An Island Sanctuary
Our groups have exclusive use of our completely off-grid private eco camp, nestled in amongst tall eucalypts on the foothills of Mt Mangana at the southern end of Bruny Island.
With our days spent walking in wild, powerful, coastal places, our campsite is a sanctuary we can return to each evening. Featuring a gorgeous bespoke designed celery top timber kitchen and dining room, five canvas tents containing split king beds with quality linen, towels and pillows. The highlight for many of our guests is an incredible hot water shower discretely located with spectacular views!
One of the best things about our camp being located at the southern end of Bruny Island is the night sky. With no light pollution, the stars are just incredible and occasionally we have been lucky enough to experience the Aurora Australis.
Our Bruny Island Accommodation
Our accommodation is built completely off-grid. We harvest the rain from our roof and pressure feed this water for all of our needs, including the incredible outdoor shower. For our shower and hot water in the kitchen, we use a gas system. A solar panel on the main roof provides the power to run our pumps, small energy efficient lighting in the main structure and just two power points to enable guests to recharge their cameras (they do tend to take a lot of photos!)
The accommodation was architecturally designed to have as little impact on the site as possible. In fact, it has been designed so that it could be easily moved to another site. If this were to happen there would be little evidence of the building's footprint. We built from Celery Top Pine, supplied by Southern Forest Farm Products, just across the channel from Bruny Island at Garden Island Creek. The business has a "no waste policy". This means that all the timber used in the construction of our accommodation was salvaged from the southern forests of Tasmania, essentially the timbers left behind as waste in existing forestry coupes.
Once the accommodation was constructed we began a program to restore the rest of the land to its original state. This involved an eradication program for non-native species on the property, as well as a program to re-introduce endemics. Eucalyptus viminalis (white gums) have been planted around the property to support and encourage the very rare and threatened endemic bird species -Forty Spotted Pardalote. These birds only exist where Eucalyptus viminalis occur and Bruny Island is a stronghold for them.
What are people saying?
“The on-property experience also makes this trip exceptional. The menus as really well considered and the food well prepared. The facilities are well thought through - our tent was really comfortable, the shower quite spectacular and the dining area a fabulous place to relax at the end of the day”
- Chris February 2018
"Evenings back at Rob's 106-acre campsite, set in a grassy clearing hopping with shy, wild wallabies were a chance to unwind and take a shower in a partially exposed wooden hut in the forest. Showering in the middle of immense eucalyptus trees, listening to birds calling in the treetops, and feeling the still, cool forest air against your wet skin, was profoundly soothing."
House and Garden UK