The Story Behind Serenity Gully: How a 42-Year Dream became a Luxury Forest Retreat
- Susan R
- Jul 25
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 26
Where the Dream Began
Serenity Gully began long before we welcomed our first guest. In many ways, its story started more than four decades earlier, with a view from a mountain and a dream that quietly refused to disappear.
I grew up in The Gap, on the outskirts of Brisbane. Back then, people described it as living “out in the sticks”. Our suburb was surrounded by hills and bushland, with kangaroos appearing at the top of the street, lizards basking on the road and bats hanging from our banana trees.
At seventeen, I bought a horse and kept him only a block from home. I would ride through the surrounding hills and bush, developing a love of space, wildlife and the freedom of the Australian landscape.
Not long after receiving my driver’s licence, I drove to nearby Mt Nebo, a place I loved visiting with my family; it was a glorious twenty-minute drive away. I stopped at a lookout and gazed across the forested hills to a small house in the distance. I remember thinking, One day, I want to live somewhere like this in a peaceful place with space, nature and an incredible view.
It was a simple dream, but it stayed with me.
A Dream That Wouldn’t Disappear
Life moved on. I relocated to Perth in 1985, built businesses, raised a family and experienced the usual mixture of successes, setbacks and unexpected turns. Yet I continued looking at country properties, often late at night and usually with no realistic prospect of buying one. It became a hobby of the heart and a way of keeping that old dream alive.
Whenever Franco and I travelled, we usually chose little houses in the bush. We preferred waking to kangaroos grazing, birds calling and the promise of a forest walk rather than staying near busy beaches or city centres. Give us a log fire over rolling waves any day.
Eventually, we began looking more seriously at country properties south of Perth. What started as a search for a quiet weekender gradually grew into a much bigger idea.
A Tent Changed Everything
An article about the growing popularity of country weddings held in tents sent me on a casual online search for tent styles and this possibility. This then sparked the idea of creating a beautiful, isolated nature-based stay, and there seemed very few that fit this bill. We began imagining a place where couples could experience the peace and privacy we valued, without sacrificing comfort or luxury.
We weren’t looking to create ordinary camping accommodation. We wanted to offer something carefully considered and genuinely memorable: complete seclusion, beautiful interiors, private outdoor baths, forest views and the feeling that, for a little while, the rest of the world had disappeared.
Suddenly, our property search had a new purpose.
The Waroona & Lake Clifton Chapter
For a time, we concentrated on Waroona (for the views) and the Lake Clifton area (for the unique inlets and proximity to Perth). We explored countless listings and inspected properties that seemed promising online but never felt quite right in person.
One Waroona property came close. Its rolling hills, gum trees and open views reminded me of that long-ago drive to Mt Nebo. At the time, I believed we may finally have found the place where the dream would take shape. It was an important part of our journey because we'd been looking for small five-acre blocks, which would be easy to manage, but here there were 100-acre blocks. This opened our minds to scale and the realisation that more acres meant less work. Forests look after themselves. But it wasn’t the final destination.
We kept looking and soon realised, we needed to travel much further south to find our needle in a haystack property, exploring sites in Harvey, Balingup and Nannup over many, many weekends.
Eighteen Months, 20,000 Kilometres and 30 Properties
Our search eventually stretched across eighteen months during COVID, more than 20,000 kilometres and around thirty property inspections from hundreds of online views.
We were looking for a rare combination: breathtaking scenery, genuine privacy, abundant wildlife, a welcoming country town and enough space to create an experience unlike anything else.
Many properties had one or two of those qualities. None had them all. Then, while travelling near Bridgetown to look at a nearby property, we noticed a roadside “For Sale” sign. I'd investigated this property because it kept popping up in my searches, but I kept dismissing it because it was 478 acres and the pictures weren't great... no stunning views in the real estate pics. And what would we do with such a huge piece of land with no power, no water and no roads... not even a shed. But I had noted from Google Earth views that it did seem to have incredible views about 1km into the property.
So, we jumped the fence and that decision changed everything.
Finding Our Corner of the Forest
As we took in our first wander on the land, it felt quintessentially Australian with open fields and magnificent ancient forests. By the time we reached the ridge with the stunning views that now greet guests, we already knew this place was special.
It was secluded, peaceful and approximately the size of Monaco. We knew almost immediately that we had found something extraordinary and it was all the other sites we'd visited and discarded that gave us the certainty we could create some magic here.
Bridgetown made the decision even easier. Its heritage character, friendly community, cafés and local producers gave us the charming country town we had hoped to find. Its location also offered access to the wider Southern Forests and Valleys region, renowned for its natural beauty, food, wine and agricultural produce.
After decades of dreaming and thousands of kilometres of searching, we had arrived.
We knew the landscape deserved more than a collection of ordinary tents. The planning began and we met every hurdle from navigating a complex Shire application, planning an off-grid development to interior design, all areas in which we had no previous experience. Sure we made mistakes, missed opening deadlines and had to delay guests' bookings. Somehow though we survived with hope through all the ups and downs until the incredible day in November 2022 when we drove out the gate knowing the first guests would arrive within hours.
Creating More Than Accommodation
Each Serenity Gully eco-tent was carefully positioned to protect its privacy and capture a distinctive view. They are set hundreds of metres apart, allowing guests to feel that the forest, valley and sky belong entirely to them.
Inside, we combined cloud-soft beds, luxurious furnishings, private bathrooms and thoughtfully chosen details. Outside, guests could soak in a private stone bathtub, dine on the deck, watch kangaroos graze or gather around a seasonal firepit beneath the Milky Way.
We wanted every element, even the crockery and glassware, to feel intentional and for guests to say: They've thought of everything.
Serenity Gully is growing even now to include architecturally designed steel-and-glass chalets, created to immerse guests even more deeply in the surrounding forest. Floor-to-ceiling windows, indoor and outdoor bathing experiences, designer interiors and repurposed construction materials brought together to honour our commitment to luxury, originality and sustainability. If all goes to plan these will be ready by early 2027.
Luxury That Treads Lightly
From the beginning, Serenity Gully was designed to operate off-grid and minimise its impact on the land.
We invested extensively in solar power, water systems and responsible waste management. We incorporated repurposed glass and steel from decommissioned commercial sites into later buildings and source firewood from fallen trees on the property.
Our approach has never been about asking guests to sacrifice comfort. It is about demonstrating that thoughtful design, sustainability and luxury can exist beautifully together.
The Serenity Gully Moment
There is a particular moment when many guests truly understand the magic of Serenity Gully.
The sun begins to fall behind the valley. The jarrah trunks glow in the fading light, kangaroos emerge to graze and the first stars appear in a sky untouched by city light pollution. The forest grows still, and everyday pressures suddenly feel very far away.
It is the experience we had spent years searching for and the feeling we now have the privilege of sharing.
A Dream Shared with Thousands
Since our 2022 opening, Serenity Gully has welcomed thousands of guests from across Australia and around the world. Some arrive to celebrate an anniversary, birthday, babymoon or proposal. Others simply need time away from noise, responsibilities and crowded lives.
Many of our guests return to experience a different view, another season or that unmistakable feeling of being surrounded by nature in complete privacy.
What began with a teenage girl looking across the hills from Mt Nebo eventually became a five-star off-grid retreat on 478 acres near Bridgetown, more than 4,000 kilometres away and over forty years later.
The road wasn’t direct. It included false starts, late-night property searches, practical objections, endless spreadsheets, thirty inspections and one very important roadside sign.
But perhaps that is the real lesson of Serenity Gully: a dream doesn’t always arrive according to plan. Sometimes it waits patiently until the right place, the right moment and the right people finally come together.
After forty-two years of dreaming, I caught mine.
And now, we invite our guests to share our dream. Ready to share the dream? Explore our luxury accommodation.
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