things grow

King Island is renowned for exquisite cheese, sensational beef and being home to some of the best golf courses in the world. However the real magic happens when you combine these with some other island offerings such as whisky, lobster and luxury accomodation.

WORDs: Michelle Hespe

IT’S a common sight on King Island: a light shower sweeping across the green slopes that are as smooth as jade carpets, a rainbow arching over the fields beyond. Then the sun shines, and out on the putting greens, a peppering of golfers look up to the heavens – no doubt praying for a perfect putt, or perhaps for Mother Nature to stop playing havoc with their usually steady drives.

They’re already challenged by the winds barrelling in off the coast where the Roaring Forties have whipped the waves up into a white-wash frenzy.

There’ll be laments about how it has to be one of the toughest (yet one of the best) golf courses in Australia, and as the rain disappears and the sun shines bright once more, a crow might dive down to pinch a ball from the beach bunker or from the grasscovered slopes. The birds often mistake the balls for eggs and it adds another level of difficulty.

Anyone serious about golf will notice right away that Cape Wickham Links on King Island (which is ranked as Australia’s number one public access golf course and 24th in the world) is reminiscent of the place where golf began 600 years ago: St Andrews Links in Scotland.

It has the same beautifully barren landscape meticulously transformed into undulating green slopes that glide down to meet the rocky escarpments and then the ocean, in a remote part of the world where the wind blows wildly and the rain is frequent.

At the northern tip of King Island, Cape Wickham Links sits on one of the most remote parts of this remarkable 1,098 square-kilometre island. It’s about 40 minutes north of the main town of Currie, and there is nowhere else out here to buy lunch or have a drink, so it’s a good thing that the course has a clubhouse with some of the best views in the country, and simple yet stylish cabins that sit along a ridge overlooking the course.

Most people who visit King Island to play golf take advantage of all three assets, and then head south to enjoy the other award-winning golf course – Ocean Dunes Golf Course.

While on the island’s tip, check out the 48-metre-tall Cape Wickham Lighthouse – established in 1861 – and take a drive out to some of King Island’s many shipwreck sites.

Sadly there’s a tragic, gripping history of shipwrecks off King Island, with close to 100 ships having crashed into its shores and reefs, claiming a total of more than 1,000 lives. This is largely due to the treacherous seas and the fact the Roaring Forties winds took sailing vessels across the bottom of King Island – captains often thought they were coming into mainland Tasmania or the bottom of Victoria, and instead hit King Island.

As Luke Agati, President of the King Island Historical Society, explains: “Captains and seafarers used to call it ‘the Eye of the Needle’, and if you didn’t go through that eye perfectly, you were slammed into King Island.”

The Cataraqui shipwreck – which claimed 400 lives – is still the worst civil maritime disaster in Australian history. You can visit the memorial further down south, where it occurred.

Down On The Dunes

About half an hour down the road from Cape Wickham Links is Ocean Dunes, which also boasts some of the best views possible on a golf course. It was ranked number five in the country in 2023. It also has a clubhouse with breathtaking views over the 18 holes and the ever-changing vista of Bass Strait and the Indian Ocean.

It’s only 10 minutes from Ocean Dunes to Currie, where there’s plenty of accommodation, and a few luxury lodges out of town set amid the wonderfully wild landscape.

As with Cape Wickham Links, you can book a package of transport, accommodation and golf, and then most groups make time to check out other local venues and institutions, including a smattering of restaurants, the local pub in Currie, the museum and Currie lighthouse, as well as the famous bakery renowned for its delicious pies and sausage rolls.

The King Island Golf & Bowling Club in Currie is worth a visit, as not only can you join in on a game with the locals (book online), you can also dine above the ocean and one of the world’s best 9-hole golf courses, at the popular View Dining Restaurant.

Peace And Harmony At Ettrick Rocks

There are retreats, and then there are incredible spaces paying homage to some of the world’s most remote and wild places – the harmony between them being a well-considered yet organic equation.

Step into any of the three Ettrick Rocks villas on the spectacularly rugged coast about 20 minutes out of Currie, and the views that King Island is famous for unfurl before you like oil paintings in constant motion.

If the loungeroom with its sweeping floor-to-ceiling windows and cleanlined architecture was a cinema, the only film you’d want to watch is the waves rolling, crashing and seeping into the rocky landscape that is awash with green and grey native grasses.

The coastline is so exposed to the ocean surges and constant salt spray that only really tough species such as sea celery, bower spinach, sea box, coastal spear and salt grass thrive on the island – jostling and swaying for attention.

A dining room with an elegant, fine-lined table and chairs in ash hardwood offers guests another place to linger longer and indulge in the great outdoors while enjoying a meal cooked in the expansive kitchen. Or there’s a barbecue area outside where you can fillet fish, flash-fry some rock lobster or flip some local King Island steaks to your heart’s content.

The bedrooms are a haven of muted tones that tie in with the natural landscape – the king-size beds and bay window lounges offer more relaxing vantage points to drink in the rugged beauty of the landscape.

Aside from the almost-camouflaged wallabies dotting the landscape, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d been transported to the other side of the Earth and deposited on a far-flung Scottish Isle.

That’s just one of the many things that makes King Island special: it’s utter remoteness.

The island might only be 65 kilometres long and 25 kilometres wide, but as they say, from little things, big things grow. And even if you don’t play golf, you might just want to give it a whirl, as then you can walk off some of the whisky, beer, gin, meat pies, cheese, lobster and beef that you may or may not have consumed. After all, what happens on King Island, stays on King Island. Including your score, if it’s not your finest, of course.

Rex flies to King Island

Get Into The Good Stuff

If you are a whisky or spirits lover, look no further than King Island Distillery run by local Heidi Weitjens. Heidi has been on a decade-long journey perfecting the art of gin and whisky, with the mentorship of none other than the grandfather of Tassie whisky, Bill Lark. Swing by her tasting room on the outskirts of Currie and you’ll most definitely want to take home more than a wee dram. She also produces a tongue-tingling limoncello that has enough zing to make you sing, and a coffee spirit that rivals any of the cold brew martini mixes on the market. Her gins are as clean and crisp as King Island’s water, and her Tiger Tonic Spirit is a signature drink like no other – the first garlic spirit, made with local manuka honey, lemon garlic and ginger. It comes together beautifully to offer an antibiotic tonic that tastes so much better than some of those European stomach tonics on the market.

Go Cray Cray For Lobster

King Island crayfish (aka southern rock lobster) is some of the best in the country, and just like the cheese, whisky, beer and beef, if you plan ahead you can make a meal of it while you're there. Make time to wander down around Currie Wharf where you’ll see fishing boats coming in and out – it’s the buzzing hub of the island’s thriving seafood industry. Pre-orders can be arranged and both King Island FoodWorks and IGA sell cooked crayfish, with 24 hours' notice for orders. As with booking any activities on the island, plan and book/order well ahead.

RESTAURANTS WITH FOOD (AND THE SPECIAL ONE WITHOUT)

There are some great places to dine on King Island. The King Island Hotel restaurant is fun and cosy, and it has an extensive menu and wine list. Next door, you’ll find the quirky Legs café and diner, which also has great coffee, a bar and takeaway meals.

At Oleada in Currie, you can fine dine in a 16-seat rustic restaurant with a European-style ambience and great service dished up by local husband-and-wife team Heidi and Max. Over at Grassy you can check out Wild Harvest, which also runs food tours to show visitors all of the amazing produce from the island that they utilise in their wonderful dishes.

If you want to buy your own local produce and prepare it yourself, look no further than The Restaurant with No Food – a bright yellow boatshed that local artist Caroline Kininmonth lovingly restored and filled to the rafters with eclectic art, and bits and bobs in wacky ensembles that are enough to make anyone smile. Help yourself to glasses, plates and cutlery then settle in and watch the buzzing harbour while you dine with the ocean breeze in your hair. Clean up after yourself and make a donation before you go. Even better, you can snap up a piece of Caroline’s art – you’ll see it all over the island, bringing joy to many.