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World's Most Secret Hotels - Season 2 Episode 2
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00:03Imagine staying the night, deep in the desert, sleeping underneath the stars.
00:11Lodging in a futuristic bubble hidden in a forest.
00:17Or holidaying in a resort perched over a fjord.
00:23In this series, we venture across the globe to reveal some of the world's most unusual hotels.
00:32You feel like you're alone in the landscape.
00:34Hidden in the most surprising of places.
00:37Most people haven't heard of it because they had no idea that this is here.
00:42From island getaways and retreats hidden in plain sight.
00:48The calmness about being here makes it a unique experience.
00:52To reimagine structures and vehicles.
00:57That's not the obvious use for this building.
00:59The transformation was incredible.
01:01We meet the teams who keep them running.
01:04The first thing they normally say when they get here is what a beautiful spot.
01:07Every little room is a hidden gem.
01:10And the guests living their dreams.
01:12It really does feel like you are in your own little bubble.
01:15As we explore the world's most secret hotels.
01:24This time, we visit a mirrored wonder high in the cliffs of Norway.
01:30It's not easy for someone to find it.
01:33An unusual shipment of containers stacked in the outback.
01:36You really have to know where you're going because we're a little bit of a hidden secret.
01:39And a network of striking tree houses concealed in an English forest.
01:44It's not the sort of design you'd expect to find in the middle of a woodland.
01:56First, we venture to the United Arab Emirates.
02:02This is the Rubal Kali, a desert known in English as the Empty Quarter.
02:09Most of this 250,000 square miles of desert is uninhabited.
02:15But one resilient group made this formidable terrain home.
02:20The Bedouin.
02:21For millennia, their welcoming generosity was essential to the survival of traders crossing this desert.
02:29Today, there is a place that aims to continue their legendary hospitality.
02:35This is Qasa al-Sarab, the palace of the desert.
02:44A huge resort concealed by the vast wilderness.
02:50It sprawls one mile from end to end and is home to 450 staff.
03:01The hotel strives to bring the historic Bedouin culture of this region to modern travellers from around the globe.
03:10It's hidden and in secret, away from civilisation.
03:20Guests arrive into a central courtyard.
03:25Which is surrounded by a lobby and leisure facilities, including a ballroom and a kids' club.
03:34Stretching north and south from here are 154 rooms.
03:40Further south, there's a fitness centre, spa and tennis courts.
03:48And 53 luxury villas, each with a private pool.
03:54There are two other swimming pools for guests.
03:58Along with five restaurants across the site.
04:04Jean-Paul Dantille is the general manager of this hotel.
04:08There was a vision to really be able to showcase the desert.
04:14We try and incorporate that Bedouin hospitality.
04:17There's so much here to incorporate and to learn about this.
04:21The hotel is designed in a modern Middle Eastern style.
04:26The exterior mimics the traditional earth brick and clay materials that were used here for centuries.
04:34Its imposing profile is part fort and part palace, a combination that promises protection and luxury.
04:45Inside, Bedouin motifs sit alongside mosaic floors, water features and traditional lamps.
04:59The rooms are decorated with ornaments that resemble those carried by ancient traders.
05:09It's Manish Kumar's job to make sure the rooms live up to the expectations of a demanding clientele.
05:15The sense of design is more towards the Arabic essence.
05:23But at the same time, we establish a beautiful, high-end luxury experience for the guests as well.
05:32For Manish, the truest sign of luxury is making the most of the location.
05:38We always feel proud and privileged being located within this particular desert.
05:45We are in between of these beautiful dunes, which is uninterrupted.
05:50And that's a beautiful aspect.
05:55Making this remarkable natural beauty accessible to guests requires a dedicated workforce.
06:02It's Neil Turner's job to make sure this remote outpost is always fully staffed.
06:08It's sort of an oasis that reveals itself to you in the middle of nowhere.
06:15You are certainly surprised at how little you have around you in terms of an infrastructure.
06:23We're not able to rely on the resources you would have in a city.
06:30The staff live in dedicated quarters on site, with their own restaurant, tennis courts, and leisure facilities.
06:39We have about 42 nationalities that work here because we have different clientele from across the world.
06:49The first challenge the team has to overcome, how to provide three meals a day to almost 1,000 people
06:57here.
06:57This is the responsibility of Driss Petit.
07:00We are remote locations, so we have to provide a minimum for 2,000 meals per day.
07:05The logistics have to be planned well in advance.
07:08The hotel is 135 miles from Abu Dhabi, so daily deliveries aren't an option.
07:15The Bedouin greeted people with meat hunted from the desert, camel milk, and dates.
07:21But today, global travellers to this desert outpost expect standards that match any hotel in the city.
07:29Our clientele is really, really cosmopolitan.
07:32So international cuisine is a must for us.
07:36Driss's restaurants serve Arabic, American, and Italian cuisine,
07:41and an international breakfast buffet complete with French pastries.
07:47As well as carefully planned deliveries, they grow their own leafy greens and salad vegetables in greenhouses on-site.
07:54They also harness one of the hotel's natural resources.
07:59We have over 1,000 palm trees, and every year we have a huge harvest of dates.
08:07Dates are one of the few fruits that can grow in the desert.
08:11They were an essential source of sustenance to the Bedouin who once lived here.
08:23We make jams, we make juices, we make a lot of drinks, food, salads.
08:29So we use all these days, we give some gifts to our guests as well.
08:34So this is a way of acknowledging the Bedouin culture.
08:41Using the resources of the desert is a theme across the hotel.
08:46The intense sunshine is turned into electricity at an on-site solar farm.
08:54The power from here charges a fleet of golf buggies that help guests get around the site.
09:01If they go several hundred feet into the dunes, they'll find the Esbar,
09:06a traditional building where today hotel workers look after animals native to this landscape.
09:14Ashton Balakistan is the conservation expert in charge of this unusual hotel amenity.
09:21We have a variety of animals here.
09:23There are camels, gazelles, and two animals that are particularly prestigious here
09:31because of their links to the people who used to call this desert home.
09:37Falcons and saluki dogs.
09:40The Bedouins use the falcons for hunting purposes,
09:43to help them survive in the desert in this harsh and arid environment.
09:46And the falcons would catch prey for them, all their protein.
09:51Salukis, in the past, they were used for hunting purposes.
09:54They actually have wet feet, if you have a look there.
09:57This allows them to have that grip on the sand where they actually can run super fast
10:01and leap into a jump when they are running.
10:05Today, this landscape is a nature reserve.
10:09And hunting is not permitted.
10:13The salukis and falcons instead display their incredible speed and power to hotel guests.
10:21It's very important to maintain the culture and the history through our experiences.
10:29This hotel makes the most of what the natural world has to offer,
10:34including a spectacle that's all down to the orientation of the site.
10:39We have the sunset directly in front of the hotel.
10:42It's absolutely stunning.
10:44It's one of the most beautiful sunsets, I think, I've ever seen.
10:48After sundown, as the temperatures drop, the hotel's exterior spaces are transformed by fire and candlelight,
10:58creating an atmosphere that conjures what life must have been like here centuries ago.
11:03You'll feel the touches of that bedroom hospitality at night.
11:07You'll feel it all over in the hotel in a subtle manner.
11:11This is very important that our guests feel that.
11:21Still to come, we journey to a secret retreat in the fjords of Norway
11:27and discover a remarkable treetop hideaway.
11:39There are over 17 million hotel rooms in the world.
11:43We're exploring some of the most extraordinary, found in the most unusual places.
11:56Next, we travel to northwestern Norway.
12:03This is fjord country.
12:08Where the mountains are hewn by rivers and the sea to create a spectacular landscape.
12:17It's one of the greatest spectacles the natural world has to offer.
12:24But only if you can get here.
12:28The terrain is a formidable barrier in the summer.
12:31In the winter, snow and ice makes much of this region inaccessible.
12:40For those who do make it, on the banks of the Valdola River,
12:45they'll find nature mirrored back at them by an extreme retreat.
12:52This is the Juve Landscape Hotel.
12:58A series of crisp, modern pods set into the valley.
13:09Camouflaged by reflections.
13:14And poised to give visitors a unique view on the world.
13:23The hotel is run by Knut Slinny and his daughter Christina.
13:30It's not easy for someone to find it.
13:33It's a very quiet and, in a way, hidden place.
13:44After holidaying here for 40 years,
13:47Knut decided to use this region as the base to create a remarkable resort.
13:53There are a lot of wow factors.
13:55It's very important that the people have the feeling
13:58that they have never been to a place like this before.
14:03Each pod is a separate dwelling for guests.
14:08Inside, the stripped-back interior design and low lighting
14:12focuses attention on the main attraction.
14:16The floor-to-ceiling windows that display the natural beauty of the valley.
14:21You have the feeling that you are staying in the biggest room in the world
14:27because everything on the outside seems to belong to your room.
14:33There are no pictures,
14:36there are no pictures,
14:36no televisions,
14:38very few ornaments or distractions of any kind
14:43because Knut had a unique concept for these pods.
14:48Everything is concentrated on what's on the outside.
14:54It's built to give you the feeling that you are in a camera house.
15:02And the big window screen is the lens.
15:16Today, this masterclass in minimalism is managed by Knut's daughter, Christina.
15:23It's her responsibility to make sure the pods always live up to Knut's vision.
15:29So much of her time is dedicated to looking after the windows.
15:34This is a big part of the hotel, so we need to keep it as clean and clear as possible.
15:41It's a lot of cleaning of glass inside and outside.
15:45The outside window cleaning on some of these pods is pretty high-octane.
15:50This is the extreme window cleaning room.
15:54When we're going further out on the edge, we have to use a harness.
15:59This work reveals that there are some downsides to being this close to nature.
16:07The summer is the toughest time.
16:09The more birds that are there, the more bird poop is on the windows.
16:15Going the extra mile to keep the glazing spick and span
16:18is just one of the ways Christina immerses guests in the natural world.
16:24All the materials used on the interior reflect the landscape.
16:30We have the wooden structure, we have the wool carpets.
16:36We kind of try to make everything kind of smell natural.
16:50Guests to these pods cannot block the view at any time
16:53because these buildings have no curtains.
16:59A lot of people say they had the best sleep they ever had
17:02because of the sound of the river and everything.
17:06But it's challenging for some people.
17:12The vision for this retreat began when Canute started construction in 2007.
17:18It wasn't easy creating this sanctuary here in the mountains.
17:23Not only is it very remote, this landscape is also protected by law.
17:29And we were not allowed to go in with excavators,
17:33use dynamite or concrete when it comes to the foundation.
17:39Canute solution was a design that treads delicately on the terrain.
17:46The pods stand on slender steel stilts
17:48that connect to foundations
17:50that leave the vegetation and rock beneath almost untouched.
17:55And the materials were chosen to blend into the landscape.
18:02Everything is made out of wood and it's not painted.
18:08When we were finished building,
18:10it looked like it has been there for many, many years
18:13because we haven't done it so carefully.
18:20Only the glass was brought in from outside the valley.
18:24Everything else was locally sourced.
18:29Even the paths that link the hotel's pods
18:31are conceived to create a sense of seclusion and surprise.
18:37A straight road is boring.
18:41You are not supposed to see where you end up almost until you are there.
18:47Visitors who follow the twisting paths
18:49will find the hotel's amenities spread across the site,
18:54including a spectacular spa buried into the turf.
19:00And a restored barn that houses the kitchen and dining area.
19:06The menu here is organized by head chef, Chris.
19:11Well, my goal here as a chef
19:12is actually to make the experience reflect the hotel.
19:16A trip to the bare minimum,
19:18but the flavors are really on the spot.
19:21Also, the nature here, it's raw nature,
19:23so you want to keep raw elements on the plate as well.
19:33Chefs, they like to go out in the forest, pick mushrooms,
19:36wild herbs, flowers that are edible.
19:41We focus very on the flavors that are around the area.
19:45These foraged ingredients,
19:47combined with produce from local farms,
19:49create a perfect base for Chris's favorite foods.
19:53I go out fishing as much as I can.
19:55We have a fish called fjallurett,
19:59which is basically lovely trout, mountain trout.
20:04So mountain trout is something that we
20:06try to put on the menu as much as possible.
20:09A single 22-seater table hosts all the guests each evening.
20:15The three-course dinner is a communal experience.
20:25Delivering oak cuisine using only local produce,
20:29this high in the mountains, requires careful planning.
20:34Chris uses a traditional process to keep the fruit and vegetables good for months at a time.
20:40Pickling.
20:42Our cellar is not only full of wine,
20:44but it's also full of glasses that we preserve the vegetables and the fruits in.
20:52This careful planning allows Chris and his team to craft beautiful dishes year-round.
21:01Delivering service like this in such a remote location brings Canute a great level of satisfaction.
21:09I was 54 years old when I bought the farm and started it.
21:15And I look back all the hours and all the thinking of how to do this the best possible way.
21:26Almost cannot imagine that I did all that work.
21:31I'm happy that I did it.
21:48Coming up, we visit a woodland sanctuary hidden deep in the English countryside.
21:56And we reveal the workings of a waterside mystery in Ireland.
22:11Resting in a cliff-top retreat is a completely different experience to holidaying in the desert,
22:18or taking a room in a repurposed railway carriage.
22:21But most remote hideaways do have one thing in common.
22:26The promise of an unforgettable adventure.
22:30Our next stop is Dorset in southwest England.
22:35This county is home to the world-famous Jurassic Coast.
22:4093 miles of rugged cliffs brimming with prehistoric fossils.
22:46Inland, Dorset's dramatic coastline gives way to miles of rolling farmland.
22:53Where herds of sheep and cattle roam in fields surrounded by ancient woodlands.
23:02In autumn, the trees inside one wood shed their leaves to reveal a mysterious raised walkway.
23:11Following the path through the branches leads to a truly special place.
23:21This is Mallinson's Woodland Retreat.
23:26A series of luxury treehouses so carefully concealed that for most of the year they lie hidden from the world
23:33outside.
23:40They are the work of master craftsman Guy Mallinson.
23:46You could very easily drive past this woodland and not know it's here.
23:51It's very, very secret and tucked away.
24:01Guy's connection with this secret site stretches back nearly two decades to when he used to teach outdoor woodworking classes
24:09here.
24:10It inspired him to pursue a dream he'd held since childhood.
24:16I'd always dreamt of building a treehouse.
24:19That's always been my sort of boyhood dream.
24:22Today Guy's vision is now a reality.
24:28Three unique treehouse dwellings.
24:32Woodsman, Pinwheel and Dazzle.
24:40Dazzle is named after the distinctive black and white exterior patterns that mimic the camouflage painted on ships during World
24:48War I.
24:50The pattern creates an illusion of depth as visitors approach the building.
24:57It's not the sort of design you'd expect to find in the middle of a woodland.
25:02Inside, each treehouse has an ensuite bedroom, a kitchen and a ceramic wood burner to keep the space cosy.
25:13The design is intended to inspire a sense of childlike joy in guests.
25:20You might find a swing on the deck, a slide to the woodland floor, or a tree piercing through the
25:29deck, which you can admire from the bath.
25:32There's something really, really special about being up in the branches.
25:36Spending time right next to the branches with their ferns and mosses, it's a perspective you'll never really get.
25:48Guy and his team crafted each treehouse with meticulous precision.
25:54The birch panels on the walls are all exactly the same width.
26:00And align perfectly with the kitchen table and floorboards.
26:05It's a sort of three-dimensional jigsaw that was incredibly complex to work out.
26:10If you mess it up, you've got to start again.
26:16Guy's exacting standards weren't the only challenge he set himself.
26:20So it's very important to us that we tread very carefully on the forest floor.
26:24We don't want to use any plant and machinery, so we have no cranes.
26:28It's all carried in by hand.
26:30So me and my son put the scaffold up and hoaked everything up the scaffold by hand.
26:39A network of stilts holds up each treehouse.
26:44For this job, Guy sourced an unusual type of sustainable timber.
26:50These stilts are repurposed telegraph poles.
26:54They take the load of the building because they're on an undulating surface.
26:59Although there's a very uniform pattern, they're all different lengths.
27:06The same philosophy that underpinned the hotel's construction lives on in its day-to-day running.
27:13Today, groundskeeper Neil maintains the pathways in the woods.
27:19We try and do everything as natural as we possibly can.
27:22We knock in all our posts by hand.
27:24We use just general hand tools.
27:29We use a sweet chestnut post, which contain a tannin,
27:33which is like a natural preservative.
27:35So these posts will last for years before they rot.
27:38And in that way, we're not bringing any posts that have been treated with any chemicals.
27:44Running a hotel at one with nature is not without its challenges.
27:49For housekeeper Sarah, there are more than a few uninvited guests, especially at this time of year.
27:57We have an ongoing battle with spiders.
28:00Obviously, being in the woods, we're in their environment.
28:03Keeping the squirrels away from the rubbish.
28:06And during the autumn, the leaves.
28:10It's snowing leaves for most of the autumn.
28:14This dedication to living and working in harmony with the woods creates a unique atmosphere.
28:24One that guests experience from the moment they arrive.
28:30It's a short walk down to the tree houses, perhaps five minutes.
28:34But that's critically important.
28:37It's that separation from when they leave their car and leave the real world behind.
28:42It's an adventure.
28:45There are risks for a business cultivating such an atmosphere.
28:49It could feel a little too isolated to be comfortable.
28:53Especially for those arriving after sunset.
28:57Fortunately, Guy has crafted an ingenious solution to help guide visitors through the dark forest.
29:06When the guests first arrive at Dazzle, they trigger a motion sensor that brings on this particular set of
29:13lights that we call the lights.
29:16So they get this sort of element of surprise and joy.
29:25It was actually very magical.
29:27All the twinkly lights were on and a very special time to arrive, actually.
29:33It was like a magic spot in the woods.
29:36It's... I actually feel like it's really liberating.
29:39This is truly special.
29:42It's a real secret little world that we've created here.
29:46It's a unique place to find yourself.
29:49Up in a tree for a long period of time.
29:51And it has some magical effect on people.
30:00We're travelling the world to discover what it takes to run the most extraordinary hotels.
30:06From lighthouses on tiny islands.
30:09To guest houses on salt flats.
30:12And lodges enveloped by the jungle.
30:20Next.
30:21We're heading to County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland.
30:28Over six million tourists visit the country each year.
30:32But few of them make it to this remote inland county.
30:37This is Ireland's hidden heartland.
30:41A sparsely populated agricultural landscape of low-lying hills and valleys.
30:48Forty miles from the sea, there's an unexpected sight.
30:53Something that appears to have washed up from the ocean.
30:57A submersible, stranded on the banks of a river.
31:02This is the Yellow Submarine.
31:05It may look like a shipwreck, but this is actually a unique holiday destination.
31:13Designed to immerse guests in the natural beauty of this county.
31:18This unexpected sight is the result of the hard work of Ollie Gibson.
31:24For people who love the outdoors.
31:29The idea of putting a holiday home on this land was a long-held family dream.
31:35My dad purchased this land in 2012 with the plan to maybe put some cabins on it.
31:44But unfortunately, my dad passed away.
31:47I said, well, why don't we carry on his vision?
31:51Ollie didn't just carry on his father's vision.
31:54He put his own personal spin on it when he saw this decommissioned lifeboat for sale.
32:02I spotted it on the internet and headed off to West Cork and struck a deal.
32:07When I got home then, my kids started calling it a submarine.
32:12So we said, well, why don't we roll with that?
32:22Ollie overhauled the vessel to squeeze in four bunk beds.
32:26A full-sized double bed, desk and kitchen.
32:36It wasn't easy creating this much space inside a decommissioned lifeboat.
32:42We had to rip out the floor and lower it right down about 50 centimetres.
32:50It was pumped with polystyrene about three feet deep.
32:54So we took 60 bags of polystyrene out of the floor.
32:59The engine and controls were right there, so that all had to come out.
33:05Ollie had to do more than just strip the lifeboat back to create his submarine-style hotel.
33:11He added a whole new section to the craft to make it livable.
33:17First, he built a cone-shaped section out of steel rings and fibreglass
33:22and attached it to the rear of the craft.
33:25This now houses the guest entrance, kitchen area and propeller that completes the new ship-shaped style
33:33of the yellow submarine.
33:35This was the most challenging part of constructing the submarine.
33:40In all, this whole tail section was 90% of the work in the submarine.
33:48The hard work paid off, creating a comfortable living area out of a tiny amount of internal space.
33:58Ollie's incredible ingenuity is on display all over the yellow submarine.
34:05The bunk beds are from the cab of a truck.
34:08The propeller is the radiator fan from an articulated lorry.
34:13And the portholes, well, they have the most unexpected origin.
34:18We tied with the idea of getting brass, proper porthole windows, but they were very expensive.
34:24So, um, I had a brainwave. Why don't we use washing machine doors?
34:30Guests look out of the submarine through the toughened glass of eight home appliances.
34:35And the holidaymakers who stay here like it.
34:39This is absolutely the best what I've ever seen.
34:43It's very cosy. It's really, really amazing.
34:53Oli established the yellow submarine as a base for people to explore the natural beauty of this
34:59often overlooked area of Ireland.
35:02Our guests will have the opportunity to come out with myself for a guided canoeing trip,
35:08relax, enjoy nature.
35:10We have six lakes here that are accessible from this river.
35:15It's a landscape that you won't find anywhere else in Ireland.
35:19It's an environment that is kept pristine by the hard work of local volunteers,
35:24people like Ross MacDonald.
35:26It's a nice, gentle flow, so it is.
35:29We've got a wide range of biodiversity on the river system.
35:34It's all about protecting the river.
35:36Ross monitors the quality of the water in the river to check the health of the environment.
35:42The more biodiversity that you have, the better the water and the quality is in the river system.
35:53While visitors can enjoy time on the unspoilt water, the sub itself is no longer seaworthy.
36:00But it does still travel. Each year for winter, Oli stows the submarine away at his home.
36:10That's a nerve-wracking time for me when we're trying to move it.
36:14The submarine doesn't fit underneath the railway bridge.
36:17We tow it with the tractor.
36:19We have to reverse it up through two fields to get up through the top of the railway line
36:24and get it out onto the main road.
36:26And we drive around about five miles to get it back to the house, which is only two miles away.
36:32Luckily for Oli, today the sub is staying put.
36:36And he can enjoy the sanctuary he's created by following his father's dream.
36:42My dad bought this land with the plan to turn it into a little
36:46place where people could come and enjoy the river.
36:49And one thing led to another.
36:52Before you know it, we have a submarine on site.
36:55I think he'd be looking down and he'd be laughing.
37:11Coming up, we experience some of the finest luxury the Outback has to offer.
37:23We're uncovering the most unusual and exciting places to stay around the world.
37:29Some of these retreats are hidden inside unexpected buildings.
37:35Others are concealed by forbidding landscapes.
37:43Our final stop is the Australian Outback.
37:53435 miles northwest of Sydney lies the remote Outback of New South Wales.
38:02It's a land defined by red deserts, endless blue skies and wide open spaces.
38:10Sheep are abundant, while people are few.
38:15The landscape is dotted with working farms that have modest homesteads and agricultural buildings.
38:24Here, half an hour's drive from the tiny town of Budabadar, is a sprawling sheep station.
38:32Hidden amongst its bushland, far from sight, is an unexpected, one-of-a-kind hotel.
38:39Known as Kalubrai Station.
38:45Kalubrai Station was bought by our family back in 1878.
38:48So we've been here nearly 150 years.
38:52My forebears brought a mob of 30,000 sheep to start trading and we've been doing it ever since.
38:59The farm and hotel is run by fourth generation farmer Mike and his wife Angie.
39:05Some people would say we're in the middle of nowhere.
39:07Our nearest pub is about 55 kilometres away, so you have to be thirsty, but it's doable.
39:14You really have to know where you're going because we're a little bit of a hidden secret.
39:19The farm spans 28 and a half thousand acres.
39:23So we're 20 kilometres from corner to corner and about 10 kilometres wide.
39:28It takes us probably three quarters of an hour to get from one end to the other.
39:34Driving along dirt tracks to reach this working farm offers no hint of the hotel's presence.
39:40I think as guests arrive they really get a bit of a surprise because it's not what you would expect
39:45to be in this kind of landscape.
39:48It's the harsh semi-arid climate where summer temperatures soar above 40 degrees Celsius that prompted Mike and Angie to
39:56expand their farm into hospitality.
40:00Drought in the central west of New South Wales is fairly common and back in 2017 through to 19 we
40:07experienced an extended drought.
40:10And one of our ideas for diversification was to look at tourism and Angie came up with the idea of
40:16doing a very high-end farm stay.
40:17Hence the container dream was born.
40:22The recycled industrial accommodation is constructed from five shipping containers stacked over three floors.
40:33We use the shipping containers partly because they're dustproof which is quite attractive out this way.
40:38They can also be furnished or built off-site and then brought in.
40:46These conjoined steel boxes are arranged to create four bedrooms accommodating up to eight guests.
40:53We've created what we think is a really special and unique experience for guests.
40:58A very authentic station stay experience and very much a secret.
41:06While the exterior has a rugged appearance, the interior sports a sleek and modern design.
41:16When you open the door to your suite it's a bit of a surprise because it's quite different to the
41:21rest of the environment here.
41:22So you're greeted with lovely air conditioning, a looking bed which is surrounded by double glazed windows providing an incredible
41:28view across the property.
41:30It's got a little kitchenette and a beautiful rain shower and walk-in bathroom.
41:38The retreat features a 40-foot heated mineral container pool complete with a swim jet and sun lounges offering a
41:46refreshing escape from the rugged surroundings and soaring temperatures.
41:51We're completely dry land here.
41:53We really rely on what falls from the sky both for the farming and the tourism.
41:57So managing water is, you know, a really big priority for us.
42:04To bring this modular hotel to life, Angie worked with a company that specialises in transforming shipping containers into unique
42:12living spaces.
42:14We make sure we know the history of them so they haven't contained any dangerous goods.
42:18They've done a single trip from overseas to Australia.
42:21Australia brings in more containers than it sends out so it's a nice way of recycling the materials.
42:28Installing these enormous containers on site was no simple task.
42:35They came in on big trucks and we then had cranes on site to lift them in.
42:41At the time we're in the middle of the drought so lots of red dirt and windstorms so it was,
42:46yeah, quite a spectacular site.
42:51The building was assembled in just two days.
42:57New South Wales has around 25 million head of sheep, which is about three animals for every person living in
43:05the state.
43:06Outback stations play an integral part of the country's livestock industry.
43:12Now, guests come from all over the world to experience a glimpse into life on a working station.
43:22I look after the day-to-day running of the farm, so all the sheep work and cropping work.
43:28I take the farm tours around so it gives you a really immersive experience in what's actually happening on the
43:34property.
43:34So growing wool, growing the grain. A lot of farm experiences are really like petting zoos,
43:40whereas here we are a commercial farm. We don't put on activities just for guests.
43:50We see the ultimate of wildlife in Australia. Kangaroos, emus, plenty of bird life. It's just everywhere.
44:02I have a few different roles. The primary one I'm really passionate about is a self-taught chef,
44:07so I'm in charge of doing all the food at the station.
44:11Dining experiences at the station embrace a paddock-to-plate philosophy, featuring the homestead's
44:17own seasonal organic produce. We're remote, so we have quite an extensive pantry. I keep a lot of
44:24dried goods in bulk. We preserve a lot of our own fruit and veg. We actually serve our own lamb,
44:32and we also grow wheat which we use for our bread. We do a lot of indigenous herbs and spices
44:38to give
44:39it a really Australian flavour. Farm-to-table style menu. We serve everything from really rustic dishes
44:46right through to fine dining level dishes.
44:57To manage the year-round operations of both the hotel and the farm, Mike and Angie rely on a
45:04dedicated team of staff to support everything from guest services to daily farming tasks.
45:12The station is home to around 10,000 sheep.
45:16I've been working for Kludawai Station for about a year and a half now. I love working with the
45:21livestock, with the farming, being outside. We are isolated out here. When we have guests come out,
45:27I just love having a chat with them, seeing where they're from, explaining what we're doing. Most of
45:32them come from the city and don't really get to see this sort of thing, where the food or fibre
45:36comes from.
45:42Mike and Angie have expanded the hotel with the River Suite, positioned by the Bogan River.
45:48It's a cosy escape for two guests. As the sun sets and the rusty soil deepens to a rich ochre,
45:57the landscape reveals its final magical moment. A poignant reminder of the thousands of years of
46:04history shaping this dramatic outback terrain. At sunset, we actually take guests up to our lookout,
46:11and we have a beautiful spread of canapes and bubbles and music playing. And everyone can sit and
46:16look at the sun go down, which is, you know, one of the most beautiful aspects of living in the
46:19bush.
46:33And we're off on a brand new spectacular journey aboard four cruise ships as they travel around
46:38the world as some of the most amazing destinations. Cruising to the ends of the earth starts tomorrow
46:43night at eight. And tonight, making the most of life before it's all too late,
46:47Bill Nighy stars in the network premiere, Living.
46:52University of North Carolina.
46:53.
46:53.
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