Country: Australia

Organization: Cape Cassini Wilderness Retreat

Year the initiative began: 2003

Project Website: www.capecassini.com.au

Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions:

• Main barrier addressed: Corporate monolithic approach to tourism
• Main insight addressed: Incorporate sustainable practices

What is the goal of your innovation?
Our goal is to give guests ecotourism and sustainable living experiences in a remote location surrounded by spectacular vistas and wildlife.

How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
Cape Cassini Wilderness Retreat is the only hosted, advanced ecotourism accredited, AAA rated four star accommodation in the highly regarded natural environment of Kangaroo Island, South Australia. The building has a passive solar energy design, of rammed local earth, stone from our private road and renewable pine timber, to fit perfectly with the local environment. It also features colour topped concrete floors, passive termite protection and built in vacuuming system giving a reduced allergy aspect. The Retreat sits 100 metres from the edge of a 90 m cliff surrounded by 1000 acres of Heritage Agreement wilderness with 2.25 km of coastal frontage. It is self sufficient for power and rainwater; we have an organic orchard and vegetable garden and our own waste system. The power system consists of a 2.5kW wind generator and 16 solar panels with battery bank and inverter. We offer our guests a life experience in living with and managing the finite resources we have while still living comfortably with all the modern technology Eg computers, fast Internet connection, TV, CD video, dishwasher, fridge etc. Also the opportunity to experience wildlife on the property or at the seashore by walking or using our guiding services.

Describe your approach in detial. How is it innovative?
We have a display of unusual artefacts that illicit guest curiosity, such as items from our foreshore such as rounded broken glass (possibly from a shipwreck), pieces of yacca gum (guest room furniture is stained with it) Glossy Black Cockatoo tail feathers (an endangered bird on the Island ) aboriginal stone tools. Guest questions enable us to tell them about the history, wildlife and culture of the Island and give them “Take home messages” to use in their own environment. Educational aspects of sustainable tourism: We are living in a world, which is fast running out of clean water and air; people are huge consumers of finite resources. Much of the food people eat is grown using chemicals and inorganic products, skincare products often have harmful chemicals such as aluminium chlorohydrate, sodium laurel sulphate and propylene glycol as part of their ingredients, houses have carpet underlay and other materials which outgas and may cause health problems. We believe in a small way we can show people that you can use less resources, live in a safer way and that healthy food is also good to eat and relatively simple to prepare.

What types of partnerships or professional developement would be most beneficial in spearding your innovation?
We would like to be known by the membership of conservation groups around the world as a Geotourism accommodation providing the type of wildlife holiday experience they would like to have in Australia. A partnership with conservation groups would allow this to happen. Professional development in the finding of and method of approaching conservation groups to allow partnerships would be ideal.

In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
We would like other accommodations in Australia to take on our ideas now that we have shown it is a viable option

Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
We have received Advanced Ecotourism Accreditation from Ecotourism Australia which rigorously assesses such things as our Sustainability, enhancement of local culture, care for the environment and support for the local community. We have had a successful onsite assessment. We are a Benchmarked Green Globe company which requires us to submit data about our performance in such matters as Electricity use, Energy use, Water consumption, Waste disposal, recycling etc. In our recent assessment we scored a Best Practice rating in nine out of ten indicators which is rated as World Class. In the South Australian Tourism Awards in 2006 we received a silver medal in Sustainable Tourism and a Bronze medal in Ecotourism. This involved a visit by a judge and a 40 page submission to judging panel. We think that for a very small accommodation such as ourselves to compete with much larger organizations underlines our success to date. Especially as a major consideration for judging is how financial the operation is whereas our emphasis is more about lifestyle. Our approach is to monitor carefully all impacts regularly eg power consumption, daily etc Frequent evaluation eg accreditations, entering awards etc keeps us in touch with what is happening. The local community respects our approach to the environment and understands that we are an appropriate alternative to standard tourism accommodations on Kangaroo Island.

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
We promote traveller enthusiasm by presenting guests with the very best in service in whatever possible ways we can eg providing • simple delicious meals with organic from our orchard, garden or local farms • wildlife experiences on our property, some reached by marked walking trails or on our 4WD tours. • help with travel advice about the island, what to see etc, talking to guests, finding out about their personal and dietary needs • A level of comfort to which we tailor their activities such as bird watching, bushwalking, swimming etc • stimulating books on local history, health advice, wildlife, musical accompaniment for candle light meals served at the lodge • a healthy environment (with safe complimentary toiletries), grand views from their room balcony, pristine filtered rain water and well appointed guest suites with walk in robes • a telescope, binoculars and satellite internet connection for guest use

In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
To involve the local community • We personally recommend island products and services. • We sell and display island products such as honey, lead lights and art work . • We recommend local businesses to our guests such as Pelican feeding at the Marine • Centre, Aquariums and Little Penguin Walk. • David visits various businesses when he is touring which our guests enjoy: Parndana • Wildlife Park, Seal Bay Conservation Park, Island Pure Sheep Dairy and Emu Ridge • Eucalyptus Distillery etc We are proactive in community affairs eg we write letters to the local newspaper, Pat is a Tourism Kangaroo Island Board member

Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
Our website has information about our environmental initiatives including an Education and Research page. Together with our environmental accreditations when guests come they can see the initiatives put into practice. When travellers and local residents visit, we have signs telling them they are entering a Heritage Agreement property and to drive slowly to avoid the animals on the track. The local newspaper published a story about what we do written by Watercare as a media release entitled “Water Wise Resort Wins High Praise”. We have an Environmental Awareness Certificate for guests in their guest book with “take home” ideas.

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Our enterprise supports us during the Tourism season on Kangaroo Island from October into May. Currently during this time no additional income is required. From June to September we have fewer guests and more free time so my wife and I do relief teaching in local schools to supplement our income. We are completely debt free. We have our own portfolios in the business which compliment one another making a very efficient use of our skills. As the only Ecotourism accredited accommodation on Kangaroo Island, the potential demand when conservation minded travellers find out about us is enormous.

How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
We have only two staff , my wife and I, to run our operation but do employ a window cleaner once a month during the Tourism season. The Income from our operation currently is roughly 50% from accommodation,30% from meals and 20% from tours. Our annual gross income is about A$80,000. With about 50% costs, this leaves us with a modest return of about $40,000. The business has been in the “ramp up “ stage for longer than we anticipated due to our very niche part of the market and not wanting to over work our selves. Our marketing strategy has been to not over advertise but to begin as an accommodation while we learnt about how to run our business, particularly the environmental aspects. We took every opportunity to retrain in our business areas and did numerous accreditations to raise our awareness of important issues.

What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
Most recently we have moved to increase the profile of our Touring. It is now featured on the South Australian Tourism Commission website. This will lead to a touring vehicle update later in the year. We are very pleased to enter this competition as we see it as part of the next step to raise our profile with international Geotourism travellers. We will also look for more television exposure. After an initial launch with a local TV program, “Discover” in 2003, recently Imparja TV came to shoot some footage at the retreat in February. Later this month we have an Argentinian TV crew coming to spend 3 nights with us to shoot footage for the Travel Channel in the US

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
Barriers to expansion of our innovation include the need to care for the environment and to not compromise our lifestyle. As we have finite resources of water and electricity, these are important limiting factors. More guests could increase the current impact from minimal although a recent innovation to survey our guests raises guest awareness about our environmental credentials. A self selection device to make sure that we are the right place for them to stay. We also wish to remain an exclusive wildlife experience that has an international reputation for providing a very intimate experience for only a lucky few. The main barrier that keeps our initiative from having greater impact is our wish to maintain our current lifestyle. We love living here and why wouldn’t you when you wake every morning to stunning vistas, wildlife and serenity. Consequently, we don’t run our business to make a lot of money, which I believe in different hands it would. Climate Change means increasing our water supply by a desalinator and more electricity. A wave generator on our foreshore would do this and perhaps overcome our transport dilemma of appropriate fuel supply by generating hydrogen for all our energy needs.

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
David began as a Physics / Science / Maths teacher in 1968. In 1981, he took his first Long Service Leave to visit relatives in England and travel around Europe. In 1984 he returned to England as an exchange teacher and during this year again toured the UK and Europe staying in B & Bs, Zimmers and Chambres. In 1985 David met Pat whose family owned a farm in a marginal wheat, sheep area in Western Australia. In 1989 they went on a freelance teaching year to England (Pat was a Junior Primary teacher in those days) They had some extended holidays touring Europe and stayed mainly in Bed and Breakfast style accommodation. For most of David’s teaching career he was a Science Coordinator, in charge of curricular and took it seriously to learn about what was being taught in all the Sciences and keep up to date with new trends and change. Every year since 1985 Pat and David spent the summer school holidays at Pat’s family farm helping with farm jobs and learning to appreciate a rural lifestyle. In 1994, Pat and David moved to the farm to do their share of keeping it running and David learned about and tried Biodynamic farming. They returned to Adelaide in mid 1995 for Pat to take up some exciting job opportunities, one of which was as a Family and Children’s Ministry Coordinator at St George’s Anglican Church. Cape Cassini Wilderness Retreat is a passion turned into reality. For many years David would speak at social occasions about how if he ever had the opportunity to take early retirement then he wanted to build a self sufficient bed and breakfast in the middle of the bush. This was because he had continuing health concerns about living a city lifestyle, and even about living near farmland with all the chemical sprays farmers use. Everyone nodded their heads, saying nice vision, never believing that this could ever become reality. In 1992 we went to KI for a holiday and we were really taken with the place. We decided to look for a small investment property. Cape Cassini was one of the places we saw, and it was as though David’s vision crystallised for him. He became passionate about this piece of wilderness and what we could do here, given the opportunity. Pat was a little less passionate at the time, but did not see how it could ever become reality so she didn’t worry about it. David spent the next year or so trying to get various bodies to show interest in making it into a National Park. In 1993 the Education Department offered David a separation package including a relatively large termination payment and so David’s vision became a possible reality. He purchased the land in 1995 and over the next eight years we moved from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island, and started to build what we have today.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
David is a semi retired former Physics/Science/Maths teacher who has always had an interest in the outdoors and environment. Various life experiences led him to conclude that city living is likely to become unsustainable in the future. Cape Cassini Wilderness Retreat is an endeavour to develop a more sustainable life style while having all the comforts of our technological society. Pat began as a Junior Primary teacher. More recently she has adapted to running an accommodation business and developed computing, hosting and cooking skills. She now loves to teach Home Economics at local schools when short term contracts arise.

Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on teh competition homepage.
Cape Cassini Wilderness Retreat is the only hosted, advanced ecotourism accredited, AAA rated four star accommodation in the highly regarded natural environment of Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

Contact Information
David & Pat Welford
Owner
Cape Cassini Wilderness Retreat
Mailing Address
retreat@capecassni.com.au