When we purchased Yondah in 1997, it consisted mainly of wide empty paddocks dotted with small but pristine patches of mallee and orchid-filled grasslands, and edged by magnificent windswept coastal cliffs, soaring dunes and secret sandy beaches. We fell in love immediately and started restoring this stunning place.

At first we spent our weekends planting and weeding, then Trees for Life approached us about re-vegetating our whole 300 acre site, and in 2012 received a $341,000 Federal Government Biodiversity Grant to make it happen.

This major 6 year project has created new habitat for rare local wildlife including the malleefowl, heath goanna and western pygmy possum. At this time, we also hosted a 3 year climate change research project by the University of Adelaide.

At Yondah, we keep our impact on the environment to a minimum without compromising on guest luxury. For example, all our yummy nature-based and biodegradable guest products are supplied by Zero Co in refillable pouches, and all our linen is washed in a delicious earth-friendly product that donates 50% of its profits to The Ocean Cleanup and also supplies its product in refillable pouches. We also keep Yondah immaculate using a universal eco cleaning solution that employs the science of green ionic chemistry to keep our guests, staff and fragile coastal environment safe from toxic chemicals.

In a region that has no mains water, no rivers, no lakes, no dams and only 400mm of rainfall each year, water is a big issue for us. By expanding our catchment and storage capacity in 2017, we now harvest 100% of our water needs on-site and, using only gravity, pipe it underground to Yondah and Seafire whenever a top up is needed. We have also installed ground-mounted solar systems and Tesla storage batteries at both Yondah and Seafire to reduce our dependence on carbon fuels via the electricity grid.

To complement our Trees for Life revegetation program, we plant around 200 rare local understorey plants every year, selecting species that have been lost through land clearing. We have also developed two butterfly gardens to increase invertebrate biodiversity on our site.

In 2023, we constructed a bird hide and three additional wildlife ponds across the property, and we continuously plant Eucalyptus rugosa seedlings because this is the favourite food of the western pygmy possum.

Each year, we also sponsor wildlife and conservation projects and organisations in SA including ZoosSA, Trees for Life, and Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre.

We are thrilled that via our conservation and sustainability efforts, we have achieved Advanced Ecotourism Australia and Ecostar accreditation. Visit us soon and experience first-hand how all of these initiatives positively contribute to the environment, and to your sense of well being!