Splendour on the hill

Weekend retreat: Skylodge's infinity pool. Photo: John Downs

A hotelier has opened his mountain lodge to a lucky few guests, writes Erin O'Dwyer.

I arrive for a night at the new six-star Skylodge, on Mt Tamborine in the Gold Coast hinterland, after a two-week beach holiday that ended too soon. It is a post-holiday holiday designed to beat the back-to-work blues. And it does.

Within the hour, I have demolished the cheese platter, refilled my champagne glass twice, and I am lazing back in the infinity pool, looking out from the lush escarpment to the glittering line of Gold Coast towers beyond.

A four-poster bed. Photo: John Downs

It is exactly what owner Robert Maas had in mind when he launched the lodge late last year.

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Skylodge was designed as a family home. When Maas bought the property a decade ago, the 80-year-old farm house was in need of care. He moved it from the southern end of the property to the escarpment edge, in order to make best use of the views. Then he renovated it, wrapping it in exquisite modern Queensland-inspired architecture.

The result is a long bunker-type lodge that melts into the landscape. The original cottage sits at the southern end, linked to the rest of the house by wide timber verandahs, silver-painted weatherboards and a corrugated-iron roof.

The dining table. Photo: John Downs

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Splendour on the hill