Driven Magazine - Peak Perfection - 07 2008

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After a hard week on the corporate treadmill, sometimes you just want to escape to a place where the environment and accommodations are in perfect harmony and you can simply switch off the brain and let life flow over you. Spicers Peak Lodge, in southeast Queensland is one such destination with its all-inclusive tariff incorporating a degustation dinner, full breakfast and all beverages meaning that the hardest decision you are likely to have to make is whether to head off on foot, bike or 4WD to explore the surrounding world heritage listed Main Range National Park or simply sit back on the expansive verandah and enjoy the magnificent views. Roderick Eime takes a drive to Spicers Peak in the new 308 to experience a truly sumptuous break

Mention to anybody familiar with Queensland’s main roads that you’re going for a drive up Cunningham’s Gap and you’ll more likely receive a look of sympathy than envy. The twisty, tortuous highway is frequented by heavily laden semi-trailers and impatient motorists, both eager to put the road behind them.

But take the time to survey your surroundings and you will be rewarded with expansive views of the magnificent 30,000-hectare World Heritage protected, Main Range National Park. It’s a lush, yet foreboding habitat that shelters many rare Australian plant and animal species and its dizzying escarpments and towering precipices that make up the so-called Scenic Rim attract some of the country’s keenest bushwalkers.

And for those who persevere against the traffic forging their way ever upward, there is a rich reward adjacent to the national park where the rigours of the journey can be quickly washed aside.

For Peppers Spicers Peak Lodge, secreted away atop its namesake mountain, is not just another holiday park in the country. It is a retreat in the truest sense of the word. It’s a redoubt against the ever-present urban and corporate anxiety that engulfs us daily. It’s a chance to purge the toxins of our soul and restore some equilibrium to our lives. Heady stuff indeed.

For Driven, however, the journey was made that much more enjoyable as I cruised comfortably and effortlessly southwest of Brisbane in the new 110kW 1.6-litre turbocharged 308 XTE. Inside, the car’s spacious and cosseting leather lined interior provided an appropriate ambience as a precursor to a night away in the luxurious and stylish surrounds of Spicers Peak. Seated in the comfy and supportive multi-adjustable driver’s pew, it was simply a case of setting the dual zone climate control to the perfect temperature, locking on the cruise control and sitting back to enjoy the sounds emanating from the excellent five-stack CD audio system as I cruised towards Ipswich and onto the Cunningham Highway.

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images : roderick eime

After a leisurely, yet invigorating drive through the backroads of the

The last few hundred metres are heavily wooded but suddenly, we’re

lush Bremer River Valley with the 308’s nimble, sure-footed road manners and surprising zest making every corner and bend a pleasure, I’m ready to tackle the dreaded Cunningham to ‘the gap’. This busy highway is no place for a boy racer, but I use the 308’s ample thrust to keep a constant speed and dispatch the lumbering leviathans as quickly as possible. The process of overtaking is a manoeuvre never to be taken for granted but the added boost of the turbo keeps pace with my intentions and we’re past the barely mobile obstructions with a minimum of fuss. With nearly 90 percent of the 160Nm of torque on tap from just 2000rpm, all it takes is a firm boot on the accelerator pedal and the smooth surge continues to flow until the job is done. Thank you.

I take the turn-off just past Tregony and begin another ascent up the narrow, winding dirt track that leads to the summit. Despite Peugeot’s impeccable rally record, I’m not about to imitate Marcus Gronholm on the loose surface, and instead I motor confidently up the substantial hill reassured that if I have to stop quickly, a barrage of electronic aids will come to my rescue. Going way beyond basic anti-lock brakes, I’ll also have the benefit of metered brake force distribution and ESP dynamic stability control to keep me on the straight-and-narrow.

out of the bush and into a vast clearing that is the entire mountaintop – and poised imperiously at the far end is…‘the lodge’.

An architectural masterpiece, Spicers Peak Lodge is the crown atop a 4000-hectare private cattle property, and with just 10 suites and a no-kids policy, it is unashamedly a grown-ups only relaxation retreat.

I’m warmly met by live-in managers, Ben and Rachel, as much hosts as administrators, and waiting for me is a delicate risotto and seared salmon fillet despite my being a little late for lunch. The dining room is compact and convivial; all that’s needed to seat the maximum of ten couples at the busiest times.

Almost embarrassed at the hasty simplicity of my ‘leftover’ lunch, executive chef, Chris Jones peeks out of the open wall kitchen occasionally to check on me as he cleans up. This is just a warm-up to the renowned seven-course degustation dinner awaiting me tonight. And to this extent there is no false modesty with the wall of the entrance foyer festooned with enough dining and accommodation awards to puff anybody’s chest. Yet Ben shrugs and looks perplexed. ‘What’s wrong?’ I harmlessly enquire.

‘I still haven’t worked out where to put the rest,’ he says gesturing to a crate in the corner of the office. :: d r i v e n 31

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The awards are too many to list but include state and regional best restaurant in hot competition. Chris, who’s only been at Spicers for just on a year, has quickly picked up the ball and continued the winning trend that has been running since 2005, just a year after opening. But then, he came with good credentials having served and sweated in kitchens as remote as Dubai and Canada and includes HRH among his celebrity clientele.

Formalities and ‘snack’ complete, I’m shown to my suite, a generous room decorated in a restrained style befitting the character of the lodge.

The cavernous bathroom contains a spa bath and separate shower with deliciously fragrant Molton Brown amenities. But really, with all the lodge has to offer, the room is not where you’d want to spend your time.

The lodge is the vision of corporate high-flyer, Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner, otherwise known for his leadership of the Flight Centre empire, and his wife, Jude. Modelled on the finest lodges from Europe and Africa, the $5 million construction was three years from blueprint to ribbon-cutting. The spacious

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image : roderick eime

living areas are adorned with high-ceilings and exposed rough-hewn beams and heated by roaring log fires. Sumptuous lounges beckon and massive picture window walls ensure none of the magnificent view is lost.

The bar at the far end is unattended and as I wait patiently for a quenching water, another guest, obviously more familiar with the protocol, strolls casually behind the heavy wooden counter and extracts a crisp Verdelho from the fridge and disappears. This is the kind of supremely relaxed informality that exists at Spicers Peak. There’s not even a tipping jar.

Upstairs in the loft, guests can enjoy a full size snooker table, a decent library and plenty of quiet corners to enjoy your pulp novel. Outside there are oodles of calorie-consuming walking trails to keep you coming back or if that isn’t enough, you can unleash yourself on one of the mountain bikes. For the hand/eye co-ordinated, there’s tennis on the private court.

Those guests itching for a wider exploration will soon be able to partake in 4WD tours into the evocatively named Bellbird Gully, Wallaroo Clearing, Grass Tree Track and Brumby Mountain. Although a long way from Snowy River, wild horses are frequent and the sound of raucous bellbirds will have you yelling to be heard.

If you fancy experiencing some cultivated, rather than natural, products of Mother Nature, then a short drive south takes you into the heart of the Granite Belt Wine Country. Among the fifty-plus cellar doors of estates including Ballandean Estate, Felsberg, Catspaw Farm, Granite Ridge, Golden Grove and Hidden Creek, there is also an abundance of gourmet produce farms to tempt your tastebuds.

The cool-climate vineyards of the Granite Belt are among the highest in Australia and the decomposed granite soil is similar to the course sandy soil of the Northern Rhone. Although grapes were first planted in the 1860s, it is only relatively recently that truly commercially successful vintages have been produced, and you can reasonably expect to be leaving with a case or two of shiraz, cab sav, merlot or chardonnay in the boot. Although it only represents a very small proportion of the plantings, a number of local Verdelhos have recently achieved spectacular success on the wine show circuit.

For all its architectural perfection devoted to the tired corporate soul, the Turners didn’t conceive Spicers Peak simply as a building just for the sake of it. And even though the new, self-contained cottages are well progressed and due for first occupancy by Christmas, the Turners are putting back too.

Just last year, over 2000 ha of this prized property was turned over to the state government’s Nature Refuge Program to ensure the protection of the region’s endangered and vulnerable species. It was a gesture that earned the Queensland born-and-bred entrepreneur accolades in parliament house.

‘People signing up to the Nature Refuge Program like Graham Turner are making an invaluable contribution to protecting our native flora and fauna for the future,’ said then Premier, Peter Beattie.

Outside, the chill air doesn’t keep one couple from enjoying the spa pool, while another pair playfully pelts a tennis ball back and forth with a total absence of competition. Rachel, in the meantime, has been called away to the spa treatment rooms for an appointment. ‘Just one of her many talents,’ says Ben. Turner’s vision is not simply to create a trophy retreat, but one for total escape, relaxation and rejuvenation for those who’ve earned the privilege of a stay at Peppers Spicers Peak. The attention to detail, the unmatched location and the absence of a charge card pretty much removes all possible impediments to enjoyment. Everything has been thought of.

Even helicopter transfers are possible for those in a hurry to slow down.

‘We’re really creating a total sensory indulgence, and when guests book, we include everything in the tariff,‘ says Ben. The all-inclusive rate covers all food, drink and activities at the lodge, so there’s no checkout anxiety when it comes time to leave. For all that you can bank on a cost of around $500 per head, per night. But the total Spicers Peak experience recalls that old saying, ‘the experience is remembered long after the account has been settled.’ [ ] www.spicerspeaklodge.com.au

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