dreamy, design-led den that you could hole up in for days without developing the slightest thirst to leave.
Small in dimension, yet big on thoughtful features, Five Acres’ three minimalist cabins gently persuade guests to go analogue. A slimline, standalone wood-burning fire takes centre stage in the lounge, already made up with kindling and newspaper, ready to be lit. A carefully curated selection of cookbooks, poetry paperbacks, tomes on sustainable living and independent magazines dot the cabin’s many nooks, and are all perfectly aligned with the pace of life here, like Grounded: A Companion for Slow
Living and The Farm Community: Grow. Cook . Share. Connect. And with floor-toceiling windows that look squarely onto the property’s paddocks, replete with shaggy coated Highland cows and sheep scratching themselves on fence posts, a sliver of Western Port Bay on the horizon, who needs a TV anyway?
That’s not to say every trace of technology has been removed: USB ports sit next to each bedside, the one-wall kitchenette is full of Smeg appliances, the lime-washed bathroom features underfloor heating, there’s a Bang & Olufsen bluetooth speaker in the lounge, and a TV preloaded with Netflix is secreted smartly away on the kitchen wall. But on a bleak winter’s night we’re happily bathing in a sea of old-school entertainment. As we pore over the books under the weight of a chunky knit blanket, the fire crackles, the blustery sea wind puffs at the windows and doors, and ice tinkles in our glasses of G&T, made with gin from local Gippsland distillery Loch’s – just one of the thoughtful provisions that’s included in our stay. And, should the urge to eat gelato strike at an ungodly hour, fear not: there’s a whole tub from an independent island gelateria ready and waiting to go in the freezer; just use the direct deposit details given on the countertop, transfer $15, and dig in.
Come breakfast, the spread in our pantry offers an equal serve of hygge: freshly ground coffee, gloriously coconutty homemade granola, natural yoghurt, Gippsland Jersey milk and butter, sourdough, jam made with rhubarb plucked from the working microfarm’s garden. The grounds on which Five Acres sits are home to some 90 fruit and nut trees plus extensive veggie gardens. And in time, owners Katie and Rom Lamaro hope to use their five-acre (two-hectare) block to provide produce for the local community as well as their own family. Almost every part of their venture has been built from the ground up by the couple. Rom constructed the cabins with his brother Christian, who owns a building company. And even some of the furniture within them – such as the bed frame made from Tasmanian oak – was handcrafted by Rom himself.
Doused in natural materials and featuring a riot of textures and angles, the cabin interiors look as if they were pages torn straight from the latest issue of Architectural Digest. Almost
Contemporary design and old-fashioned hygge collide at this trio of bucolic country cabins, set in an unlikely location on an underrated Bass Coast isle.
every conceivable surface is clad with beautiful blond wood. A freestanding smoky grey concrete bathtub stands on the sheltered deck outside the bathroom’s sliding doors, hidden in plain sight behind gauzy sand-coloured linen curtains. And light pours in through the skylight cut into the roof over the rain shower head. There’s a toughness to the design and furnishings that reflects farm life, but an inviting cosiness, too.
A destination that’s long been popular with young families, Phillip Island wears many eclectic hats. It also carries a legacy of nostalgic seaside getaway that skews a touch brash, rather than a chic weekender for Melburnians with a surfeit of disposable income. But Five Acres could be at the crest of a new wave that’s slowly washing ashore. Over the last five years, a handful of sea-changers just like Katie and Rom have set up shop on the island, opening a craft taphouse here, a third-wave coffee shop there, and an industrial-chic cafe or two. Phillip Island may not have the cachet of neighbouring Mornington or the Bellarine Peninsula, and perhaps it never will; but for some, its emerging alter ego will prove the perfect counterbalance. Chloe Cann
WILSON ISLAND, GREAT BARRIER REEF, QLD
WILSON ISLAND (wilsonisland.com), positioned blissfully in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, might just be the ultimate embodiment of all our castaway fantasies. The adults-only island can accommodate just 18 guests in its nine luxe Reef Safari Tents, which are set at the edge of the sands with water views forever. Ensuring the island stays idyllic, it is powered by solar and batteries, there’s a ‘no touch, no take’ policy when in the water, there are no single-use plastics, and organic and sustainable are used whenever possible. With no TV or phones and nowhere else to be, days here are measured out in eating, snorkelling, swinging in hammocks, sunset drinks and stargazing, all on repeat.
Coastal Pods Wynyard, Tas
DO YOU EVER THINK about where the materials of a building you’re staying in might have already been? No, me neither, until I booked myself into shipping container accommodation (coastalpods.com) in Northern Tasmania and fell asleep wondering how many times this bedroom might have crossed Bass Strait.
Wynyard is 150 kilometres north-west of Launceston on the Inglis River. The town is Tassie-famous for its annual tulip festival and has a relaxed feel with the promise of an idyllic coastal retirement, like some coldclimate Noosa.
Cyndia Hilliger and Justin McErlain, who also own the waterfront motel next door, tell me they were inspired by the innovative shipping container architecture they saw in Christchurch as the city recovered from earthquakes.
They purchased Containers of Hope plans from Benjamin Garcia Saxe – an award-winning Costa Rican architect dedicated to sustainable sourcing of local materials – and customised to suit. Now two freestanding self-contained accommodation pods, Port and Starboard, sit on the lawn beside the retro motel. Each pod comprises two upcycled shipping containers with decks, polished original plywood floors, spray foam insulation, double-glazing all round and extra soundproofing between bedrooms. The interiors are spacious and the repurposing artful.
But what really floats my boat is that my Port Pod is rock-solid equal-access accommodation, with great attention given to the details of functionality and no compromise on aesthetics. As good-looking and well-appointed as Starboard, Port has a spa-like bathroom and moveable furniture. Beds can be raised, microwave lowered, equipment hired, whatever’s required.
The yacht club, just along Wynyard’s flash new riverside boardwalk, runs a Sailability training program over the warmer months with equipment for people of all abilities.
Every evening, vehicle access to the dock closes to the public and, as pod guests, we have this world of moored fishing boats and quiet river all to ourselves. I haven’t caught anything today to cook in the fire pit but luckily the nearby fish and chip shop is open until 7pm and The Wharf Hotel is close by. Elspeth Callender
KOOLJAMAN AT CAPE LEVEQUE, THE KIMBERLEY, WA
THE KIMBERLEY has no shortage of eco-friendly wilderness camps, but for the beach-seeker, Indigenous-owned Kooljaman
(kooljaman.com.au) trumps them all. Tucked at the tip of Cape Leveque, 200 kilometres north of Broome, its location means I’m never far from a tantalising tract of shoreline.
Each day, I have fun choosing the east or west. Laid-back vibes at the eastern beaches for swimming and snorkelling? Or fishing, walks and a dramatic sunset against the backdrop of pindan cliffs on the western beaches?
A cute log cabin amid the trees; a surprisingly high-quality restaurant (for such a remote location); and tours with local Bardi Jawi guides have me staying for much longer than I intended. Leah McLennan
Set in an idyllic waterfront location, one of these two artfully upcycled shipping container pods offers rock-solid equal access accommodation.
qualia, Hamilton Island, Qld
THE LATIN WORD QUALIA has a mercurial translation that befits its namesake destination – the exact essence of which is hard to pin down. This luxury resort, situated on the northernmost part of Hamilton Island, wears its meaning of ‘a collection of deeper sensory experiences’ well.
Since it opened in 2007, qualia (qualia.com.au) has consistently been ranked among the world’s best resorts and is an exemplar of Australian laid-back luxury. It is recognised for its environmentally intuitive architecture, sympathetic landscaping, impeccable service, deeply tranquil day spa and exceptional food and drink offering (dining on a six-course degustation bursting with local flavours at Pebble Beach as the sun goes down is something you won’t forget in a hurry).
And not to mention its dazzling location, surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef and with views across the impossible blues of the Coral Sea and Whitsundays. A stay here is worth it alone for the private plunge pool, complete with those aforementioned views, which you’ll find in a flawlessly designed Windward Pavilion: all understated decor, hardwood timber floors and floor-to-ceiling glass. Leeward Pavilions combine tropical bushland and sea views while the exclusive Beach House goes a notch further with 12-metre infinity pool and private guesthouse.
Awarded as one of the most romantic destinations in the world, the island retreat makes for a luxurious launch pad for everyone from yachties to those drawn to exploring the Great Barrier Reef and the eucalyptus-scented trails that crisscross the island.
While mornings might begin with sun salutations on the deck, it’s compulsory for afternoons to include a lychee martini cocktail by the pool. It all conspires to create a unique Australian hideaway.
WOODY ISLAND, RECHERCHE ARCHIPELAGO, WA
I’D HEARD THE SOLAR-POWERED safari tents on Woody Island (woodyisland.com.au) had been given a spit and polish, but I wasn’t expecting such a dreamy transformation beneath the canvas. Now called ‘luxury retreat’ tents, each has been styled with textured bedspreads (on real beds), fluffy sheepskins strewn across comfy couches and pretty adornments like fairy-lit branches, circular mirrors and square ottomans. Facing Esperance in WA’s far south, the snake-free island is ribboned with hiking trails leading to secluded lookouts, wildlife havens, snorkel spots and granite boulders. Communal areas (shared bathrooms, drop loos, a mess-style restaurant) are basic, with nature and tranquillity the focus. Fleur Bainger
This luxury Whitsundays resort is consistently ranked among the world’s best for a whole host of sensory and sybaritic reasons.
Whale Song, Falmouth, Tas
IT’S THE SUNRISES and sunsets that get me the most. Not mere moments in each day but hour-long spectacles of sherbet skies and piercing golden orbs. Perched on a rocky parcel of Tasmania’s East Coast, the Whale Song shack (whalesongshack.com) is a design-lover’s bolthole that brims with curated curiosities, art, books, and the kind of bedding you want to slip into your suitcase. There are neighbours, but you wouldn’t know it. Until I return, I dream of G&Ts on the deck, candlelit baths in the outdoor tub, setting the needle down on another vinyl, and losing myself in the hypnotic dance of the ocean – an ever-present friend. Celeste Mitchell
TIWI ISLAND RETREAT, TIWI ISLANDS, NT
IT’S ONLY 20 MINUTES by air from Darwin, but you might as well be travelling to another country for all the remote, sybaritic promise offered by this sand-in-toes escape on the south-west coast of Bathurst Island – one of the Tiwis’ two main islands. There are swaying palm trees kissing soft white sand here, yes, but also a wild beauty complete with resident croc named Claudia.
Originally established as a barramundi fishing lodge, Tiwi Island Retreat’s (tiwiislandretreat.com.au) bathroom facilities are shared and guestrooms compact. Yet, with stylish coastal-chic decor, crisp linens and views out onto the sparkling Timor Sea, what more do you need? You’re here to get off the beaten track and experience unique activities and culture in a pristine environment unlike anywhere else. Perhaps you’ll go mud crabbing or barra fishing in the creeks, eating your catch at the end of the day. Certainly you’ll spend time by the pool and linger over a sunset beach picnic stocked with cheese and champagne. And maybe you’ll embark on a remote swimming hole helicopter adventure or take a scenic flight across Bathurst Island combined with an Indigenous art and cultural tour. More than a sum of its parts, everyone who makes it here says it’s unforgettable.
Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef, WA
WHERE ELSE DO YOU CATCH a kangaroo sipping the water from your foot bath on the deck of your eco tent? Off-grid Sal Salis (salsalis.com.au) is like nowhere I’ve ever been: just 16 safari structures hidden in low dunes, boardwalks linking the king beds to the world’s largest, and most accessible, fringing reef. Ningaloo and its turtles, rays, fish and coral are literally a handful of steps from shore; its famous whale sharks only a charter boat tour away. When not snorkelling, I was raising a bubbling glass to the sunset with canapes, then feasting on a multi-course, restaurant-rivalling meal. High environmental cred means lightning-quick showers and eco loos – a fair trade for this wilderness destination. Fleur Bainger
My Sister & The Sea, Yorke Peninsula, SA
CAN YOU BECOME a new person just by staying in an Airbnb? The question bubbles up as I open the screen door of this white weatherboard cottage on a quiet beachside street in Marion Bay, on the doorstep of Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park. A repressed part of me emerges. The part that revels in poring over vintage jigsaw puzzles and bathes outside. Who sips tea from handmade ceramics and reads Hemingway on a sun-dappled day bed. My Sister & The Sea (mysisterandthesea.com) has a quality that’s hard to define. On paper it’s a warm and whimsical three-bedroom family abode, but in real life it’s a sea-swept storybook come to life. Celeste Mitchell
BROKEN HILL OUTBACK CHURCH STAY, NSW
COULD THIS 109-YEAR-OLD STONE structure be the most wonderfully surprising stay in a place already full of surprises? Broken Hill is a quintessential outback town suffused with silver, lead and zinc-mining history and layered with a dynamic art scene and movie mythology set against a sprawling desert landscape. And the fact that its most luxurious accommodation is a Romanesque-style church adds another layer of intrigue again. This heritage-listed building has undergone a sympathetic restoration on the outside and a pick-your-jaw-offthe-floor transformation on the inside. Is that an antique altar fashioned into an island in the gourmet marble kitchen? Yes it is. Original pressed-metal ceilings soaring almost seven metres in height, and a dining table grandly set under the twinkle of a crystal chandelier? Indeed. Broken Hill Outback Church Stay (brokenhilloutbackchurchstay.com) combines an eclectic mix of antique furnishings with all mod cons to create a totally unique proposition. Its three master suites each come with king-sized beds wrapped in quality linens and their own en suites – lined floor to ceiling in limestone tiles no less. A further 200 square metres of polished limestone floors add to the distinctive atmosphere. Groups of 12 guests can be accommodated across this space, including on the mezzanine level – propped up by antique timber columns – and in further accommodation in the associated Presbytery and Cottage, as well as those travelling solo, in couples or in smaller groups (pay for the suite you need with exclusive access to this incredible property). All this, plus you’re just a minute’s walk from more Broken Hill history by way of Bells Milk Bar, Australia’s oldest continuously running milk bar.
Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, SA
THE BIGGEST MISTAKE you can make when visiting arguably Australia’s most elegant, quirky and second-most* recognisable outback pub, is to treat it as just a pit stop on a Flinders Ranges road trip (*behind Birdsville Hotel, see page 88). Since the 1990s, Prairie Hotel (prairiehotel.com.au) has cleverly cultivated a reputation for its playful yet surprisingly refined Feral Feast (including a mixed grill and antipasto platter featuring kangaroo, camel and emu) and use of bush foods. The wine and beer offerings are astonishing, given the hotel is 500 kilometres north of Adelaide, and there’s a new brewhouse opening in 2022. So make a weekend of it by booking into one of the Prairie’s cosy, modern Outback Lodge options. The Executive Lodge’s double spa is just another pleasant surprise in this outback oasis. Steve Madgwick
Trilby Station, Louth, NSW
THE FUNNY THING ABOUT ‘authentic’ accommodation back stories is the louder you have to shout them, the less genuine they probably are. The Murray family, owners of 130,000-hectare Trilby Station (trilbystation.com.au) in north-west NSW, don’t have the time nor need to scream their sixth-generation farming credentials from the rooftops. It would be a pointless exercise in any case, given the closest neighbours are 15 kilometres away.
Trilby was a true out-before-dawn, home-after-dusk sheep farm long before it diversified into becoming one of Australia’s first station stays. “We only take a day off if it rains, and only because you can’t drive anywhere,” says Liz Murray. “Even then, you’re usually in the workshop or doing something.”
Four decades ago, then-newlyweds Liz and Gary moved onto this shimmering, mesmerisingly flat mega-property; its outback credentials unquestionable. Trilby literally passes the Ogilvien ‘Back O’ Bourke test’ – it’s 125 unsealed kilometres south-west across the black-soil plains from the town.
The station has only relatively recently been gifted an “actual” address (10,965 Toorale Road), but Liz suggests you don’t type it into your GPS. Digital navigation has led a few guests “up the garden path”. From the Bourke-side (heading along the 950-kilometre Darling River Run), the weensy village of Louth is the nearest settlement.
Trilby’s stilted mailbox is a storytelling landmark in itself; its corrugated-metal roof tilts dashingly, as if tipping its hat hello and directing you up the main-road-like driveway. It’s been a receptacle of good and bad news since the 404,685-hectare Dunlop Station was carved up among the Murray family in the 1950s (thus creating Trilby). Peeling paint still reveals the 1976 flood-level – “the highest in white man’s history”.
Liz takes charge of “anything inside the levy banks” while Gary and two of their four children, Tom and Will, look after “the rest”. This includes mustering 14,500 merino sheep – by plane (Gary’s ‘sky Toyota’) and motorbike – around a space a little less than twice the size of Singapore.
Farming a patch of semi-arid outback where “you expect more dry times than good seasons” has made the Murrays paragons of bush pragmatism. With cyclical drought a reality, they supplement their main income by rounding up trips of drought-resistant wild goats that roam the wide-open spaces. Some seasons they get more for a big billy goat than they do for a prized lamb. “When the kids were little, every time we needed to pay school fees, a power bill, or I wanted a hiking holiday [her big passion], we went and chased goats,” says Liz.
While Trilby is certainly not a City-Slickers-style hands-on dude ranch, there are plenty of opportunities to witness the action, especially around shearing time (May). The self-drive ‘mud-map’ tours, however, are the most glorious way to get lost, while not getting lost, in Trilby’s immense space.
Ninety kilometres of trails thread through a landscape that is equally bewitching bone-dry or fiesta-ed in wildflowers. The land has been worked since paddle-steamer days so something always beckons you over for a gander; be it a sun-bleached animal skull staring up from the cracked earth or an old Holden carcass confusing your calendar. Out here, Trilby’s big sky soon becomes your mood.
In exactly the “middle of nowhere” you’ll bump into Gary’s parents’ 1950s “honeymoon house”, petrified in time from when it was abandoned. Eerily quiet except for the sinister banging of screen doors, it has horror-film set written all over it. Nearby, a vintage double-decker bus rusts silently, a sad sight once you learn about its formerly adventuresome existence.
For all Trilby’s uninterrupted horizons, most human and wildlife activity contracts to within cooee of the Darling. When the river flows, so do the recreation possibilities, from canoeing and birdwatching to yabbying and fishing.
The farm-stay options are set among river gums and coolabah trees, relatively clustered around the Murrays’ homestead and its treasure-filled “rust-gardens”. Grey-nomad and family-friendly campsites spread out along the riverbank.
Refurbs of the Overseer’s Cottage and Jillaroo’s Cottage deliberately shied away from “modernising” the former workers’ quarters. These self-contained cottages feel more house than hotel: sprinkled with local curiosities, black-and-white-framed history and a sturdy fridge your grandparents would have given their right arms for. No more or less than you would expect in the Murrays’ homestead. The cute new kid on Trilby’s accommodation block is corrugated one-bedder Mitch’s Hut. The generous north-facing verandah, complete with Weber and fire pit, is a sensational sunset perch.
Liz’s home-cooked cuisine is a treat several generations in the making. Think full-cream, no-compromise country classics such as slow-cooked lamb shanks, stockyard chicken pie – just like Nanna made it – and dense sticky-date pudding for afters.
Trilby’s farmyard breakfasts and two/ three-course dinner packages aren’t cheap, but fairly priced, given their quality and day-in-the-fields-sized portions plus the fact that the local shop is, well, there isn’t one. Officially it’s BYO, but a bottle of medium-priced wine can always be rustled up.
On a station of such big numbers, you wonder how Liz manages to cater, on top of everything else. “They used to ask me if I milked cows for my fresh milk,” she says. “I said, jokingly, does it look like I’ve got time to milk a @*&%$#* cow [bursts into laughter]?”
And that’s the flavour of authenticity you get at Trilby. Real people. Real hospitality. Real connection to life on the land. Which is why such a mind-bendingly large space can feel like such a small personal one. Steve Madgwick
Hot properties
The CORYNNIA STATION accommodation on this merino and cropping property at Carrathool via Hay is charmingly decked out with vintage furniture and chintz.
This ecocredentialled ELDEE STATION working sheep and cattle farm is 25 kilometres from Broken Hill; book the comfy Grae Suite.
The CARINYA STATION camping on this Lightning Ridge property is no frills, but the insights into the workings on an outback farm are authentic and plentiful. CALLUBRI STATION
Constructed from upcycled shipping containers, the Sky Suites on this 11,300-hectare working sheep property in the NSW Central West add a touch of modern luxury to the station experience, including a mineral plunge pool.
Desert Gardens Hotel, Uluru, NT
SET WITHIN AN OASIS OF NATIVE gardens, Desert Gardens Hotel’s 218 guestrooms offer welcome retreat after a full day of adventuring in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. You’ll want to book one of the Deluxe Rock View Rooms: the only rooms in Ayers Rock Resort (ayersrockresort.com.au) with privileged views of Uluru itself that mean you can wake up to the kind of sunrise spectacle – the sacred site glowing red, and sky blazing all shades – that people put on their bucket lists. Although you can’t go wrong with a shady poolside option either, which will soon see you in cool repose under a gum-tree canopy. But the best bit about a stay here? The fact that it’s right next door to the brand-new Gallery of Central Australia, opened by Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia to celebrate and showcase regional Indigenous artists. Here, you can admire more than 80 artworks supporting existing and emerging artists exclusively from the Central Australia region exhibited along with specially curated items like punu (traditional Anangu wood carving) and pieces designed and handmade by local communities.
OTHER ULURU STAYS
Desert Gardens Hotel forms part of Voyages Ayers Rock Resort, alongside other accommodation options like luxurious Sails in the Desert, with its brasserie-style Ilkari Restaurant, and the surprisingly edgy Lost Camel Hotel, a contemporary and fun boutique-style option. Located 20 kilometres from Uluru, Ayers Rock Campground, meanwhile, lets you get as close to nature as possible with its campsites under native deser t oaks while the showstopper of the bunch, undoubtedly, is Longitude 131° – Australia’s ultimate luxury camp (pictured).
Bullo River Station, via Timber Creek, NT
PROMISING DAYS FILLED with dust, sweat and exhilaration is not a standard marketing hook, but in the case of Bullo River Station (bulloriver.com.au) it is an irresistible insight into the authentic adventure that awaits. The 202,000-hectare working cattle station and homestead, in the midst of the Northern Territory’s sun-scorched landscape, offers a generous opportunity to experience life on the land, witnessing – and even assisting – as hosts Julian and Alexandra Burt maintain their 4000-strong Brahman-cross herd. Daytime station activities here include everything from heading out on bore checks to cattle-yard work to watching cattle mustering (in season), or you can choose more sedate pastimes like fishing the Bullo River (it’s catch and release in order to protect fish stocks) or striking out on a guided tour (via all-terrain vehicle or helicopter) to Aboriginal rock art sites secreted around the property, executed by the local Miriuwung and Gajerrong people. And once the sun cools and dips towards the endless horizon, the station’s iconic homestead, sitting on a surprisingly green oasis of grass, eucalypts and boab trees, is where rest and respite is found, with cold drinks in hand and hearty communal dinners enjoyed by the campfire. The homestead and its adjacent rooms are a charming and welcoming study in rustic country/outback chic, with lots of tactile wood, leather and linen throughout. Breakfast is usually taken on the homestead’s wide verandah, before it’s time to head out into the limitless expanse of Bullo River Station to be exhilarated all over again.
WHITE CLIFFS UNDERGROUND MOTEL, NSW
SWEET RELIEF. That’s the only way to describe the feeling one gets walking through the doors of this quirky property built underground to escape the scorching outback heat (undergroundmotel.com.au). Outside in White Cliffs, a commercial opal field some 255 kilometres north-east of Broken Hill, we’ve spent our afternoon fossicking in 45°C+ heat, but inside this rabbit warren of 30 womb-like rooms – each one a pleasant 22°C – we embrace the cooler side of outback life. Cue beers in the outdoor pool, movies under the stars and in-house meals in the dining room. The best part? Falling asleep content in the knowledge we’ll probably never experience anything quite like this again. Dilvin Yasa
Davidson’s Arnhemland Safari Lodge, West Arnhem Land, NT
YOU’LL NEED A CESSNA to get here… it’ll land you on a dusty dirt airstrip just behind the lodge. The roads are near impassable in the dry season, and totally shut off in the wet. Davidson’s Arnhemland Safari Lodge (arnhemland-safaris.com) at Mt Borradaile is the only accommodation on a 700-square-kilometre patch of Arnhem Land where the area’s Amurdak people have lived for at least 65,000 years (and today own and manage this registered Aboriginal sacred site). Stay in cabins amid the bush, right next to billabongs full of giant saltwater crocs, and paintings etched on caves and escarpments that are some of the oldest art on Earth. Craig Tansley
Wallaroo Outback Retreat, Carnarvon Ranges, Qld
MY HATRED OF CAMPING knows no limits, but I would return to this ‘glampsite’ on a 30,000-hectare cattle station in the Queensland outback time and again. First, there’s the spectacular Carnarvon Ranges setting featuring more than 500 species of flora and endless cocky marsupials, just an hour from Carnarvon Gorge. And then there’s the actual Wallaroo (wallaroooutbackretreat.com.au) offering itself: 10 luxury safari-style tents with Posturepedic beds, bathrooms with hot showers, a timber lodge featuring a full working kitchen, camp oven dinners around the fire and Boobook eco tours that take in local Indigenous art sites. I arrived dreading the camping experience, but I enjoyed my time here so much that I’ve been dreaming of returning ever since. Dilvin Yasa
BERKELEY RIVER LODGE, KIMBERLEY COAST, WA
I FOUND TAKING A LIGHT plane transfer across the Kimberley’s raw, uninhabited wilderness was an excellent way to prepare for the isolated grandeur of Berkeley River Lodge (berkeleyriverlodge.com.au). Fanning out on dune peaks, each cyclone-proof villa gazes across ocean, glimpsing flaming-red cliffs in the distance. I forfeited dips in the 25-metre pool (brought in by a tide-navigating ocean barge) for adventures upriver; boat trips along towering block stacks sprouting tufts of green and paddles in freshwater rockpools made for memorable outings. Fancy food, bulbous outdoor baths and deliciously secluded beach walks prove the effort to get to this glam outpost is generously rewarded. Fleur Bainger
Secluded on the Kimberley Coast, this is Australia’s most remote luxury lodge experience.
Birdsville Hotel, Qld
YOU’VE STAYED IN THIS ROOM a hundred times in your travels across regional Australia. It’s comfortable and it’s clean, the TV works, it’s there in the corner facing the bed, and there’s the kettle for your cuppa. Simple, yes, but then no five-star hotel anywhere in the country offers the genuine experience that staying at the Birdsville Hotel (birdsvillehotel.com.au) does. Because the pub next door, a single-storeyed sandstone building built in 1884, is as iconic as any desert pub on Earth. I fly in by propeller plane – the airport (let’s just call it a runway, shall we?) is 100 metres away, across one of the only roads in this tiny outback settlement.
Birdsville is 1600 kilometres west of Brisbane, just above the South Australian border, and right beside one of the world’s harshest environments, the Simpson Desert (drive 38 kilometres and you can have sunset drinks in its biggest sand dune, Big Red/ Nappanerica). Burke and Wills passed through here, and we know what happened to them. The Birdsville Hotel’s the oasis in this desert. It’s like Cheers in here, everybody knows your name as soon as you drink or eat in it. The town’s barely 115 people, but all of them seem to be in the pub. And all 137 years of history seeps out of this place – there’s the cowboy hats on the walls of local patrons who’ve passed onto greener pastures (‘In recognition of those who have done the hard yards in Birdsville and since passed away’, the sign says), there’s the melancholic moan of bush poets scrawled on its walls and a sign warning baseball caps worn backwards incur a $2 fine – THIS IS AUSTRALIA, it reads… in caps, and italics. Meals are wholesome – steaks as big as your face – but you know you’re not here for the cuisine either. You’re here because you know no matter how far and wide you go, nowhere in Australia’s like the Birdsville Hotel. Craig Tansley
HISTORY OF AN AUSSIE ICON
Sitting on the traditional land of the Wangkangurra-Yarluyandi people, the heritage-listed Birdsville Hotel was erected in 1884 by publican William Blair. After his death in 1898, the hotel passed to the Queensland Trustee before being acquired by the Hayden family in 1912, the Gaffney family in 1918 and the Dixon family in 1947. Dick Smith famously purchased the property in 1979, but the day after the contract was signed the hotel burnt down. It was then acquired by David Brooks, a descendant of the Gaffney family, and his friend Kym Fort who ran it until the current owners, Courtney and Talia Ellis, bought it in 2019. The late ’70s fire wasn’t the only drama the hotel has endured (or the only fire; the first was in 1964): the outback outpost was damaged by cyclones in 1905 and again in 1964.