True North Ashore has brought a little bit of the Kimberley to Eagle Bay, as Dan Wilkie reports.
NOT content with providing the ultimate in cruising luxury, North Star Cruises has expanded its True North brand beyond Kimberley wilderness tours with the opening of a multi-million dollar holiday house in Eagle Bay.
True North Ashore is the latest addition to North Star's vacation portfolio, marking a significant strategic move for the cruise operator.
North Star joint owner Mark Stothard developed the concept after identifying an opportunity, despite the plethora of luxury accommodation options in Eagle Bay.
"[Our customers] often want to go down and see the South West, and up until now we haven't been able to recommend anywhere, I think, of suitable quality to what True North offers," Mr Stothard told Business Class.
"We really like the location of the South West, and having such a special block and now having such a special development on it, it's really akin to the whole True North brand."
Mr Stothard said the house had been designed around the concept of "bringing the Kimberley down south," and estimated the property to be worth more than $8 million.
True to the vision, Mr Stothard actually brought a little bit of the Kimberley to Eagle Bay, using 120 tonnes of Kimberley stone in the house's construction, including a waterfall and creek that flows through the centre of the structure.
"It's just a totally different design to start with, there's nothing like it down there at all," Mr Stothard said.
"As soon as you walk into the place you feel very calm, it's just a fantastic looking place.
"All of the tradesmen who were working on it were quite inspired by the different nature of the project, and everyone put their heart and soul into it."
Mr Stothard said demand for the house had increased steadily since the launch last November.
"Word's getting out; our product sells by word-of-mouth recommendation and enquiry levels are really healthy now," he said.
"It seems to be quite popular with weddings, we're working with Wise Winery to do a bunch of weddings each year.
"Smaller wedding parties ... we'll actually take them there and cater from Wise, we're only five minutes' drive from there.
"For the bigger wedding parties just the bridal party can stay there, somewhere really nice for them to enjoy."
It costs $10,000 per week to stay at the house, but, Mr Stothard is also designing specialty weekend packages to distance True North Ashore from the Eagle Bay holiday property pack.
He has enlisted the services of award-winning Swiss chef Beat Tobler, who will apply more than 30 years of experience to cater meals throughout a weekend, starting with a seafood barbecue and progressing to an eight-course degustation menu.
And for those with a creative itch, Mr Stothard has invited photographer Christian Fletcher to run exclusive photography courses at the picturesque location.
"The meals will be catered for, so four couples can stay at the place and be totally immersed in the whole photographic scene," he said.
"They'll go out in the early morning and the evenings, do the shoots with Christian, and at midday he'll take you right through the photo-shopping process, he'll bring his printer in there to print up pictures and the whole bit."
