Tasmania’s Hidden Treasure: Satellite Island

Image: Elise Hassey

If you inherited a tiny patch of paradise off the coast of Tasmania would you share it? Thankfully, the owners who did, opened it to all and sundry – and it’s a luxury getaway like no other.

It’s not every day you get a phone call to say that you’ve inherited an island. Needless to say, when this happened to Melbourne couple Will and Kate (not the Will and Kate, obviously), the news was “a shock, to say the least”, says Kate. “Completely unexpected!”

Image: Elise Hassey

While the fortuitous outcome may sound like the stuff of dreams, or a lottery win, the real story is one of family ties. Satellite Island – a tiny strip of Tasmanian wilderness between Bruny Island and the mainland – was once owned by Will’s uncle, Ian Alstergren, who had purchased the island in the 1960s as a retreat, but went on to operate a successful salmon-farming business. When the couple and their three children inherited the island in 2009, “there were salmon in the water, the fish farm was running and overnight we were tending to harvests”, recalls Kate with a rueful smile. “It was a crazy time.”

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Ringed by sheer sandstone cliffs and gnarled bluegum and sheoak, Satellite Island is still a wild place, but today has a less frenetic pace. The simple three-bedroom shack built by Ian in the 1980s has found new life as a family retreat – now referred to as the “summer house” (a Scandinavian term for holiday home by the sea) – where soft canvas couches, coir rugs and Finnish reindeer hides add warmth to the
weathered timber and sandstone framework.

Image: Elise Hassey

“It was really important that we honour Ian, and the family’s Scandinavian heritage. Hence we fly the Norwegian flag, as well as the Australian one, by the jetty,” explains Kate. “There’s something lovely about the fact that Ian built this house; we feel so grateful to him for entrusting us with something so dear to him.” A typically Nordic palette of dove grey, cream and ivory also features in the interiors. “But those colours are also a reflection of what’s outside. You can see those smoky blues in the mountains, and the creams in the cliffs. It’s Scandinavian beach hut meets raw Tasmanian wilderness.”

This recipe for relaxation explains why Satellite Island has been receiving global attention since the family began gently promoting it as a holiday destination in late 2013 – most notably from Vanity Fair magazine, which declared it one of the world’s 15 loveliest private-island getaways. Yet it’s not just the Instagram-worthy interiors that make this retreat so extraordinary. The island’s 30 unruly hectares offer back-to-basic delights, where family holidays are spent outside and tech-free.

Image: Elise Hassey

There are coves to be explored, beach fires to be lit, fossils to be uncovered and picnics to be had, and acres of densely wooded bushland, which provide the perfect spot for playing hide-and-seek with the island’s 60 head of deer.

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Bruny Island and its gastronomic delights are just a 10-minute speedboat dash away, and for guests there is also a 24-hour, on-call manager to cater to every whim.

Image: Elise Hassey

And, of course, there’s the boathouse, a small but stunning hideout that sits on a simple timber jetty atop the glittering water, 54 steep steps down from the summer house. Once home to assorted boating machinery, the boathouse now houses two bedrooms, each decked out in the island’s signature mix of luxe Belgian linen and textured wood, alongside an outdoor deck and dining suite crying out for a long, lazy lunch.

“Converting the boathouse was the best thing we ever did,” says Kate. “Sleeping on the water’s edge, and waking up to the sound of the waves …” she pauses for a moment “Being here is like taking an old-fashioned seaside holiday, where you do the simple things,” she finally says.

Image: Elise Hassey

“The island casts a spell on you.”

For rates and further information, visit satelliteisland.com.au.

This article originally appeared in the December edition of marie claire.

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