Camp SOL Heralds a New Beginning

July 20, 2021

Eighteen months on from the summer bushfire of 2020, the Southern Ocean Lodge site on the wildly beautiful coast of Kangaroo Island has been cleared.

Small teams of friends and industry colleagues helped remove remaining bush in a series of working bees called ‘Camp SOL’ led by our intrepid Lodge Managers John Hird and Alison Heath. The hard work, laughs, sweat and (happy!) tears shared at Camp SOL weekends proved powerfully cathartic not only for the land but also for everyone involved.

The rise of SOL 2.0 will be documented by Adelaide-based filmmaker Paul Ryan of 57 Films and the latest edit tracks the progress of Camp SOL – take a look here: https://vimeo.com/571535032

The regeneration of the landscape – its wildlife and vegetation – is in full swing on Kangaroo Island, helped over the past 18 months by cleansing rains and flowing rivers. Green shoots have burst from the ground forming healthy clusters of new growth and re-establishing rolling hills of green, while stands of yakkas throw up their flowering spikes in jubilation. For these ancient, tough trees of the Australian bush, fire is needed to generate new life.

A small greenhouse has been built onsite at Southern Ocean Lodge to propagate seeds and cuttings from local native coastal species including salt bush, pig face and myoporum boobialla. With hopes to grow some 2500 plants, once ready the seedlings will be transplanted to take root and create a living, low-flammable carpet of coastal heath along the undulating clifftops.