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King Island off the North-West coast of Tasmania is a remote and raw landscape where the cattle and wildlife population far outweigh that of the local community. On a secluded 96 acres of ancient dunes and rolling landscape overlooking the pristine Tasmanian coastline lies Kittawa Lodge. Totally off-grid these bespoke lodges aim to create a luxurious living experience that not only embraces its surroundings but that can also withstand the harsh coastal environment.
Aaron Suine and husband Nick Stead were once a busy corporate couple living in Sydney’s Paddington, when they felt it was time to pursue a long-held passion to create their own hospitality business. Five years ago, as they sat down watching Landline on the ABC, a story about King Island caught their attention.
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Hey guys, Lucy here from Hunting for George.
Today I am in King Island, which is off the northwest coast of Tasmania.
This has got to be one of the most remote places in the world.
And behind me is a very special one-bedroom lodge, which is absolute luxury, quite literally
on the end of the earth.
Let's go check it out.
The exterior to this home is actually quite impressive.
It's clad with this charred timber, which is going to, well, it already has started
to weather and it will continue to weather over time.
We have a double entry.
I really like this entry point because we've got chopped logs for the fire.
You can hang up your coats and your boots.
Is that entry?
I mean, it's such a wonderful experience as you approach this, you know, dark, moody
box, you know, you get a sense for something on the inside.
And when you see that, when you see that view, it's something else.
So through here, we have the kitchen.
I love this beautiful bushy foliage.
This has actually been picked from the surrounding area, including an editable saltbush.
We've got the pantry in here.
Oh, I love it.
Lots of little brekkie goodies.
You've got your dishwasher in here.
This feels really nice.
What I like about this kitchen as well, you're here and you've got these other aspects
looking out onto these wonderful sloping hills.
In fact, there's a few wallabies bouncing around outside there as well.
It's a very active view.
The drawers feel wonderful.
These are some very well-styled and organized drawers.
This kind of puts me to shame.
And a very well-stocked Tasmanian fridge.
So I like the way this is quite an open kitchen.
You know, it is a smaller one-bedroom home.
So I like the fact that they've kept it quite open.
You've got your dining area here, which is pretty much just adjacent.
And it works really well with the length of that kitchen.
But, you've got to like this fireplace.
Give that a bit of air.
Gosh, I love the look of this fireplace.
It works beautifully in the corner there.
It really does centralize your focus around this corner and creates a wonderful hub.
So through here, we've actually got this charred timber cladding on the interior as well,
which we saw on the outside.
So I love that touch.
There is a cheeky cavity door, which actually hides away the bedroom area.
But let's go inside.
What do you reckon?
You've got your binoculars here.
There's plenty to see out there as well.
I just love the feeling in each room.
And I love the way they've created these sort of pictures and these moments,
spaces for you to sit.
And it also feels incredibly luxurious.
I mean, the finishes are beautiful.
The furniture, that asymmetrical bedhead.
You know, the decor is very luxe.
It's not what you expect to see, you know, when you're walking down that front driveway.
But are you ready?
Because this, guys, this is a showstopper.
I mean, guys, holy mother of bathtub.
This may well be the best bathtub I think I've ever seen.
You know I'm going to get in.
Oh, my goodness, honestly.
Words can't describe that view.
So that is a very big custom concrete bathtub.
It's also got matching custom basins here as well, which are again that same concrete.
This is a wonderful feeling in here, this freestanding shower.
And all you can do is whilst you're here, you know, checking yourself out.
It's all just about looking at that wonderful view.
Found the drinks cabinet.
What do you reckon?
Cheeky Tasmanian pinot.
The fire's still going well.
OK, so let me give you a bit more background information on how this home actually came to be.
So imagine, if you will, you are a high flying corporate living in Paddington in the middle of Sydney
and all of a sudden you decide to throw in the towel and give everything up to follow your secret passion
to open a hospitality business.
That is actually the reality of how this home and this space came to be, Kituwa Lodge.
Aaron and Nick are the wonderful family behind Kituwa Lodge, and that was their story.
They literally stumbled across King Island.
They were quite literally watching television, landline to be exact.
And they saw King Island and they got to know the space and they loved it so much that they literally
booked a flight down here a few weekends later.
Fast forward a couple of months.
They bought this property and the reason why they bought it is because they had a vision for these
spaces and they really wanted to share this beautiful part of the world with other people.
So King Island is very much known for its produce, especially its beef and its dairy.
And it is known to have some of the cleanest air in the world.
And you really do get a sense of that.
As soon as you step onto this island, you literally feel like you are in a completely different space entirely.
It has an incredible raw energy.
It's quite a brutal beauty.
You are very exposed to the elements.
You do see a lot of harsh conditions.
And the space we're at right now, you know, we are on the coastline, so it changes so much.
The wind can just be, you know, ripping through here one minute and then it can just completely die off and be
incredibly calm and peaceful the next.
It really is an interesting landscape to look at.
And I think what I like most about Kituwa Lodge is that the inside is just so peaceful and so calm
that it's not really affected by what's happening outside.
It's its own little safe haven.
It's its own wonderfully lush and indulgent space in which to inhabit, to just watch all of that wild, raw energy
happening around you.
The exterior features a charred timber cladding, which has a wonderful sense to it.
It's very moody.
It's very dark.
It's also fire resistant and it does actually weather incredibly well, which is what Aaron and Nick really
wanted this house to be.
They wanted to make sure that it kind of sat alongside its environment and didn't sort of stick out too much.
And so they liked the fact that that timber cladding is just going to age and weather beautifully over time and
really become as rough and as raw as its surroundings.
That concept of that charred timber cladding is also being continued on the interior of this home as well.
You see it as that separating wall between the living and the bedroom spaces.
I like how dark and heavy that is.
I like the fact that it is very much a clear divide between those two spaces.
However, that's the only aspect of brutality, so to speak, in this home.
Everything else is 100% indulgence.
Soft furnishings, beautiful finishes.
The artwork is sensational.
Wonderful finishes with the vases, trinkets, just so many styling notes and places to sit and be comfortable.
So Aaron, one of the owners, was actually responsible for the interior design and fit out of this build.
You know, that wasn't actually his background, but he just had a very clear vision for what he saw and what he
wanted this interior to be.
And so he spent a lot of time making sure that he chose and found those right pieces.
And he also wanted to make sure that those moments were very special.
And when I say moments, oh, yes, I mean moments.
Let's start with that bathtub, shall we?
That insanely generous and just drop dead gorgeous bathtub that is looking out onto a picture.
Perfect view of King Island.
It's just sensational.
For one, it's a wonderful custom concrete bath.
It's very generous.
But just that view and the way it just draws you in.
You could quite literally spend all day in that bathtub.
The concrete is also mimicked with the basins as well and that custom vanity.
There is that freestanding shower as well.
It's quite simple.
I think he's pulled back on some of the other finishes because they knew that the feature and hero of that space was
100 percent that bathtub.
And then the moment that I love most in the bedroom is definitely that solo chair, that occasional chair that's just
tilted ever so perfectly out to that view.
It has got a set of binoculars right next to it, which I've looked through and you can see so far into the
distance. And it is an incredible space to capture because there is so much happening out there on those rocks and
so many wonderful animals.
But you don't actually need binoculars half the time because there are so many wallabies that jump around this
space. They literally come right up to the window half the time and have a look inside.
It's a very generous floor plan, though, with the bedroom.
There is nothing small and pokey about it.
It is a one bedroom lodge, but they have done very well with their proportions.
I also like the way that they've separated this living space.
I like this L-shaped couch where I'm sitting now.
You know, my focus is very much on that fireplace, which I must say is bringing out a lot of wonderful heat.
It's getting quite cozy in here.
So this lodge is so much more than its interiors.
It's more than its design.
It really is just about the experience from as soon as you open that door, as soon as you see that view.
And to be honest with you, for me personally, I walked in here and I almost just reset.
There was something so wonderfully relaxing about it.
And that is just an absolute testament to this design, to this home,
to what has been created to ultimately help you completely switch off.
So this home, much like its surroundings, has a very raw yet very unique beauty to it.
Hey, guys, thanks for watching.
I would love to know what you thought of this home tour.
So leave me a comment below and be sure to like and subscribe
because we've got plenty more home tours coming your way.
Cheers.