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The Sunday Mail
April 17
2005
Some places are so perfectly designed that they can baffle even the most cynical and fault-finding guests.
I was looking for the coffee plunger to make my (supplied) local coffee, and couldn't find it anywhere.
There was everything else the soul could desire in the kitchen, but when, really desperate for my morning caffeine fix, I decided to damn the lot of them and use the posh stainless steel water jug, I found that there was the plunger, slotted neatly inside.
So I took out to the handcrafted wrought-iron and cedar swing on my private balcony, looked at the glories of Lake Baroon in the early-ish morning, and decided I was too happily lazy to feed the kookaburras hoping to redeen their wasted visit of the night before, when I had absolutely refused to share my rib fillet stake from the barbeque.
"Let them find their own snakes to kill!" I thought, smug in my eco-awareness, although the bush turkeys made short work of the fruit scraps.
But the kookaburras remained friendly, crab-shuffling sideways to let me stroke their feathers, so I suppose not every visitor is as tough as I am.
Secrets on the Lake is a triumph of loving devotion to craftsmanship and care. It used to be known as Treetops, but to preserve its identity now that so many other places use that name, they've chosen a names which more accurately describes the kind of retreat it is.
Each of the hand-built, hand-carved wooden cabins is seperate from all the others, each has its own view of the lake, and each is reached by winding timber boardwalks with carved handrails that take you up into the heart of the rainforest, and your own private paradise.
Each cabin has its own theme and mine was Dragonfly - I found them everywhere, carved into hand rails, the frond door, and even set into the walls of the huge shower room.
Above the bed was a stained glass window that could be illuminated from the outside, so that it glowed and winked at you all night, or simply emitted a soft shimmer like Tinkerbell half asleep.
The big veranda has room for a fold-up barbecue, the aforesaid swing, other deck chairs and a conventional table and chairs, while the galley kitchen features a wide bench where you can sit and look at the lake if its too cold to go outside.
Lovers can get up-close in the sunken spa bath just below the bed (this is not the place to bring the kids!), either before or after they cook their barbecue (all ingredients supplied for an extgra cost if you don't want to BYO), and dream away the night doing whatever turns them on - which can be watching civilised videos from the reception area.
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