Scotland and Ireland Go Australian

Top-Tier in Tasmania and Queensland

The ole’ girl is looking pretty darned amazing or, dare we say, absolutely stunning. Tarraleah Lodge was built in the 1930s and underwent a brilliantly orchestrated facelift in 2006. Your clients are invited to meet this lovely, “lodgy” lady, don their kilts and travel not to bonnie Scotland, but to Australia’s Tasmania and its Central Highlands. Equidistant between the cities of Strahan and Hobart, Tasmania’s capital, the lodge is located on the famed touring route labeled by many Aussies as one of their country’s top 10 drives.

Guests of O'Reilly's Rainforest Escape go on a nature walk.

The indigenous Aboriginal name of this remarkable property means “Forestor Kangaroo,” and although you may indeed jump for joy when you see a few ’roos and their joeys, you’re also likely to spy some of the other wild and crazy wildlife for which Australia is famous: platypuses, quolls, wallabies, wombats, echidnas and, of course, Tasmanian devils. Tarraleah’s own Highland Cattle, an ancient Scottish breed of beef cattle with long horns and shaggy pelts, roam the 300-acre estate.
The onsite contact person is Assistant General Manager Mark Newcombe (info@tarraleah.com). Marketing Manager Lisa Dunn (lisad@tarraleah.com) invites agents to query her regarding fam visits to Tarraleah. “Come to breathe the fresh air and drink the clean water—two precious commodities these days,” says Dunn.

Nine deluxe guest rooms are priced from $590, and the top-of the-line Highlander Suite is priced from $790 through August. In the rooms, clients can utilize Internet service, flat-screen TVs, DVDs and high-fidelity iPod connections. They can then tuck into silk-covered, custom-designed, king-size beds topped with Tasmanian mohair throws. The chic art-deco bathrooms feature latest-model spa therapy baths or rainforest showers, heated floors, luxury toiletries from the London house of Moulton Brown and sensually soft cotton bathrobes for use after your requisite cliff-top hot-tub dip. Guests here can enjoy the gym, squash court and complimentary golf clubs (greens fees are included in their tariff).

A deluxe guest room at Tarraleah Lodge in Tasmania.

“Ninety percent of guests eagerly fill out comment forms before they leave,” says Dunn, “and that hot tub always makes the top of the list.” Visitors love to immerse themselves, open the sliding doors and gaze at the gorgeous valley and river below.

A four-course dinner and gourmet breakfast are part of the package and are served in the Wildside Restaurant, which proudly boasts 300 wines and 170 single malts in its Library Bar. Insiders tell us that “roughing it” lodge-style in Tasmania never tasted so good.

If “trout, trout, trout” are on your client’s mind, 30 lakes and six streams beckon with rainbow and brown species; plus, regulars love to try to “sight fish”—ask your guide how and where. Please don’t whine if you come up “empty-hooked” while using your top-end G. Loomis equipment, which is provided by the lodge for visitors’ use. “Even if you choose to fish alone, never feel underwhelmed in front of your quarry. We can provide expert advice, guidance and even a little (actually, very little) sympathy when your adversary gets the better of you,” says lodge management, which has high hopes for your fishing trip. Don’t bring a long face to this pleasant place—“Come as you are…We suggest you get dressed first.”

Locals suggest requesting pre-dinner drinks with zoologist and nature guide par excellence Hans Naarding, who is reputed to have seen the last Tasmanian tiger in the wild in the mid 1980s.

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