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6 unique Aussie hotels to make you feel alive

Gone are the days when the only accommodation to be found were musty hotel rooms with sealed windows, lumpy mattresses, a saggy armchair and a shared bathroom down a dimly lit hallway.

Gone are the days when the only accommodation to be found were musty hotel rooms with sealed windows, lumpy mattresses, a saggy armchair and a shared bathroom down a dimly lit hallway.

Australia is now home to some of the most unique accommodation in the world, where you can wake up in a grand French mansion, a pole house perched 40 metres above rugged beach, a light keeper’s cottage or a treehouse with floor to ceiling glass windows.

Scouring the country for the most unique properties available are View Retreats founders Mat Lewis and Stoewie van den Bulk, who quit the corporate high life in Melbourne to personally seek out the best they could find.

From Northern Territory to Tasmania this determined duo have found hundreds of unique accommodations ranging from more than A$5,500 a night to several hundred dollars.

Here are some of our favourites.

1. Campbell Point House

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Campbell Point House on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula – but ‘house’ it is not. Instead think of a gloriously extravagant French mansion within its own 37 acres of private estate, where each styled bedroom has its own private lounge, en-suites and views over Lake Connewarre. Oh and just in case you want to pop up for views over the surf coast, there’s a commercial grade helipad on site too.

 

2. Bamurru Plains

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In the Northern Territory on the edge of Kakadu National Park, Bamurru Plains is a luxury, safari-style bush camp which gives glamping a whole new meaning. Think small open safari bungalows built on stilts with mesh screen walls, so you can hear, see and almost touch the wildlife and wilderness around you.

 

3. Sal Salis

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For those needing to feel the sun through the canvas then Sal Salis in the Ningaloo Reef of Western Australian is for you. And while you may be bunking down in one of nine wilderness tents .. forget the blow up mattress, sleeping bag and long drop. Instead you you’ll have a handmade jarrah bed fitted with 500 thread count organic cotton sheets, a choice of pillows and an ensuite bathroom (at the rear) with solar powered shower.

 

4. Wollemi Wilderness’s Tree House

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Still in the heart of the bush, but this time in Sydney’s spectacular Blue Mountains – there’s a tree house to climb.   Unlike the backyard shack your father never quite finished, Wollemi Wilderness’s Tree House is situated in 600 acres of pristine bushland with floor to ceiling windows and a spa bath to boot.

 

5. The Pole House

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Back in Victoria and widely regarded as the most photographed house on Great Ocean Road sits the Pole House – a luxuriously modern beach house perched 40 metres above Fairhaven Beach. Described as ‘an experience’ – it is not suitable for children; but if romantic evenings watching the sunset in the lounge area in front of the designer suspended fireplace appeals, then this is the place for you.

 

6. Seal Rocks

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For those who ever dreamed of being a lighthouse keeper, now’s your chance to stand watch over NSW’s Seal Rocks (three hours north of Sydney) and bunk down in the head keeper’s cottage. It may have been built in 1875, but it has been tastefully renovated and has uninterrupted views so you can watch the whales frolic in the bay during migration season. With three bedrooms, a manicured lawn and breathtaking ocean views, this is definitely one for the kids, where they can climb the outside of the original lighthouse tower.

Do you have a favourite unique hotel in Australia?