Moonlight Head
Property Information
Property Locality: Great Ocean Road
Type of Property: private lodges
Number of Bedrooms: two lodges accommodating eight guests in four bedrooms
Number of Bathrooms: 8
Maximum Persons: 16
Children: suitable for children
Rates (per couple per night)
Price Range: From AU$3,500 a night for two to AU$5,000 for up to eight, including breakfast, dinner and drinks.
Children: the first two children under 12, sharing with an adult, stay for free.
Special Conditions: minimum stay 2 nights
Rates are inclusive of GST and are subject to change without notice.
Property Description
Moonlight Head is situated in the Otway Ranges between Johanna Beach, the Twelve Apostles and The Otway Fly in the centre of the Great Ocean Road.
The two private lodges offer a combination of privacy, tranquillity and luxury and are set on 40 hectares of bush and farmland against an ocean backdrop.
The lodges accommodate up to eight and were designed by acclaimed Australian architect Glenn Murcutt with Wendy Lewin. They are filled with modern pieces of furniture, antique Persian rugs on bluestone floors and the original art of Karl Maughan. He is recognised for his magnificent hyper-real paintings of lush flower and vegetable gardens, manicured bushes, native fauna and out-of-control wilderness.
Both lodges have a full kitchen, however there is a personal chef and host on hand 24-hours a day. Moonlight Head prides itself on its 'just ask' philosophy – breakfast in bed, champagne picnic on the beach, cheese-tasting on the veranda – and will tailor menus to the needs of guests. A strong regional and international wine cellar is also available while local, organic produce is used wherever possible.
The lodges are serviced daily.
Environmental Initiatives:
Moonlight’s consumption of resource has been minimized with neglible trade off to the client’s quiet enjoyment of the property during periods of multiple occupancy.
Energy Use
- conserving the consumption of energy to service the pumping and lifting of liquids across long distances around the five houses for storage, consumption or waste treatment is achieved through avoiding long run of electrical cables from the power source to offset voltage drops in long runs of electrical cable. By clustering, the electrical draw is reduced.
- no mechanical driven method of artificially controlling the internal temperature of the houses. The internal temperature is regulated through cross venting the house in the summer and through a gas driven hydronic heating and a open fireplace in the cooler winter months.
- all the appliances are low energy.
- Moonlight Head naturally air dries the majority of it’s laundry on the clothes line.
- The property purchases Green electricity. Electricity is then supported with the bulk purchase of gas that is stored on-site.
- Moonlight Head has evaluated and is keen to pursue the use of wind and solar energy systems not only for the Lodges but also for the hotel once built. The current pricing and available capital makes this unviable.
- controlled number of ceiling lights, plus all lights are on dimmers.
Water Use
- Short run pipes improve the ability to maximize available water for consumption in times of drought as experienced last summer.
- drinking and bathing water is sourced from the roofs of the buildings at Moonlight. The region receives some 1,100mm of rainfall per annum. All water consumed is then treated and released back into local environment.
-From 2008 Moonlight has been a balanced operation in that in collects and consumes all of it’s own rainwater.
Design
Environmental design principles implemented from the site masterplan by clustering the houses enables Moonlight to use;
-The solar orientation of each house to minimize solar gain through the roof sky lights in the summer, whilst maximizing the solar gain in the winter months with the sun penetrating the natural rock of the bluestone floor , feeding back as a heat sink when the sun has left the building later in the day.
- The large wood burning firebox, of 6mm steel plate back filled with volcanic scoria to again absorb heat from the fire and then release the heat back into the room when the fire has gone out.
- The use of timber shutters on the building to slow down wind speeds on the house to reduce thermal loss from the rooms in the winter months.
Food & Beverage miles
- The operation is conscious of food miles. Moonlight Head seeks to work with suppliers who produce materials of appropriate quality and standard to the Moonlight experience who are local to the area.
- in season fresh produce is used when possible, including both meat and vegetables grown in the region. The exception to this is the provision of a specific wine that clients request.
-As occupancy for the Lodges grows an area of some 2 acres of west facing grassland is intended to be cultivated into a organic herb and vegetable garden to partially support the needs of the Lodges.
- It is also an educational tool to work with young children who form part of our guests as to where food comes from, what chickens do etc.
Wildlife Habitat.
Since 2004, Moonlight Head has created two additional habitats of significant ecological value within the farm.
- The first was creation of new tree planting of some 1.5 hectares. This new planting of seedlings propagated from seedstock collected from the property was to assist in the creation of a wildlife corridor linking areas of vegetation to assist the movement of wildlife through the property.
-The second habitat created was a wet edge around the 5 miilion litre dam. This new feature with some 400m long provides a large wet edge that supports a range of wet edge native plant species and well as was a variety of native frog species which then support native snakes and kookaburras.
-Moonlight Head is now starting several further corridor projects along the properties boundaries to assist with creating habitat for the native animal population.
-Noted changes over the last decade is the significant increase in the number of grey kangaroos, black swamp wallabies and red necked wallabies resident as well as blue tounge lizards and echidnas. For example the number of grey kangaroos has risen from circa 20 to 100 spread over mobs in the last decade.
-A focus now is creating the correct habitat conditions that will encourage the establishment of koalas at Moonlight.
Property Features
Activities include:
- beach walks at Johanna Beach
- The Great Ocean Walk is a breathtaking set of 'step-on, step-off' hikes along this unique rugged coastline.
- A tree-top walk is the highlight of nearby Cape Otway National Park.
- birdwatching and whale watching (telescopes provided)
-guided flora and fauna treks
-horse riding
Contact Details
Hosts: Moonlight Head
Address: 35 Parkers Access Road,
Yuulong,
Victoria 3238
environmentally friendly accommodation, ecotourism, green travel