Some projects stay with you, and Mt Kanimbla Retreats will always be one of those for me.
In 2025, I sold Mt Kanimbla Retreats, bringing a four-year chapter to a close. It was my first project of this scale to take from an underperforming accommodation business through to a successful operation and eventual sale. And what a journey it was.
When I took on Mt Kanimbla, I could see the potential, even though there was plenty of work to do. I love looking at a property and imagining what it could become, and this one gave me the opportunity to do exactly that.
Over the next four years, I worked on transforming the accommodation, refining the interiors, developing its identity and building the business behind it. From the styling and guest experience to the photography, marketing and operations, it was about bringing all the pieces together to create something that worked beautifully, both for guests and as a business.
This is the part of property I love most. The creative process, the problem-solving, the decisions that shape a place and the satisfaction of watching an idea evolve into something real. But just as importantly, I love building the business around it. A beautiful property is one thing. Creating an accommodation business that people want to book and that operates successfully takes a whole different set of skills.
Four years is a significant amount of time to spend building something, and I'm incredibly proud of what I achieved at Mt Kanimbla.
Selling it was a big milestone, but it also reinforced something I've come to understand about myself. I'm happiest in the process of creating, building and bringing a vision to life. I love taking a project from its early stages through to a finished, turnkey business. And once I've done that, I'm often ready to take what I've learnt and channel it into something new.
I don't necessarily need to hold on to every property forever to feel attached to what I've created. There's a real satisfaction in knowing you've taken something as far as you wanted to and being able to move on to the next chapter.
Mt Kanimbla was a huge learning experience for me, and it will always be an important part of my journey in boutique accommodation. It was the first time I took a project through that entire cycle, from transformation to sale, and it gave me plenty of experience to carry forward.
And, of course, there is always another idea waiting in the wings.
My next chapter is unfolding at Hyams Beach, where I'm working on Sirena Del Sol, a very different property in a very different setting. It's another opportunity to start with what is there, imagine what it could become and create something with its own personality.
But that story deserves a post of its own.
For now, I'm closing the Mt Kanimbla chapter with a lot of gratitude, a few more lessons under my belt and plenty of excitement about what comes next.
Sometimes the best part of building something is knowing when it's time to let it go.
