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Scheduled for soft opening in October, the exclusive conservation-based Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa has already received its first bookings, including individual, family and small group reservations. Located on Australia’s Great Dividing Range, within the heart of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, a scenic three-hour drive from Sydney, Wolgan Valley forms the centrepiece for unique experiences and insights into Australia’s wildlife, history and cultural heritage. Occupying just two per cent of a 4,000-acre conservancy reserve and surrounded by two National Parks, this resort offers the ultimate in seclusion, comfort and guest-focussed services, all within conservation-based luxury.
This secluded resort will feature 40 individual villas surrounded by private decks, each having its own indoor/outdoor swimming pool. Its architecture is reminiscent of traditional rural Australian homesteads.
“The Wolgan Valley’s combination of iconic location, understated luxury, privacy and outstanding conservation values, truly cannot be paralleled,” said Tony Williams, Senior Vice President, Resorts & Projects, Emirates Hotels & Resorts. “It provides the essential Australian experience which exposes the visitor to an understanding of this amazing continent and its heritage.”
“We are very confident that there is simply nothing of this level in Australia. With its world-class facilities, we are already seeing local and international interest from both the leisure and MICE markets,” added Joost Heymeijer, General Manager, Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa.
Conservation and environment:
As Emirates Hotels & Resorts’ first hospitality development outside Dubai, the A$100 million project is being built on the same principles as Emirates’ acclaimed Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, fully integrated into its environment, and supporting wide-ranging conservation practices focusing on endangered species protection.
With approximately 4,000 acres of land operated as a wildlife reserve, the Wolgan conservancy project re-establishes and secures a future for many of the region’s indigenous and endangered species, which were under critical pressure from introduced flora and feral predators – the major causes of species extinction in Australia.
This comprehensive conservation programme will include the regeneration of the Wolgan Valley reserve through the planting of thousands of native trees indigenous to the area, including one of the world’s rarest trees, the Wollemi Pine. The Pine belongs to a 200 million year plant family and has been called ‘the botanical find of the century’ since it was thought to be extinct until discovered again by chance in the Blue Mountains region in 1994.
Sustainability is also an integral part of the Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa development. Environmentally-sustainable practices such as rainwater collection, grey water recycling and the use of solar panels are incorporated into the framework of a green architecture that ensures the resort will sit lightly within its environment. The resort will ultimately have over 100 solar-energy units, significantly reducing the resort’s energy consumption, and therefore its resources footprint.
In June 2008, Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa reached its first milestone with the completion of the first of 40 villas and the planting of the first 1,000 native trees on site, the first step in a long-term conservation programme.
Tatiana is the news co-ordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy. She holds a Bachelor degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
