by WINNIE STUBBS

A Spanish Mission-style, Palm Springs-inspired boutique hotel on a kangaroo-studded golf course in a quiet coastal corner of New South Wales isn’t an often-seen concept, but if The Oaks Ranch is anything to go by, it’s an idea that could catch on.

Down an (appropriately) oak tree-lined driveway in the quaint coastal village of Mossy Point, the recently renovated hotel is a new – and distinctly unique – addition to the south coast’s burgeoning hospitality landscape. While the trend of the renovated roadside motel is a welcome one, there’s something special about waking up to the sound of birdsong, walking barefoot to dinner across the lawn, and watching a family of kangaroos waking up to the day as you pull the curtains on far reaching views of uninterrupted green. This – along with the magnesium swimming pool, excellent on-site restaurant, and across-the-board attention to detail – is what sets The Oaks Ranch apart. 

While the fourteen-room establishment now has all of the designer hallmarks of a boutique hotel, its name derives from its former function: a working ranch and base for the stock people who tended the surrounding estate. Now, the resident animals on the property are more limited, with just a few horses and two rescue donkeys calling The Oaks Ranch home. Nods to its origins are also seen through the Spanish Mission style architecture which has been retained: whitewashed archways, exposed timber beams and a thick, stucco-clad exterior.

The Oaks Ranch Pool

The decision to use magnesium rather than chlorine in the pool is a reflection of the team’s thoughtful approach, which is also made abundantly clear through everything from their genuinely warm hospitality to the immaculate presentation of the space: pillows perfectly plumped, magnesium-enriched towels folded neatly on the sun loungers. As always, it’s the little things: the Leif bath products filled to the top, the Cultiver bathrobes, the Maison Balzac glassware and the complimentary minibar stocked with fair trade chocolate (Tony’s Chocolonely’s finest). But there’s also an undeniable energy to the place: an established dynamic that’s often absent from new hotels.

“I think it’s because the owners care so much: they live in Palm Beach, but they’re here all the time, and it’s an idea they’ve been working on for years,” Josh Tyler, the hotel’s General Manager, tells us over breakfast.

We visited for a one-night stay, and though it was short-lived, it left us feeling the way you’d hope to feel after a holiday: well-slept and well-fed and completely detached from reality.

It was late afternoon by the time we arrived, the sun already casting its buttery glow across the paddocks and bushland that form the views beyond the restaurant and pool deck. The pull of the view distracted us from checking in, and by the time we got back to the reception desk, two glasses were waiting for us: ice cold with a house-made lime infusion and garnished with rosemary picked from the garden. 

After dropping our bags in our room – one of fourteen, masterfully designed by interior architects Partridge Daniels, complete with a double-showered bathroom, king-size bed and floor-to-ceiling windows occupying one wall – we made our way to the pool area for a swim and sunset cocktail. 

THE OAKS RANCH room

THE OAKS RANCH room

By Pippa Duffy

In a word: calm. After extensive renovations, completed just last year by architects and interior designers, Partridge Daniels, The Oaks Ranch has reopened with attention to every detail, and an instant sense of escape. From the impeccable grounds, to the private cabanas by the pool and exclusive fire pits lining the hillside, there’s a Desert Modernism aesthetic about the place as you travel down the 400-metre long tree-lined, dirt-gravel drive, spying cacti in multiple forms before reaching the arched entry of the main building. The only thing giving away the Australian location? Kangaroos lolling in paddocks by the dozen, the south coast at your doorstep and the warm welcome as the door is opened for you on arrival.

The Oaks Ranch Room

The remote(ish) location means you will need a car to head out from The Oaks Ranch, but the drive is worth it. Take a left at the end of the drive and wind your way through the homesteads of Broulee to The Mossy Cafe for brunch – the lemon meringue french toast is next level– before walking it off with a stroll around Broulee Point at low tide. Ten minutes north you’ll find the heritage township of Mogo with its artisan gift shops, homemade fudge and hidden treasures. Or if kids are in tow, Mogo Wildlife Park is open daily from 9am. 

Originally a dairy farm before the current building was constructed and the property became an equestrian centre circa 1969, The Oaks Ranch is situated above the valley in Mossy Point and mere minutes from the coastline of the Pacific Ocean on the NSW South Coast. Spanning 120 hectares, The Oaks Ranch runs from the Tomaga River in Tomakin to Candlagan Creek on the northside. A four-and-half hour drive from Sydney or just over two hours from Canberra if you’re keen on a road trip. Otherwise it’s a quick 40-minute flight to Moruya airport (10 minutes away), from Sydney.

THE OAKS RANCH BAR

THE OAKS RANCH POOL

By CELESTE MITCHELL

It would be easy to miss Mossy Point on the NSW south coast. Blink and you couldzip right by the sliver of a town as you cruise George Bass Drive on the way southfrom Batemans Bay. Cradled by the Tomaga River to the north and CandlaganCreek to the south, the hamlet sits along a coastline that has remained largelyunder the radar – unless you’re from Canberra.

Its secret status might also be due to Google Maps’ failure to register some of itsnewer roads, as I realise on my drive to The Oaks Ranch. I end up on a gravel route,which quickly turns to dirt and ends with a locked gate. Mercifully, all is well after acall to reception and a shared moment with a kangaroo, watching as I lock the gatebehind me.

I’ve come in on the old road, I’m told. “Wait until you see the main entrance,” thebubbly Jess tells me over the phone. I roll down the grand, tree-lined driveway, donkeys in a paddock to my right and golfers returning to their buggies on my left,as the Spanish Mission-style guesthouse comes into view.

“My boyfriend grew up in Moruya and used to come here for class trips and horseriding,” Jess tells me, pressing a welcome drink tinged with rosemary and lime intomy hand. “It used to have purple walls and colourful bed sheets.”

The Oaks Ranch

With a masterplan that Tyler says is only about 10 per cent realised, the Corks arehoping to draw even more visitors to their Eurobodalla passion project. There’s anupgrade to the Greg Norman-designed golf course on the way, along with moreguestrooms and self-contained villas. But Mossy Point’s future is blossoming beyondthe boundary of the 120ha property.

“It’s a black hole after Ulladulla – it’s like uncharted waters,” says staffer Meg thenext morning in between making my coffee with local Guerrilla Roasters beans anddrawing me a mud map of her favourite beaches. Having never been further souththan Gerringong, I’m venturing into the great unknown.

A drizzly day stretches ahead as I pull up at the Mossy Point boat ramp, watchingtwo kayakers paddle peacefully through the grey. A cute little boatshed sits on thewater’s edge where Region X keeps locals caffeinated and loans kayaks to visitorskeen to spot stingrays in the shallows.

Owners Lisa and Martin Cork saw the potential through the purple haze andworked with interior architects Partridge Daniels during the contemporary upgradeof 14 existing suites, reopening in September 2022. With its white stucco exterior,archways and cactuses-filled gardens, there’s more than a hint of Palm Springs retro.Zellige handmade tiles, relaxed furnishings and Cultiver linen and robes set aluxurious tone in the guestrooms, but it’s the warmth of the place that has me fromthe turn of my heavy room key.

My pre-dinner coffee negroni, sipped by the magnesium pool, also helps to cinchthe deal. I can see why general manager Josh Tyler, who grew up in nearby MaluaBay, is happy to be home. A Sliding Doors moment during Covid lockdowns sawhim fly back from Bali, where he’d been executive chef at The Ungasan in Uluwatu.These days, he slips between the kitchen and tables of guests and locals at the onsiterestaurant, Arlo.

“There’s been such a great response from locals. I think there was room forsomething different,” he says, before recommending the Clyde River oysters, fromjust up the road. They are the highlight of a meal that stars tempura prawns atopnasturtium leaves from the kitchen garden, and soul-warming pumpkin agnolottiloaded with native pepper and chilli.

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