Southern Ocean Lodge – Part One

Traveling to Australia – Qantas A380
Park Hyatt Sydney
Sydney – Spice I Am, Watsons Bay, Manly Beach, Cafe Paci
Sydney – The Opera House Black Star Bakery, The Rocks, Sake
Emirates Wolgan Valley – Part One
Emirates Wolgan Valley – Part Two
Kangaroo Island – Southern Ocean Lodge, Part One
Kangaroo Island – Southern Ocean Lodge, Part Two

After our stays and explorations in both Sydney and the Australian Outback, Mr. Feather and I headed off to our third and final destination for this trip – Kangaroo Island!

I had never even heard of Kangaroo Island until we started planning our Australia trip…and then, as soon as I heard the name and its description as “Australia’s Galapagos”, I knew that we had try and find a way there. Learning that there was a fabulous resort on the island  – Southern Ocean Lodge – just sealed the deal. Animals and nature, here we come!

We arrived to Kangaroo Island via a little puddle jumper plane to the island’s regional airport, Kingscote, and were promptly greeted by a representative of our hotel, to take us to the rest of the way to the hotel. We hopped into her car, and off we went.

After about 45 minutes in the car (where we got to admire some of Kangaroo Island – though more on that in a later post), we arrived at the Lodge.

I should mention now that Southern Ocean was one of the most beautiful hotels/resorts we have ever stayed at. The property was a string of individual rooms set on an isolated cliff facing the ocean, with literally no other signs of civilization seen for miles around. It was a very cool experience to stay in these amazing luxurious digs, while surrounded by nothing but nature and ocean.

I have more photos of the stunning scenery to come – but first, the property! As soon as we walked in, I knew that we had made the right decision on where to stay. This was the stunning “Great Room,” where guests were welcome to come anytime for a drink or snack, and where we enjoyed cocktails and canapes each evening. Full views of the ocean, of course.

The “Great Room” also had a huge stocked bar, filled with all kinds of spirits, wine (you could grab and take any bottle to your room to enjoy), and all the tools and ingredients necessary to make a killer cocktail. I have to admit I didn’t take full advantage of this, I just combined whatever looked good with champagne each night and was generally quite satisfied with the results.

After we checked in and went over our list of activities for the next three nights, we headed over to our room. All of the rooms at Southern Ocean felt like free standing villas, much like at Wolgan Valley. However, they were actually all connected, and you accessed them via an internal walkway. This was quite a relief as it got pretty cold at night – dashing back to our room from an outside path would have felt freezing.

And finally, our room. Keep in mind that we had one of the smallest room options – the “Flinders Suite,” which was already much more than enough space for the two of us. Anything more would have been just gravy. Lots of areas to work, relax, and generally enjoy the stunning surroundings. And lots of beautiful, natural light! My favorite place to hang out was on the couch, with the fire lit.

Like Wolgan Valley, Southern Ocean Lodge was all inclusive of food and drink – and our room came with a fully stocked complimentary mini bar full of drinks and snacks, as well as coffee and tea options.

The bathroom area of our room was also nicely sized, with individual sinks (always appreciated). I also loved the tub and took several baths here – Southern Ocean kindly provided all kinds of bath salts and milk bath mix, along with an array of other toiletries. All were locally sourced and made.

Even though the bathroom/shower/tub faced glass windows, the resort is designed in a way that we had complete privacy. No walk ways or paths going by our room, no lookout points near it – just us, nature, and then the ocean!

Outside of our room there was a small area for us to lounge and enjoy the view.

Speaking of the view…on one of our afternoons at Southern Ocean, we took a hike with one of the resort’s field guides around the area we saw just outside our window each day. It was a stunning walk that took us around the cliffs, staring down at the beaches and the sad, and all of the beautiful greenery surrounding us.

The walk ended with us on a cliff opposite the lodge and looking back at the lodge, as a reminder of just how extraordinary of a place we were staying in. Our guide also explained that that Southern Ocean was architected to blend in with the natural scenery as much as possible, which is why the buildings were so low, and in a row.

Every night, even though it was quite cold (and I hadn’t packed correctly), we took a short walk to appreciate the special place we were staying in. There were no bad views at Southern Ocean – everywhere we went, the scenery was spectacular.

That concludes the first half of my review of Southern Ocean Lodge – next time, I’ll take you through some of the resort’s dining and activities. Thank you for reading!