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Luxury resort Marramarra Lodge reopens on the Hawkesbury River

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

The secluded location was a popular area for Sydney families to wait out the Spanish flu after WWI.
The secluded location was a popular area for Sydney families to wait out the Spanish flu after WWI.Supplied

A luxury resort has been quietly under construction up the Hawkesbury River. The owners brought in a French fine-dining chef, commissioned a book about the history of the site and even, to the amusement of local boaties, floated a giant swimming pool up river.

"We opened a few days before COVID and the lockdowns hit," says David Maclachlan, co-owner of the new Marramarra Lodge. The timing couldn't have been worse. Coincidentally, the secluded location was a popular area for some Sydney families to wait out the Spanish flu after World War I.

Marramarra Lodge has reopened, with chef Meyjitte Bougenhout knocking out a degustation menu in the Budyari restaurant that leans on foraged and produce grown on site.

"We're in such a great spot for local jewfish and prawns. We even run oyster tours," Maclachlan says.

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The site has passed through a number of hands before Maclachlan and his business partners bought it. Once an Outward Bound site, it was owned by Knox Grammar in the 1990s and then billionaire Ian Gowrie-Smith.

"Ian is a colourful character who has owned everything from resorts to game parks; he sold it to us," says Maclachlan, who has previously had restaurants on the NSW south coast in his extensive business portfolio.

Forty barges of rubbish were shipped out to enable construction of Marramarra Lodge. At this stage you need to stay to eat (accommodation and food $1200 a night for a bungalow or tent-style glamping). Fingers crossed that changes down the track.

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Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

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