Experience our unique, small-group, curated tours.
Stay in one of just four private ensuite rooms in our secluded, beautifully designed off-grid lodge.
Spend the day touring the entire Yambulla property, learning about our unique programs and having campfire picnics.
Return to the Lodge for evenings with great food, wine and conversation around our communal dining table.
All after tax profits from The Yambulla Lodge support our not-for-profit entity, The Yambulla Project.
Yambulla Lodge is designed to immerse you in nature without sacrificing any creature comforts.
Our guest wing includes four double or twin share rooms each with a private bathroom and sweeping landscape views.
Naturally cool in the summer and cosy with wood-fired central heating in the winter.
Our menus focus on local ingredients and good, hearty, homestyle cooking.
We serve a planned menu, adjusted (with prior consultation) for
food allergies and dietary requirements.
The Lodge Experience is all-inclusive (food, accommodation and wine/beer), 3 nights, 2 full days for
$2,000 per person.
Yambulla Lodge is best experienced with 4-8 people. You can come with less than 4 but the minimum rate for booking the Lodge Experience is $8,000.
If you are a single person or couple, we’d still love you to visit. Ask some friends to come with you or contact us and we will see if we can arrange for you to join another booking.
Our pricing is designed to offer the best possible experience and contribute funds to The Yambulla Project — our charity dedicated to creating more sustainable models for private land management in Australia.
We only take a limited amount of bookings per year. If you don’t see dates below that suit your plans, please contact us.
By clicking the links below you have a 'no strings, no commitment' reservation.
We will contact you within 24 hours with a booking link and a method to pay your deposit .
Feel free to ask us any questions about your visit.
Thursday 12 - Sunday 15 September 2024
Booked out!
Thursday 19 - Sunday 22 September 2024
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Friday 11th - Monday 14th October 2024
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Tuesday 15- Friday 18 October 2024
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Friday 25 - Monday 28 October 2024
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Friday 15 - Monday 18 November 2024
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Thursday 21 - Sunday 24 November 2024
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Friday 06 - Monday 09 December 2024
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Thursday 12 - Sunday 15 December 2024
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Friday 10 - Monday 13 January 2025
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Thursday 16 - Sunday 19 January 20245
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Friday 07 - Monday 10 February 2025
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Thursday 13 - Sunday 16 February 2025
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Friday 07 - Monday 10 March 2025
Booked Out!
Thursday 13 - Sunday 16 March 2025
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Thursday 10 - Sunday 13 April 2025
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Friday 25 - Monday 28 April 2025 (ANZAC Weekend )
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Friday 09 - Monday 12 May 2025
Booked Out!
Thursday 15 - Sunday 18 May 2025
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If you have any questions not covered in the info below, please get in touch.
We'd love to hear from you.
The Yambulla Lodge Stay experience is about getting a close up look at what we do. What you do, see and learn will vary depending on what's happening on the land that day. So every experience is unique.
This is an example of the type of experience you can expect:
Breakfast is served around 8am. Around 9am we head out on the Polaris ATVs to tour some of the furthest parts of the property. During these tours you will participate in things such as checking wildlife cameras, collecting native seeds and surveying progress in our food forest plantation.
These tours are never scripted but Jim and Louis take time to stop and explain the history of the land, the work we are doing here and why it is important.
You will meet and interact with whoever is working on the land that day. It might be members of the Black Duck Food team harvesting grain, collecting seeds or managing a Cultural Burn. It might be a scientist or a PHD student carrying out research or our feral animal expert surveying and setting traps. Other times it might be just you and the wildlife.
Some days we head back to the lodge for a hearty lunch and a swim. Other days we pack a picnic and have lunch in the field of sausages and Johnny cakes cooked over an open fire.
Afternoons are often a time for relaxing, napping, swimming, reading or birdwatching.
Evening meals are served in our dining room. We are occasionally joined by locals and Yambulla collaborators for lively and informative dinner table conversations.
Some evenings we take an esky of drinks and set up by one of our billabongs to participate in some citizen science, recording frog populations using the FrogID app.
We adjust our itineraries to suit a range of physical abilities. Whether you want to do plenty of walking or cover some of the distances riding in the Polaris.
We love hosting families.
A Yambulla Lodge Stay is a great way to get kids away from screens and out into nature and enjoy quality family time around meals that you don't have to cook.
Our guided tours offer plenty of experiences to keep the attention of curious kids and teens. We can include kids activities like art sessions and treasure hunts to keep them busy while the parents relax in the afternoon. See below for a sample itinerary
Because of the outdoor nature of the experience (camp fires, wildlife etc) it's not suitable for very young children. Our recommended minimum age is 8 years.
Sample itinerary:
Day 1
Pick up from Merimbula airport. Look out for kangaroos, emus, lyre birds and wombats during the beautiful drive through the bush to Yambulla.
Introduction to The Yambulla Project by founder Jim Osborne over drinks and snacks
Free time to relax and get settled into your rooms, swim in the pool before sundown drinks on the verandah and dinner.
Day 2
Morning: A hearty breakfast around the kitchen table before we head out on the Polaris ATVs to tour some of the furthest parts of the property. During these tours you will participate in things such as checking wildlife cameras, collecting native seeds and surveying progress in our food forest plantation. All while, learning the history and mission of the The Yambulla Project.
Lunch: a bush picnic of sausages and homemade relish followed by some time relaxing in hammocks under the trees.
Evening: we take an esky of drinks and snacks and set up by one of our billabongs to participate in some citizen science, recording frog populations using the FrogID app.
Followed by another home cooked dinner back at the Lodge.
If the kids are up for further adventure, they can spend the night in our custom designed sleep-out (located just a few metres from the Lodge)
Day 3
Morning: over breakfast we will set a mission for the kids. It might be a treasure hunt, bird bingo or an art project using found objects. Then we will set out on the ATVs again and explore some more of the property together while the kids complete their mission in the field. In the Summer months we often have our partners from Black Duck Foods harvesting native grains in our grainfields. If they coincide with your visit, they will take some time to show you how the harvester works and talk about the importance of native grains to Aboriginal Culture.
Lunch: Another bush picnic next to our historical stockman’s hut where you will learn more about the farming history of the property
Afternoon: back to the Lodge for a dip in the pool and some reading/napping time.
Evening: The kids can present the results of their mission while the grown ups enjoy drinks on the verandah followed by another delicious family-style meal. After dinner Jim and Louis will present a slide show of some of the images captured on our wildlife cameras.
Day 4
Morning: Have a lie in or a sunrise walk before your final hearty Yambulla breakfast and the drive back to Merimbula.
All meals including breakfast, lunch, dinner and refreshments throughout the day, an evening cocktail (or mocktail) and a few glasses of wine with dinner.
Accommodation in queen bed or twin share room with private bathroom and sweeping landscape view.
Expert guide and reference materials.
Transport to and from Yambulla.
Ask us if you need help planning your travel.
Yambulla is located deep within the South-East Forests National Park, near the southern border of NSW. Near the coast, we are equidistant from Bombala, Eden and Mallacoota. Approximately 7 hours drive from Sydney, 7 hours drive from Melbourne, 4 hours drive from Canberra and 1 hour drive from Merimbula Airport.
Flights from Sydney or Melbourne to Merimbula are either with Rex Airlines or Qantas, check their websites for schedules.
We can help you arrange a hire car from the airport or, for an extra charge, we can pick you up and drop you off (free for school holiday packages).
Please be advised, if you are coming in your own car, the last 40 kms of the drive is on an unsealed, reasonable all-weather 2WD road. In addition the last 60km is without mobile phone reception. If you are uncomfortable with this, contact us and we can talk through some options of perhaps leaving your car in a secure lock-up and us transferring you to the site.
Good, comfortable walking shoes that can get muddy/wet are essential
Long pants are essential as they must be worn for walking on some parts of the property
Wet weather jacket in case of rain
Warm clothing all year round. Surprisingly it can be cool in the summer
Sun hat and sunscreen
Swimmers if you want a dip in the pool
Pets
Impractical clothing and footwear
We would prefer if you didn't bring hairdryers and straighteners as they place a huge burden on our solar power
The full Terms & Conditions of Yambulla Lodge Stays can be found here.
Pricing
Prices are quoted per person per multi-day Lodge Stay. Please refer to the descriptions above for the rates and what is included and excluded in this price.
All prices are in Australian dollars (AUD$) and include GST.
Payment terms
To make a reservation more than 60 days before the scheduled Experience date a $500 deposit is required.
The balance is payable no less than 60 days before your arrival date.
If you are making a reservation 60 days or less before the scheduled Experience date full payment is required.
Room configuration
Places on our experiences are limited to a maximum of 8 guests. All our rooms are double or twin occupancy. You need to advise us at the time of booking what configuration of rooms/beds is required.
Cancellation by guest
The $500 per person deposit is non-refundable. However, if you need to reschedule, we will do our best to accommodate this and transfer your deposit to a new date.
Cancellations are allowed for any reason up until 30 days before your arrival date. Any amounts paid (less the $500 deposit) will be refunded.
Cancellations for any reason less than 30 days before your arrival date are non-refundable.
All cancellations must be notified in writing. The date of cancellation is the date we receive your email confirming that you wish to cancel.
Non-arrivals or early departures are non-refundable. This includes non-arrivals or early departures due to special circumstances such as injury, illness or bereavement. Travel insurance and medical insurance are strongly recommended to cover you in these instances.
Cancellation by Yambulla
Yambulla reserves the right to cancel any Lodge Stay without reason up until 60 days before the scheduled arrival date. Any amounts paid will be refunded.
Due to our remote location and the outdoor nature of our Lodge Stay itineraries, there may be circumstances in which we will need to cancel or change a date at short notice to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our guests and guides.
Yambulla reserves the right to cancel or change any Lodge Stay at any time prior to arrival, due to natural disasters, weather conditions or any events or circumstances that make it unviable or unsafe for Yambulla to operate our planned schedule. In these circumstances we will do our best to reschedule. If the rescheduled dates do not work for you a full refund will be issued.
Yambulla will cancel all Lodge Stays in the event of Extreme fire conditions (or higher) for the area, as prescribed by the RFS.
Yambulla will not be responsible for reimbursing cost of flights, accommodation, hire car, meals or any other incidental costs which may be incurred in relation to cancelled Lodge Stays. Travel insurance is therefore strongly recommended to cover these expenses.
Yambulla reserves the right to alter the itinerary of any Lodge Stay as required to ensure the safety and well-being of our guests and guides.
Dietary requirements
We do our best to design our menus to accommodate allergies, dietary needs and preferences. This can only be done if information is provided in advance. Any requests for dietary needs/preferences cannot be guaranteed unless information is provided in detail at time of reservation.
“We have just returned to Yambulla after our first visit a year ago. Being re-immersed in the beauty of this special place and witnessing how much the custodianship of Yambulla has evolved in 12 months gives me hope and makes my soul sing. I love being part of this journey”
BELINDA B