I’m staring into the face of an emu. I hadn’t realised it was standing right by me until I heard its ruffle and shuffle. I only pulled over to snap an unusually glass-flat Backstairs Passage with Kangaroo Island’s kyphotic spine stretching towards the west. When the feathered forager reveals itself fully from behind the Cape Jarvis sign, I let it be, and continue on, excited about my return to South Australia’s fenceless wildlife sanctuary. My last visit to Kangaroo Island was after the 2019-2020 bushfires that devastated the island’s west. Back then, with Nikki Redman; one of the islands most informed and passionate nature and wildlife guides, it was to see how Flinders Chase National Park was recovering. Mother Nature continues to do a gentle and progressive job healing the park's scars, with regrowth reshaping the landscape daily, and wildlife returning to an impressive regenerating habitat - her eco Real Estate. But this time, I’m heading over to see how an ethical tourism operator works in harmony with nature and wellbeing, at another kind of eco retreat. With my car eyeing up the bottom of another below, I sit on the upper deck of the SeaLink ferry, relieved that the waters are calm. Sun rays skip across the blades of the waving turbines at Starfish Hill Wind Farm, which sits on the usually blustery tip of the hilly Fleurieu Peninsula. Within the hour, I’m back in the car and decanted onto peace-steeped Penneshaw, where time immediately slows. Cruising at leisure to American River for my immersive two-night getaway at Oceanview Eco Villas, I join a crumbly dirt road that leads to the luxury twin lodges. The breezy location feels like a million miles from anywhere, such is its blissful isolation where I know I will not be disturbed by traffic or human noise. Entering my bright and light villa, I immediately eye-up the gas fire that’s encased in honeycomb-textured bricks (which I try not to lick). Currently spotlit by the late afternoon sun, I know I will lay before its cosy flames when the temperature drops tonight. But first, I step outside to inhale the wild and rugged coastline. Needling through the property's private native bush, I snatch spectacular views of the colour-saturated Redbanks cliffs that plummet to the beach with conviction. The sight is of such raw, unadulterated beauty, it’s like the frilly gills Kangaroo Island are too breathing in their own share of salty ocean air. I’m privileged. One only gets to experience this vantage point by staying at this stylish property perched above Nepean Bay. When the clouds threaten to catch up with me, I retreat to my cliff-side sanctuary. It’s late winter, so the horizon has syphoned the sun down early. While lighting the fire and dimming the lights, my hosts arrive at the front door to welcome me. Run by Tamsin Wendt and her husband Tim, this is a tourism offering with a difference. In Tamsin‘s hand is a Kangaroo Island Spirits (Australia’s first gin distillery) mulberry gin and tonic. That thrills this gin lover, given that Kangaroo Island is home to the oldest still-growing fruit tree in South Australia. The 1836-planted mulberry tree lives on at Kingscote’s Reeves Point. The private, intimate experience then takes one massive step further. At Oceanview Eco Villas, guests dine privately in their own suites. My hosts lay my table so I won’t even have to lift a pot or a plate. In fact, they encourage me to stay in my bathrobe and slippers, which I do, sipping my gourmet gin cocktail by the fire. In a separate building hidden between the two identical villas is a kitchen, where the culinary magic happens. The three courses magically appear throughout the evening as Tamsin and Tim excel with their hosting and cookery skills. The highlight for me tonight is the line-caught Kangaroo Island King George whiting with king oyster trumpet mushrooms and homemade Romesco sauce, finely curated within the marinated medley of local produce. What follows is Tamsin’s special panna cotta, seductively bringing crumbled Kangaroo Island honeycomb along for the culinary ride. My tongue doesn't know quite what to do with itself. Oh... When the rain begins to jet-wash the ceiling-to-floor windows, I light the soy candle and run the bath tub, spooning from a jar essential oil-blended sea salts. Time is forgotten as I wallow beneath a large picture window absorbing the panoramic view — until the sun sinks into its own salty bath. Breakfast brings smoked trout-dressed scrambled eggs (sourced from where a maximum of just 200 hens per hectare graze), accompanied by avocado and blistered cherry tomatoes. I need to check in on the island, to see how it's healing, so I take a drive across to Vivonne Bay. The weather is wild, windy and stormy, but that just makes for some spectacular photography where turquoise waters contrast strikingly against the bone marrow of the ochre-hued cliffs. The bush is indeed regenerating after the fires. There is an eeriness viewing the still-charred trees, but their trunks stand stalwartly above a shagpile carpet of fresh bushy greens. Nature will do all it can to survive. Returning to my cosy eco retreat, dinner this evening starts with a warming cauliflower soup. Not only are the meals at Oceanview Eco Villas home-cooked and hand-delivered, the ingredients are chosen extremely mindfully. The main course of pasture-raised, grass-fed and ethically harvested lamb with bunched carrots, parsnips, green beans, beetroot and red onion is an explosion of potent nutrition. When Tamsin drizzles from a small jug her unique 80-hour red wine jus, I realise that this is a super-special place. Tamsin and Tim’s quest is to share a tangible connection to place and a feeling of belonging, as if a local. I get it. I feel it. The whole experience tangibly shares with guests an ethos of environmental consciousness. Having little impact on the local environment, the luxe off-grid villas generate their own natural air conditioning, thanks to the strategically placed sky windows. Jarrah wood features are recycled. And plastic milk bottles have reincarnated as an expansive sundeck, which looks as authentic and natural as real timber. But perhaps what is most impressive is that ghost nets have been fished out of the ocean and weaved into carpets. Carpets! To top it all off, and breathing new life for the future, behind the property on land where sheep once grazed, freshly planted native trees — all 4,500 of them — will eventually grow into a protected mature forest.
Guests can also gain a deep insight into nature and wildlife while staying at Oceanview Eco Villas. Tamsin and Tim have employed the most expert wildlife guides on the island. Small-group hikes will suit the intrepid explorer, while those that prefer to switch off can book a private picnic on the island's pristine beaches. Those that enjoy being on the ocean can also join a fishing trip — all of which will celebrate the bounteous flavours and bespoke experiences on offer here on pristine Kangaroo Island. |
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