THE GOLD LIST 2018 LONGITUDE 131˚ AUSTRALIA
PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID HANCOCK
Dawn in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is best experienced from the brand-new Dune Pavilion suite at this game-changing wilderness camp, which opened in 2002, the first truly smart tented outpost in Australia, a precursor to the glamping trend worldwide and a role model for home-grown upstarts such as Sal Salis and Paperbark Camp. The Dune Pavilion is the most recent addition to Longitude 131° following its recent A$8-million refurbishment. It was designed by Max Pritchard Gunner (also responsible for the wildly beautiful Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island) as a contemporary nod to the country’s classic homesteads and is lined with hardwood cabinets and hung with complex dot paintings from the Tjala Arts Centre just over the border in South Australia. On either side of the central Dune House (also revamped with a new bar and dining terrace), the 16 guest tents are strung out like lanterns, raised on steel stilts and topped with white fabric canopies. In all of them, light floods through glass doors that open onto wooden decks, from which there are heart-stopping views of blood-red Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Kata Tjuta rock formations. The new spa is housed in two corrugated-iron structures built to resemble make-shift desert shelters, and all treatments use locally inspired LI’TYA products. Even chef Jonathon Bryant has entered the indigenous spirit with his canapés of quandong (small, plumb-like fruits), while his pink snapper with green-lip abalone is sensational. Just add a glass of sparkling Croser Pinot Noir Chardonnay for total immersion. +61 2 9918 4355; longitude131.com.au. From about £825 per person per night full board, including transfers