OH! Magazine - Australian Version November 2015 | Page 30

( Where, Oh Where? )

had owned the building for many years.
A multi-million dollar refurbishment took
place in 1997 and since then the
property has been regularly upgraded and
refurbished. All of these enhancements
have helped to establish the Royal Mail
Hotel and Dunkeld’s reputation as one of
the best high-end travel destinations in
regional Victoria.
Much to my delight, the dining (and
wining) options are in abundance here in
Dunkeld. In fact, the Royal Mail Hotel is
home to a highly acclaimed Dining Room
which is open for breakfast, lunch and
dinner on a daily basis. This Dining Room
specialises in nature-based cuisine and
uses only the highest quality and locally
sourced produce. Awarded Two Chef Hats
by The Age Good Food Guide 2016, the
kitchen is overseen by executive Chef
Robin Wickens. On a daily basis, Robin
and his team of chefs harvest produce
from the extensive organic kitchen
garden, which is then used as inspiration
for the menu for that day. The Hotel also
boasts its own orchards and olive groves.
The Hotel’s signature experience is an
eight-course Chef’s Tasting menu with
matched wines, which is served every
evening. A la carte options are also
available for dinner; however, I simply
cannot go past the opportunity for a
degustation. My menu included mutton
bird, Great Ocean Road duck, scallop
roe, wagyu rump and duck fat ice cream.
Not the typical fare I’d be chowing down
on in Adelaide but indeed impressive and
memorable.
Despite not being a drinker myself, I can
appreciate the Hotel’s cellar houses,
which has one of the most comprehensive
and varied wine collections in Australia,
including one of the country’s leading
collections of Bordeaux and Burgundy. A
selection of 2,300 local and imported

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NOVEMBER 2015 ( OH! MAGAZINE )

wines, offered from a wine inventory of
26,000 bottles. Tours of the cellar are
available on Saturday afternoons and are
complimentary for house guests, or
groups can book for $15 per person.
As an overnight guest I was also able to
undertake a free Kitchen Garden Tour.
Here I learned how much the hotel prides
itself on using organic local produce and
how the menu changes based on what’s
in season at the time. The tours are led
by the hotel chefs and one young
apprentice told me that they are
empowered to be creative and if they
‘design’ a dish and the chef likes it, then
they’ll put it on the menu. The driving
philosophy behind the Kitchen Garden is
that food should be produced using
organic principles with as little impact to
the earth as possible. The garden aims to
provide produce such as organic heirloom
vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, fruit
and nuts all year round. The hotel raise
their own lambs/sheep and will soon also
have cows.
Being an animal lover myself, I was
happy to learn about the Royal Mail
Hotel’s conservation department, which
has a captive breeding program in place.
This program aims to increase numbers
of and raise awareness of threatened
species such as eastern quolls and tiger
quolls. The Hotel’s resident quolls come
from the Conservation Ecology Centre in
Cape Otway – an organisation that is
dedicated to tiger quoll conservation.
House guests can join a guided tour
during feeding times every day of the
week, except on Sundays.
Part of my Dunkeld experience was a
three-hour yoga class at Griffin’s Hill
Retreat (www.griffinshill.com.au). Initially
I thought it was a typo when I read the
session went for three hours. But the fully
qualified senior Iyengar yoga teacher

Frank Jesse, confirmed upon my arrival
that it did, in fact, go for that long! Frank
has been teaching yoga for more than 21
years and you can tell by his level of
expertise. He was able to assist us
individually in different poses and correct
our form along the way. He also guided us
into poses that I’d never tried before, like
working toward a head stand! When he
said we’d hold that position for five
minutes I nearly died, but it turned out to
be surprisingly easy!
On the day I attended, a five-day yoga
retreat had just begun, so I got to meet
some lovely women from all over Australia
– some of whom had attended the retreat
before and some who were brand new to
yoga (like me). Even though our class was
held indoors, I discovered they also run
classes outside, which I imagine would
be awesome, given the majestic backdrop
of the Grampians. Overall, I found the
class

quite

challenging

and

felt

completely exhausted by the end, but I
also felt great too. The experience
certainly reignited my desire to take up
yoga on a regular basis.
Of course, all the people I met during my
time in Dunkeld really contributed to my
overall experience. Most specificalIy, I
cannot speak highly enough of The Royal
Mail’s general manager Carl Forrest. I
was so impressed by his passion for his
work and his knowledge of all those
wines. He does such a great job and I
commend him and his team for all that
they have achieved so far.
For more information or to arrange your
stay at Dunkeld, visit
www.royalmail.com.au