WanderList: Australia’s Southern Ocean Lodge

November 19th, 2012 • BY

The entire staff at Southern Ocean Lodge knows your name. The bell boy, the front desk, waiters, and even housekeeping. They’re all on a first-name basis with you the moment you step foot into the heart-wrenchingly gorgeous lodge and gasp. Everyone gasps, of course. It’s hard not to when you see the Great Room from the lobby, look past its hanging fireplace and take in, for the first time, a 180-degree view of the Southern Ocean from your now-unveiled perch on a rugged limestone cliff.

The 21 suites of Southern Ocean Lodge (from $990) unfurl along a cliff-top ledge, with two national parks nestled behind; a luxe, serene refuge on Kangaroo Island, Australia’s own Galapagos. If you’re in the market for an exotic, far-flung, and decidedly high-end adventure to escape winter’s chill, Kangaroo Island will serve up summertime temps from December through February.

Opened by James and Hayley Baillie in 2008, the lodge is as eco-friendly as it is elegant: recycling run-off water, using solar panels and low-flow plumbing fixtures, and building on only one percent of its 254 acres, preserving the remaining land for future generations through a Heritage Agreement. The lodge’s rear windows open up to an uninterrupted view of treetops as far as you can see (and you can see far).

The interior of Southern Ocean Lodge is defined by minimalism’s clean, swooping lines, its airy openness continually drawing your attention to the island’s natural splendor. Floor-to-ceiling windows in every room (and bathroom) add to that draw, but the decadence of heated floors, a walk-in closet, switch-operated shades, limestone fireplace and a private patio in each suite keeps most people from wandering too far. Locally-sourced fare at the open bar and included meals can mean small-batch gin, Barossa Valley wines and island honey from the world’s last remaining colony of Ligurian honey bees. And for explorers, bespoke itineraries will take you to meet koalas and ‘roos, traipse over the Remarkable Rocks, and spread out on the island’s pristine, sugar-sand beaches, often picked as Australia’s best.

Southern Ocean Lodge Australia Kangaroo Island Clifftop Walk

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Rachel Sturtz

About

Rachel Sturtz is a freelance writer and expat New York editor living in Denver, where she can finally test gear somewhere other than Central Park. When not covering health and fitness for mags like Women's Health, Fitness, Shape, and Running Times, she travels to places like Moscow to write about surly ballerinas for Hemispheres and interviews celebs like Tom Colicchio about how to cook the perfect steak for Allure. Sturtz's preferred— More about this author →