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MADE IN MADRID
A giant zebra-striped bear looms large in the lobby.
The furniture is curvy, the artworks ranging from
striking to surrealistic. There’s a touch of Almodóvar
zaniness about the new Barceló Torre de Madrid
hotel, occupying the first nine floors of the landmark
34-storey tower built in the heart of the Spanish capital
in 1957. Madrid-born interior and furniture designer
Jaime Hayón has mixed Moorish tiles, Romanesque
arches and bold contemporary artworks – and his
own whimsical concrete Monkey side tables – in the
hotel’s 258 guestrooms and theatrical public spaces.
Rooms from $294. Barceló Torre de Madrid, Plaza de
PHOTOGRAPHY JAMES KERSTANEspaña, 18, Madrid, barcelo.com
Life’s a picnic
A new lodge shares the rugged beauty of Picnic Island with a bird sanctuary.
Clem Newton-Brown launched the first water taxi on the Yarra in Melbourne in the
early 1990s. He’s still messing about in boats, but these days he’s usually en route to
Picnic Island off Tasmania’s Freycinet Peninsula.
Newton-Brown and his wife, Jane, bought the uninhabited island more than a decade
ago. “When we bought it, it was basically a penguin rookery,” he says. “Nobody thought
you could do anything with it. Including me.”
About five years ago the one-time mayor of Melbourne and former Victorian
Liberal politician was granted permission to build on the island, and ideas for an
eco-friendly lodge took shape. “It’s perfectly located for a unique stay,” he says. “It’s less
than a kilometre offshore from Coles Bay and around the corner from Wineglass Bay.”
Bookings opened last month for holiday rentals at a lodge designed by Tasmanian
architect John Latham. The property, which sleeps 10 in four bedrooms, is clad entirely
in copper and sits below the ridgeline. “The copper looks like it’s been there for 100
years – a weathered old beach relic, washed up on the shore,” says Newton-Brown.
Everything from the floorboards of century-old redwood milled nearby to the open
kitchen handcrafted in copper and Tasmanian oak off-cuts is sourced locally. “It’s
rudimentary but it’s authentic,” he says.
According to local legend, the one hectare that is Picnic Island was owned by one
of Tasmania’s original settlers, and was worked by convicts as a sandstone quarry when
the whales weren’t running. Newton-Brown unearthed a sandstone block during
construction “with all the pick marks in it”. It sits exposed under a suspended fireplace
in the Birdhouse, the lodge’s glass-walled living room overlooking the high-tide mark.
Newton-Brown estimates there are about a thousand burrows used by penguins and
shearwaters on the island. Guests can walk safely among the bird colonies at night via
a 300-metre boardwalk that encircles the island. The island’s beauty is inspiration
for a residency by acclaimed Australian artist Patricia Piccinini. Her Picnic Island
works will be shown at Hobart’s Dark Mofo festival next year. Picnic Island,
$1,200 per night for minimum three-night stays. Transfers cost $125 one way
for up to 12 people. picnicisland.com.au MAGGIE SCARDIFIELDDESTINATION WATCH
PICNIC ISLAND,
TASMANIAEDITED BYHELEN ANDERSONtravel NEWS
WHERE TO BE & WHAT TO SEE AROUND THE WORLD
LAST STRAW Sling Balenciaga’s tote over your shoulder and imagine you’re in the
south of France. Inspired by Parisian café chairs, Balenciaga Bistrot Panier
leather-trimmed woven raffia bag, $1,440. net-a-porter.comBARCELÓ TORRE DE
MADRID