by It was a great surprise to be back at Southern Ocean Lodge, the South Australian hotel that was reduced to rubble when wildfires swept through Kangaroo Island in 2020. When I last visited, it was still on site building surrounded by scorched vegetation. But now, after a two-year, £28.5 million rebuild, the Lodge has reclaimed its cliff-top position, with every floor-to-ceiling window magnifying the sublime turquoise and ivory crescent of Hanson Bay below.
Sunshine, the kangaroo statue by Indiana James, was back in her usual spot in the lobby, but there were subtle improvements everywhere. The rooms, arranged in a row down the hill from the Great Room (the aptly named amphitheater lounge), are repositioned for a better view while maximizing privacy. There is a much extended spa with sauna and plunge pools; and fire prevention and suppression systems were significantly upgraded, along with sustainability initiatives such as solar panels and water conservation. Ocean Pavilion, a four-bedroom mega-suite apart from the rest of the hotel, now caters to larger groups. New works of art were created from objects found in the rubble.
For a famous remote hotel, SOL 2.0 has also made a very good connection. “We’ve got Starlink satellite, Wi-Fi and 4G,” John Hird, the hotel’s longtime manager, told me with the kind of enthusiasm you’d expect from someone who’d won the lottery. With good reason – after all, the new technology would allow him to control the property’s sprinkler system from anywhere in the world. “So in case of fire, we will evacuate the whole place. No one will be left behind. Unlike last time.”
The fire season known as “Black Summer” was traumatic to say the least. Due to a very hot summer the eucalyptus forests of Kangaroo Island were growing dry. When lightning struck from electrical storms in December 2019, a spark exploded into an inferno so hot it created its own weather system. It was only a matter of time before the flames were licking at the rust-brown front door of Southern Ocean Lodge; the hotel was surrounded by conservation land that merged into Flinders Chase National Park, the point of origin of one of the fires.
Hird was one of six people left behind to start the sprinkler system when all the guests and most of the staff were evacuated. The idea was that if anything went wrong, four people could carry a stretcher while one attended to the injured. Fortunately there was no need for that – the bunker under the Great Room survived the firestorms that destroyed the rest of the hotel. Even Hird, who underwent heart surgery two months earlier, escaped unscathed.
The rest of the island was not so lucky. By the time the fires finally stopped burning in February 2020 due to a change in wind direction, almost half of the island had been burned and thousands of animals had died. It was the most destructive match on record.
The Australian bush catches fire – it depends on it for regeneration, for seeds to germinate. But even knowing this, the first fire ecologists to visit from other parts of Australia thought it would be decades before the landscape here could recover. The resilience of Kangaroo Island surprised everyone.
Within days of the flames going down, different types of fungi were already growing, changing the pH levels of the soil as they digested the ash. This almost imperceptible change in the environment meant that other organisms could begin to establish themselves, eventually making way for larger plants.
In fact, scientists witnessed the re-appearance of a species that had not been recorded for many years, whose seeds were patiently waiting for the exact right conditions to germinate. Perhaps what made the biggest difference, according to biologist and long-time resident Mike McKelvey, was that Kangaroo Island had no rabbits to eat new growth.
When I visited Kangaroo Island a little over a year ago, Craig Wickham, who was in charge of ecotourism through his company Exceptional Kangaroo Island, took me to areas that had been completely destroyed by the fires. What I saw was mostly vegetation, with dense foliage and undergrowth that could not be penetrated.
Wildlife was everywhere, from echidnas (a reed-covered mammal) digging up insects on the side of the road to koalas plucking eucalyptus leaves from the branches they cling to. At dawn and dusk, flocks of kangaroos emerged from their hiding places to graze on the verdant hills and birdsong rang out from the bushes at all hours of the day. It was magical.
It was only when we drove deep into Flinders Chase National Park that I began to see black branches going into the new growth, and clearings where the only thing left standing were the fire-resistant yakkas (gum trees Australian grasses) with their air-quality. flower spikes piercing the sky.
It was eerie, with a post-apocalyptic air. But even here, everywhere you looked, life was trying to create a new ecosystem; insects used hollow trees for food and shelter, and birds nested in the branches or used them for a better view
I revisited some of the same spots, as part of a signature experience included at Southern Ocean Lodge, and the change was even more remarkable. Patches of wild flowers on either side of the boardwalk leading to the nearby Remarkable Rocks and Admiral’s Porch were now melded into a fine carpet. At Bunker Hill Lookout, the sea of hyacinths that dominated the landscape was now obscured by other plants; the only evidence of their existence, a sign that explains that they responded to fires by “blooming profusely”. Even in Flinders Chase National Park, the scorched branches have weathered to silver, with fresh leaves creeping up their sides. In a year or two, these will be overwhelmed by the new life that is erupting around them.
When you look at everything that has changed, the reopening of Southern Ocean Lodge is only a small part of the island’s post-fire regeneration. But it is also symbolic of his rebirth; because until the hotel first opened in 2008, few people, not even South Australians, had heard of Kangaroo Island. The Lodge simultaneously reimagined experiential luxury travel in Australia and put this island on the world map. Its triumphant reopening is being held there.
Fundamentals
Qin Xie traveled as a guest of Tourism Australia, the South Australian Tourism Commission and Southern Ocean Lodge (00 61 2 9918 4355; southoceanlodge.com.au), which offers rooms from £1,757, all inclusive, for a minimum two-night stay .
