July 28, 2025 • 53 mins
In this episode, we sit down with Michael Lamprell — founder of CABN, the off-grid escape reshaping how Australians connect with nature and themselves.
Michael opens up about the reality behind a seemingly successful life in global sales and marketing — and the internal struggles that pushed him to make a change. A trip to Harvard and a book on minimalism planted the seed for something different: a simpler, slower, more intentional way of living.
We trace Michael’s journey from the first CABN in the Adelaide Hills to a growing movement in regenerative tourism. He shares the lessons learned, the impact on guests and local communities, and why balance is the new luxury.
I’m all about working hard — always have been. But I also know what burnout feels like, and why it’s just as important to stop, recharge, and reconnect with what really matters. That’s what CABN is all about.
Check CABN's website here: https://cabn.life/
South Australia. Celebrate the Simple Pleasures. Visit southaustralia.com.au to discover yours.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the mentor. I'm Mark Boris, Michael Emprel, Welcome
to the Mentor.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Mate, Thank you Mark, thanks very much. Where As we
say to all of our cabin guests, welcome home.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yeah, I actually, well, I was going to say, it's
funny with me saying welcome, because you're not in my studio.
I'm in your studio. I'm in money of your cabins
and nice and cozy. I must add, we've got the
fire going here, which our listeners can't or our watchers
can't see or yeah, they're differently gonna hear the fire.
But I can tell you I'm on the side of
the fire, which is my preferred position to be. And
(00:39):
it's a beauty. And I'm going to ask you about a
bit later. So you're the founder of Cabin and by
the way, spelt C A B M. Very clever you.
And there's more than one cabin. There's lots of cabins here.
And I actually noticed some tent style things down there
which I want to ask you about as well, Safari
safari tins. Yeah, because I'm actually curious about those things
myself often first level. But let me just get a
(01:03):
bit of background about you. If you don't mind, please, Michael,
have you always been doing retreats or whatever we call it,
How do you best describe this? Give me your description
and what we're doing. And we're in the Brassa Valley,
that's the first thing. Yes, yeah, it's awesome outside, like
it's a bloody, beautiful, crisp, clear, sunny, unbelievable day. But
(01:25):
describe maybe where we are, what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Sure, well, yeah, as you mentioned, we're in the beautiful
Brossa Valley, which is the home of some of the
best wines in the world. And we're in Seppuletsfield, which
is one of those magnificent palm lined promenades that has
a history all its own. We chose this property, we
handpicked it, as we do with all of our properties,
(01:49):
to make sure that we're aligned with all the principles
of cabin But this is a beautiful example of how
we're creating I guess. I guess in a sense, if
I was to explain what this is to people in
one sentence, it's that we're a nature hotel like no.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Other nature hotel. That's interesting, and you've got unbelievable people
can't wait out of suit. Although we're going to put
some stuff up on the show and the show notes
and the b roll and the promos that this place
is just not in the middle of I wouldn't call
it the bushmen, not quite the bush but we sort
(02:27):
of are in the country. So definitely the countryside, but
it's also a well structured because when I was driving here,
something I know is interesting is I saw these phoenix
palms or Canary Islan date palms lining the streets. I mean,
what the hell is that? That's obviously not a native
thing that someone's gone to the trouble as the government
(02:49):
or the council or who's done that.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
It's a great story mark and it's actually a legacy
piece from the Sepults family. So in World War two.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
The Wine family, yes, which is the beautiful building structure
across the road from us. I saw it actually went
in there this morning and it's old, really old buildings.
It looks like one hundred odds. I mean, what were
we talking about historically here?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, yeah, well plus you know it's yeah, yeah, one
hundred and fifty. But that the family had a lot
of immigrant employees that didn't have work during World War two,
so instead of sending them on their way. They employed
them and kept them on at their own expense. And
(03:35):
one of the things they got them to do was
to plant all along separate children. So that was how
they kept them busy, kept them employed even though there
was no income coming in themselves. And it's one of
those you know, when I heard that story, and that
to me is one of those legacy pieces, which is
clearly you know here well beyond the generations of that
(03:58):
family and generations come, and they're those little things that
you know, have really helped shape a lot of my
thinking around you know, what are you doing that creates legacy?
And that's part of what we're trying to do with
cabin as well.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Like I may have a little bit of knowledge about
those canarios on Dope palms or phoenix palms, got lots
of different names, but they're a beautiful looking palm, very statuesque,
quite imposing to look at. And one thing I'd help
about because what went through my mind is I thought,
my God, who planeted them? All these these trees? There
(04:34):
must be one hundred maybe thousand of them, and they
grow very slowly. And I do know that if you
were to buy one and let's say it was ten
meters tall. Lot of these are ten meters tall. Easy.
If it was ten meters tall, it will cost you
about two thousand bucks a meter to buy one. So
if you're going to buy one as ten meters, that's
(04:55):
twenty thousand dollars like just for one there would I
would say. I was sort of trying to count them
up as I was driving here. There's probably a thousand
of them up and down the streets here, and thought,
my god, who invested that sort of money? Now that
makes sense. Someone's planting them when they're small, and they've
probably taken thirty forty fifty years to grow to that
height by look at But that's what I think, that's
(05:16):
what you're telling this. Yeah, that's pretty unbelievable. That's pretty unusual.
I've never seen anything like that anywhere in Australia when
I've traveled at this place broad and wide, I've never
seen streets lined with those sorts of date palms.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Even just you talking about that to me also just
that that's a really interesting analogy of that because it
reminds me of you know, a story that I was
once told you about legacy, and you know the person
that plants a tree is planning it for future generations totally,
not themselves. And that's as vision exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, that's amazing and not you know, not to take
away from the fact this is a great wine country too,
because that you've got the interposition of those palms lining
the roads, statuesquely looking through those palms, they might be
spread every fifty hundred meters. You see vineyards everywhere. Obviously
(06:14):
we're in a famous part of Australia and famous part
of Soustralia that's Brossa Valley where then we produce great wines.
A straight produced great great wines. So you're looking through
and you see these vineyards everywhere, and then all of
a sudden, I see the sign that says cabin which
is your joint. If you don't mind, take me back
(06:36):
to younger Michael.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And what was he doing, the one without gray hair
and that doesn't have to eat glass night?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, well, maybe don't go I'm just joking. If you
just go back and just tell me, you know, what
were you doing?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah. So I was really fortunate Mark that I was
brought up in a fam where we had you know,
we had some rural property ourselves on the Murray River.
We had cousins or have cousins that you had a
lot of farmland up in the Flinders Rangers, southern Flinders.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So I was brought up.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
You know, in a really fortunate position where and I
guess it's also my makeup. I could not wait to
get out of the city and into the bush. And
that included fishing, motorbikes, tractors, you know, mustering sheep, helping
out in the shearing yards and sorting and probably mainly
(07:35):
getting in everyone's way. But that that was my happy place.
And then that you know, as you get older and
you know you're morph into professional life. I stepped away
from a lot of that life, spent some time overseas,
came back, started an agency which I had for around
(07:55):
twenty years, which was you know, fashion apparel for where
sporting industry. And I was in that for quite a
long time and it was really rewarding for a time.
But then you know something, there were a couple of
quite you know, almost gradually overnight, these these things started
(08:20):
to happen, you know, to me on a on a
personal level where I was certainly no longer enjoying it,
no longer fulfilled. I could see, you know, through a
whole lot of things that transpired over that time, that
I had really shifted away from the values that my
parents brought me up with. And I didn't like the
(08:41):
person that I saw and the the decision that I
had to make. And I, I mean, I'm sure you
will understand this, but you know, I had a lot
of young kids that work for me over that period,
and you know, as they're going through different professional phases,
(09:03):
you know, they want to leave, or they're you know,
a bit discontent or looking for different avenues. One of
my mentors said to me at an early age, either
love it or leave it, and that was, you know,
one of the principles that he had in life. Either
embrace it and fall back in love with it and
give it one hundred and ten or find something else.
(09:25):
And so that, you know, I gave that advice, and
I thought it was time to take some of my
own advice. And that was you know, that was a
challenging period, but I was also I was desperately unhappy.
You know that there was some periods there where I
you know, it was certainly never diagnosed medically, but I
was in you know, some severe bouts of depression pretty
(09:50):
confronting at the time when you can't get out of
your own way. You don't know you know what it is,
but the symptoms are all there and and so you know,
I've learned now, and the more that you know, you
talk with people about it, and and you're vulnerable and
happy to discuss these things. That the biggest I opener
(10:15):
for me is how many other people have gone through
those phases in different stages of life. And that was
that was I guess the inflection point for me of
am I going to continue on this path and what
a waste of you know, a beautiful opportunity that we're
(10:38):
given in life? Or am I going to find something
that is aligned with the values that I was brought
up with that brings together a culbination of all the
things that made me truly happy when I was younger.
And you know, there's a bit more detail to it,
but that's how cabin was more that's very me.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Do you remember the moment or it was remembered that
you said, that's the stuff that I'm out.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah. Yeah, it was a really distinct set of circumstances,
So I guess it was a combination of a few things,
but myself and a couple of friends. You know, I've
always had a huge thirst for knowledge and to learn
(11:28):
and grow, and so we were heading off to Boston.
We'd spent a week over at Harvard Business School doing
a Advanced Leadership course, so we you know, do study
trips and learn and explore and have a bit of
fun along the way. That particular trip, one of the
(11:48):
friends that I was traveling with gave me a book
which was called The Minimalists, which was to the minimalist Yes, ye, minimalists. Yeah.
And that was two guys who were you know, Wall
Street traders, absolutely cooked, burnt out, were really trying to
(12:09):
reconcile with this balance of you know, loving things not
people instead of the other way around, where you should
love people and use things. Whereas they had this I
guess they morphed into this you know, love things, use
people lifestyle. And so that those that was one of
(12:30):
the moments. And you know, I think timing is everything,
So that was really good timing for me to read
that book, and their journey resonated with me, you know significantly. Then,
when after we'd left Boston, we did some traveling and
you went to a few other places. When we were
(12:51):
at Harvard. That was around the same time that there
are two graduates that looked at starting a company that
was the opposite of a tech startup. So they you know,
everyone's doing a tech startup and they thought, well, what
would it what would it look like if we.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Took anti tech?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Exactly, Well, it is. It's it's the it's the antidote
for all the people that are starting the tech companies.
And then that that inspired me to come back, sketched
out the strategy, the business plan, sketched out, the first
cabin built, the first cabin, or at least got people
(13:31):
to help me build it. If I built it, it
wouldn't be standing still. And and so I guess, I
guess Mark I did it for me. It was almost
a bit of a I wouldn't say selfish quest, but
it's I just felt I had to do it. I
(13:52):
had to build this little cabin in nature that's off grid,
without technology too. And it was almost, well, I feel
like this is going to help me save myself. And
of course, you know, with a background in you know, entrepreneurialism, business,
(14:12):
I yes, I was obviously hoping that it would be commercialized,
but I had no idea, no idea how quickly and
how much it would resonate with people. It was. It
was mind blowing, which made me think, well, you know,
there's there's really something here and a need for it.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Can you tell me? Can you take me back to
your very first cabin, Like where was it?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah? Yeah, in the Adelaide Hills.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It was like a tiny home. Is that type of
thing it was?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
You know, and we've you know, we've evolved rapidly over
that time, but it was. It was a tiny home.
It was on wheels, so it was towed it in. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I toted it in. That was interesting and something.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Did you have a plot of land though, or did
you park on someone else's land?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Good mate of mine who has got a beautiful winery
in the Adelaide Hills, I pitched it to him and
he said sure. And so I've had incredible support along
the way as well of people that you know, have
helped with the journey and continue.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
To which success is always on the up on the
broad shoulders of others. There's never one one only, it's
always the broad sholders. Lots of people, and you need
those people. Everybody needs those people. So you're first, did
you just buy the tiny home from someone just go
was one for sale? Do you remember what happened to
you bought?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, I remember like it was yesterday, which
is quite incredible because it's you know, eight years ago now.
But I designed it from scratch, so I think. You know,
I'm a frustrated designer and civilian architect yep, with absolutely
no skills, but really you know, really clear idea of
(16:03):
of what I like and I don't like. And I've
always been interested in form. You know, I've always looked
at Japanese and Scandinavian architecture still do. I really enjoyed.
I think it's art. So so that that was my design,
and we we wanted to do something that just looked different,
(16:26):
that you know, had a real that that was really
cabin where you could look at it and say, well,
I know I know who that is, I know who
built it, you know. I I think we were really
successful with that and that that particular design, you know,
it was heavily featured. We we you know, won some awards,
(16:46):
design awards for it, and something the very first night
we were there. Something happened that was really making.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
You build yourself. Was it for you to stay in
or did you do it as a commercial but like
I just I'll rent it out.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
You know, I did it for a commercial outcome. Yeah, yeah,
I look, I did do it. I started this journey
for myself in a very significant way. But I also
you know, wanted there to be commercial outcomes and.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Had to pay its way.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
And did you just had a budget for this first cabin?
Did you sort of say I don't want to cost
me any more than fifty grand or twenty five thousand
or some number. Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah, I had done a lot of work on you know, costings,
And what I can tell here is that building something
pre COVID was very different to building something post about.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
One hundred percent different. Yeah, get the cost Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So look, I used my own money to invest in it.
You know, I got the trades in. We built it
from scratch.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Youring that do you bring the carcass in on a trailer?
Did you love the frame and did you build a
side or did you bring the whole thing, build the
whole thing offside and drag it in.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
We we had the chassis in the frame, built separately. Yep.
So we built that, then towed that into the factory
where we then constructed, fitted it.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Out, and then towed it up to the site.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And then and in terms of what did you make
do wrong? Do you think or what or not? What
did you improve upon from the very first, very first exercise.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, we we we certainly, you know, we've learned a lot.
I mean, we we made We've made some mistakes. You know,
we've constantly you know that the one of the ethoses
of the business from day one, you know, is to
improve and always always think of the people that are
(18:54):
staying here to shape all of our decisions. So you know,
you live and learn. And when you're starting something completely
from scratch that that had not been done in this
segment of the market before, you know, you make a
lot of mistakes. But I'd say the biggest changes that
we've made from the operational model that we started with
(19:16):
and still staying off grid, would be shifting from you
know what a lot of the other operators do, you know,
compostible toilets, you know, shifting to a closed septic flushable
toilet system, you know, with an enviro cycle. So it's
still doing really good things for the environment.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
That so because where we see now this is all
connected to septic yes, yeah so, and is it a
central aceptic or there's a sceptic off. Every one of
these cabins centralized central so they will feed into one
big tank, yeah, actually two big tanks. And what about water?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Water has always been a challenge, So we have a
combination of collecting rain water plottable water. So we so
Kangaro Island as an example, we have to bring in
water into that property as well. And then there's also
an initiative that we've undertaken up in the Adelaide Hills
which is another first and we're super proud of with
(20:18):
Essay Water where we're running treated water into the property.
That's you know, almost recycled water from one of their
plants up into the property, which is a quite a
good initiative from us. But what water is, you know,
our most precious resource and has been a challenge from
(20:39):
the outset and power so because are you that far
off grid or is it solar power, battery storage or
what are we talking about now? Yeah, yeah, predominantly solar.
So we run Victron systems on all the properties. We've
you know, when you talk about learnings, I would say
(20:59):
that that's been one of our largest learning curves is
getting the power requirements right, and especially when we've evolved
so much to you know, like this this cabin that
we're in now, which I would call a penthouse, sweet
in nature. You know, we've got they've all got in
(21:21):
built sauna.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I saw that there's a sauna. Yeah, like as a
power it's electric sauna. Yes, it looks like it's using electricity.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
So we might just describe I might just describe this one.
So this is like it's around ten boy three would
it be about right or close to ten bo three three.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Wide, ten long, fourteen long? I think you're pretty close.
That's impressive.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah. So and then what you've got at the fourteen
is probably the extra three or three in a bit
that you've got where there's a barbecue area then you
come in then, but the main internal part, we've got
a Queensos bed. I got a kitchen just there, cupboards,
kitchen bench where you can sit down and have your meal.
(22:06):
Then on the other side of that as a bathroom
with a generous bath, a generous shower, quite generous. It's
not pokey toilet. Of course, on the other side of
that there's a sauna, and then on the other side
of that, I'm not sure if it's this side of
that side now, but on the other side of that
as an outdoor barbecue area, which is pretty cool. So
and all this is off grid. I mean, I guess
the barbecue if it's gas, it's got gas bottle or
(22:28):
something like that. Yeah. Yeah, we've got a nice warm,
cozy fire here on to my left which no one
can see, but it is nice and warm, cozy of
me tell you then you've been. It's quite high ceiling,
so it gives it a sense of a lot of space.
Whilst it's not that wide, it's white enough, but it
gives you a sense of space with the ceiling. I
want to talk to you about how you build these
materials and all sort of stuff. In a second, and
(22:48):
external to this, we've got a you know, you surround
let's call it the tiny house, but you surround the
cabin with a balcony of veranda. It's probably better way
facing north, I can notice, and so you get get
catching all the sunlight, which is very clever in the design.
It's beautiful. Someone's just shining above you.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
They' and on you.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Now you look a halo above you, and and but
I do know it's no telly. There's no phone in
the room as such. Leading back to a central place there.
I guess people got the mobile phones. They can do
what they want with that and sound a nature outside.
You open the door, it's fresh air. Today's quite a
(23:27):
still day. It's you know, you get the best of
everything here that we're sitting here with a bit of
a view down towards that way down down ud looking northeast.
So I think this direction is do you have facilities
here or do you not? Is it like a pool
or that sort of stuff? What's going on there?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
No, No, we don't that that is something We do
have a master plan for this and other sites that
have some more stages. So that's just another stage.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, how many sites do you have apart from so
you got this one here in the ross. What else
you got?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
We've got the Clare Valley, Yeah, Barossa, Adelaide Hills, which
is our newest site up in Harndorff, McLaren Vale, Kaypo
Forest which is a really exciting partnership we did with
forestry and then kangaro Island.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Wow, yeah, there's there's quite a few then. Yeah, they
have done that in eight years.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's been. Yeah. We we
have not sat still. We've we've been you know, really
bold with with our growth plans. And it's yeah, it's
especially when we do things as opposed to you know,
that original tiny house model where you're you know, pulling
a trailer effectively onto a plot of land. You know,
(24:42):
everything we do is you know, even even things that
you know cleverly have picked up on like north facing
and you know there's everything is done with regulatory vigor
so you know, all proper approvals, you know, native vegetation,
you know, we've we've Yeah, it's it's a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I can see the landscaping outside. There is a lot
of native education vegetation. In fact, a lot of it's
quite recent, maybe last three or four years here until
about that Beltsfield in bros.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
We only finished this two years ago.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah it looks that way, but you got beautiful pathways
through everything. Everything looks young and fresh.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
To me.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I'm big on nature, and I can just see a
lot of the especially the Australian natives or the native stuff.
It's so sort of young and fresh, and it looks
quite vibrant and new, but at the same time it's
it's like a teenager. It's big and fluffy, and it
looks quite interesting to me, Like nearly looks edible. That's
(25:44):
the fairly sense I got it. Nearly looks edible. It's awesome,
bright green, and it's sort of invigorating. It is probably
the best worth of med us I felt quite I
felt it looked looked quite invigorating.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, yeah, well that's my work he has done, because
that's exactly what we try to achieve everywhere is how
can you how can this feel like a big hug
to all the people that are visiting and that we're
lucky enough to call guests. So that's that's the design
(26:20):
intent that we go through with everything from the cabins
all the way through landscaping. You know, the natives we've
planted just here alone. I think it's eighteen hundred natives,
and that is again another big commitment that we make
to regenerative tourism and something that we've.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Learned regenerative regenerative tourism. That's an interesting adjective to put
in front of the word tourism, because what you're what
the tourists or guest is experiencing, is the regeneration of
the land. So maybe this was I don't know, what
was this before you got here.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
So this is sheep can probably well, this is probably
the perfect example of a regenerative tourism project. So this
was an existing this was an existing use site, so
it had old cabins on it. We bought this site,
and so we we thought what would it look like
(27:22):
if we reinvented it and took those regenerative tourism practices
into effects. So we you know, this is when I
I guess to go back to just a quick step how
we see regenerative tourism and the guiding principles that we use.
We've learned from indigenous culture and from some First Nations
(27:46):
groups that you know, we we've worked pretty closely with
and continued as in regeneration, yeah, as in really it
should start with your intent of how can I leave
something better than I found it, and how can I
look after it for the next generations, you know, like
you know, in similar way to the palms that we
were just talking about, So that that sort of shapes
(28:08):
how we go through a native vegetation planting process and
then the things that we've seen that have evolved from
us completely breathing you life into this site is a
way more bird life. You know, the boys that stayed
here last night would have heard so many birds with
(28:32):
heaps of wildlifees come back in, so it's really you know,
it's multi layered. Also, this stops a huge amount of
soil erosion that the benefits are pretty far reaching.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Apart from visual benefits. Yeah, of course, I mean, I
mean some people probably a lot of people don't realize
is because I've done a few of these projects myself,
not to extend you have done it, but just linking
up all the more forests or small outgrowth, so like
you might have a growth of something here but a
(29:04):
big gap just grass for example, and then the next
lot of growth is down there. The problem is the
wildlife that lives in this growth always wants to go
down to that wildlife growth down the road, but they
don't want to take travel over the grass, snakes, small
small reptiles because again to get picked off by the
(29:25):
birds and actually connecting all these things is really important.
They need corridors and I was noticing, how you know,
your little areas that you've just looked like they've just
been plunged, as you said, the last couple of years.
They're all connecting each other. So you give wildlife the
opportunity to make its way from a tree or from
the ground, or whatever the case may be, along the
(29:46):
corridors sort of safely as nature has designed it. That's
proper regeneration. I mean, I did notice that when I
first came in here, and I actually got a surprise,
and all of a sudden, you're hanging out in this nice,
cozy little cabin, and I think it's important. And I
notice you have a book here, which we we've got
(30:07):
how sound systems sitting on, but a book here which
probably explains the people. Well, maybe it's important for you
to explain to everybody what you would like people to
get out of coming here, not just from staying in
this cozy little cabin that's nice and warm, and all
the facilities here blah blah blah. Yes, you can have
a sauna and it's plenty of room to move around,
and if you wanted to go on a wine tour
(30:29):
and all that sort of stuff. What is it you
want them to get out of here, which they may
not really realize if they're sitting on that brand of
there without someone like you telling him a story. Not
unlike how the indigenous elders might tell a story about
you know, something about First Nations myths and stories. I mean,
(30:51):
what would you be wanting to tell? Does your book
do that? By Wade? What do you want to tell
me about it?
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I'll show you afterwards. But that's one of the books
that we were featured in with our design of the
first cabin.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
So outside of the cabin though, what would you you know?
If I'm seeing that on the balcony, what do you
want to tell me about it? Mark appreciate this and
it's not s guiding, but you know yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I think at its core is appreciate nature and all
its benefits. I and it takes me back to my
childhood of you know what, what I resonated with was
the joy of play and the joy that you get
(31:37):
out of nature. You know. I was I was driving
this week and we've had some rain here and we
stopped at the lights, as with my family, we saw
a little she would have been two or three years
old girl at the traffic lights and she was jumping
in a puddle and you know that brought me so
much joy and we were like, exactly because we lose
so much of that with you know, as we evolved
(31:59):
through through you know, our generations and different stresses and
different things that come, you know, with age and responsibility.
So it's really about creating a space and a place
for people to switch off. And primarily that's exactly why
we don't offer Wi Fi and we don't have screens,
(32:20):
because that that is you know, they're enablers. And of
course if you need it, you know, everywhere we are
within the state, you can get you can pay your
phone to something. But the idea of it is to
not do it and to breathe, to listen, to smell,
(32:40):
to just stop and slow down. And I still do
it myself, and I think it's you know, it's really important,
you know, even last night, just to stand by a
fire and that it's those sensory things that really can
can help hugely with burnout, with taking yourself out of
(33:03):
a out of the mindset that you know, we we
tend to be in on a day to day basis.
You don't get that, you know, I'm not knocking motels
or hotels. You know, I stay in a lot of
them with my travels. That they're fantastic, but it is
nowhere near the except function and.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Practical that exactly me, Let me sleep somewhere, let me
have a shower, and then I'll get on that exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Yeah, it's a purpose, you know, we were our strong
purpose is to reconnect people with nature and each other,
to get people to rediscover those things, you know, those
childlike things, the things that like jumping in the puddle,
but also to reconnect, you know, to reconnect with with
(33:48):
your loved ones or whoever you're traveling with you. You know,
it's pretty hard to do that when you're watching Netflix
as opposed to know, sitting here playing a card game
or or even just the active cooking a barbecue together.
And so they're they're they're those quintessential pillars of of
what Cabin is designed to give people that you know,
(34:11):
we're I mean, we're we're super proud of and you know,
I'd love to be able to share some of the
stories of you know, of of the impact that Cabin's
made on people that have stayed. And it's incredible.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
What's the average stay here two nights. Yeah, it's funny,
you know, Michael, that's it's an interesting thing. I was
just thinking of just speaking sometimes you only need two
three days, two nights, and that sort of use that
word recharges, recharge ourselves. But and you mentioned and people,
(34:48):
you know, connecting the nature. But I actually think it's
a little bit more than that. I think nature is
just a naghbler. It allows you to reconnect with yourself.
And what I mean by that is a you said
earlier about connecting with reconnecting with your values. I mean
you've made a major reconnection. You've actually turned it into
a life lifestyle. But just reconnecting with what's important to you,
(35:10):
but also reconnecting with your senses. Like if I stood
out there now, the sunshining, and if I just let
my senses take over and maybe even close my eyes
and not use my eyes, but listen and feel, like
feel the air on cold air, hot air, whatever it's summer, winter,
(35:30):
It doesn't make any difference, but feel it and listened.
Listen to the things that you're allowed back onto the property.
Birds usually it's bird life. You know. You can hear sounds,
maybe the rustle of the trees, if there's a slight breeze.
Just reconnecting with your senses. I think that's a really
(35:51):
important thing because when we're living in the city, we're
living in that hustle bustle, we're not relying on many senses,
usually just our eyes. Usually we're not smelling anything. Rarely
do we smell anything. Do we take a moment to
think I'm smelling something. You do smell things which you
don't consciously are not aware of it. And I think,
(36:11):
what just my experience here this morning is giving me.
I mean, I do it like as I own a
farm and I go there all the time. So I
do this a lot. But it almost up a Byron
Bay Oh beautiful, But I put it. I appreciate it
is because I appreciate what you're saying, because I do this.
I've created this twenty odd years ago, mainly because similar
(36:34):
to yourself, I need to do it for myself and
for my kids, so that I had somewhere I could go.
And what I originally termed as recharging, But what I
can say today is reconnecting, and it's about just stop.
Have a cup of coffee. If you're gonna have a
cup of coffee mark, walk outside and let the light
(36:56):
shine on you, the sun and look towards us. I'm
not into this. Somebody look towards the sun, enjoy the
morning sun, appreciate the fact that the sun comes up,
you know. You know, we don't do that like in
the city where in Sydney where I live, I'm at
work before the sun rises, especially at this time of
year June, and I'm at home when the sun's already set,
(37:20):
so I don't see any daylight unless I take the
time to go out to my office go for a walk.
So but that's fine. I'm not complaining. But I also
know that I need to go reset somewhere, and I
need to do at least once every two months, or
at least around that to six state week period. Not
everyone can afford to have their own property like that,
(37:40):
but something like this and all your other venues around
South Australia, I think is playing a critical role in
allowing us to stop going nuts crazy as a society.
I mean, I just wish everyone go every every month,
every single person in the country. I wish there were
(38:01):
enough enough of these outlets you and others could set
them up all around Australia. That Australia could boast is
one of the because our nature is unbelievable, that Australia
could boast as being the number one country in the
world for people reconnecting with nature and reconnecting with themselves
at least every eight weeks. And maybe instead of measuring
(38:23):
cells by GDP, only by GDP and our inflation number
and the interest rate and every other bloody thing, whether
we could also do another measurement a bit like they're
doing some other Central Asian countries they do about happiness,
but like reconnection or how.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Do I feel?
Speaker 1 (38:42):
And Scandinavia scan correct how do I? And Japan does
it too to something. How do I feel? Do I
feel reconnected? I don't mean emotionally, I'm not talking about
that like deep seated emotions, just physically. Can I feel
relaxed and connected? And I think that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I mean, I couldn't agree more. You know, when I
was listening to you talking about, you know, getting to
the office before sun up and leaving after sundown and
then what it's like you know, which I would say,
and you know there's not every I mean, you certainly
get it, but you know, my team and I work
(39:26):
extremely hard to deliver this for people. So you know,
not every day is this, but a lot of what
we do is just running on adrenaline, you know, it is.
It's adrenaline that's getting us through, you know, the day
to day. So to be able to come to somewhere
like this and something that we know we're working on
(39:47):
as a company and we've recognized a huge need for it,
not just for the individual, but you know, certainly for
midweek corporate retreats or for you know, people to recognize
where their team might need a reset and to reconnect,
you know, to come somewhere like this. I still do it.
(40:08):
You know, I'm really maybe I'm not surprised about this
or or proud of it, but I still find myself,
you know, like like you know you do with your farm,
finding any excuse I can to get to one of
our six properties and you know, to go away for
a midweek stay. And I actually find that I'm because
(40:35):
of what we've created here. When I'm in a cabin
or you know, one of our other products, I think differently.
I have I'm a little bit more structured with some
of my decisions and outcomes because of less distractions. I
(40:56):
think that there's less noise so I can recalibrate. I
actually leave sometimes, and yeah, you can say, well, it
shouldn't always be for a work purpose. It should be
for something you know, personal and nature base. But I
leave so many of these stays myself with some really
(41:18):
key decisions that are better for the team and the business.
And it's it's it's got so many broad reaching benefits.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Yeah, it's it's most people. We talk about it in
general times. We have you and I have been today
and again I was thinking to myself because I'm really
interested in the science of this stuff, and this is
not very fairy, you know, promotional stuff what I'm going
(41:48):
through and you and I discussing about today. To me,
I think there's you can actually find a basis in science.
You know, if you're running on adrenaline put it this
start again, if you're in order for you to run
on adrenaline, in other words, for your adrenal gland to
be pumping adrenaline into your system, and for your your
other parts of your body pumping quartersol in your system,
(42:09):
you know, And we keep hearing this about this in
the in the health environment generally speaking, you are in
that fight or flight mode. So a part of your
brain sending a message down to your various areas of boty,
including your adrenal glands, to say to your based on
its senses, what it's seeing. So your eyes are seeing something,
or you're feeling something, but just generally speaking, you' seeing something,
(42:32):
you're experiencing something. It sends a message to your brain,
and your brain then sends a chemical down to a gland,
and the gland this says, shit, fiight or flight. Let's
produce quartisole. Let's produce adrenaline, and that merely grabs a
whole lot of all the glucose in your system, and
it pumps you up, and you go hard. Your eyes
(42:52):
light up. You're on. You're actually on. But we're not
meant to be that way all the time. We are
meant to be that way, but we also meant to
go into rest and digest mode. So we're also meant
to after that happens, stop and slow down and give
ourselves a chance to have a slower heartbeat, to breathe
(43:14):
less breaths per minute. And you know, there's a lot
of science that tells you how many press per minute
at rest you should be doing if you should be
doing less than sixteen some other number. If you're doing
more than sixteen untills, you've got some other issue, perhaps
a come to oxid issuld. But like scientifically having the
and mindfulness, all those other things like yoga, breathing exercises, meditation,
(43:44):
but the big one is nature and reducing the noise
and all the distractions out of life, just for a
short period so that you can actually sleep well and
and you can wake up I use the word right
the beginning reinvigorated, but basically clear of all the chemistry
(44:08):
that's been building up in your brain and the rest
of your body over that long period of time you've
been putting yourself under these stresses, which, by the way,
it's okay. Those things are okay. We do need stresses
in our life too, but we also need the opposite.
And it's about that's the balance. And I think that
what cabins like this, adventures like this look at it
(44:30):
as an adventure, but an eventual like this coming to
one of these places, which is in the middle of
a beautiful environment, actually gives an opportunity to appreciate how
important it is us to bring balance back to our life.
And as I said, I'm lucky I own a farm
and I can afford to pay for the maintenance of
because you don't make any money out of them. I
(44:51):
can afford, but not everyone's in that position. So what
I really feel good about in this conversation, Michael, if
you don't mind me saying this, is that I know
this is a commercial venture for you, but at the
same time, it serves an important purpose. And I think
we are running these days at such a hectic pace
(45:13):
just to compete and to keep more importantly, just to
keep up with the whole world. Now it's not as
you know, me keeping up with Sydney or someone down
to keep me up with Adelaide. It's they're keeping up
with everyone in Australia, and in Australia keep up with
everyone in the world. To some extent, we're competing with
the world. And it's it's never been like this before.
It's it's post COVID. Is just I just can't I
(45:36):
can't believe the rapid pace that things have happened. And
you know old Moore's law, which is like you know,
transistors develop and double their speed within you know, on computers.
I'm talking about double the speed in two years. Whatever
is I mean, I think that law's been shot to death.
We're like two months. Things change so fast here and
just keeping up it's quite impossible nearly. So we do
(45:58):
need this. I don't know if you, I mean, maybe
you do realize, because maybe I'm just wondering with it.
You've been out of that city rat race for so
long now you may not have seen it. Or maybe
because there's a commercial business you still see it. No,
I do, Yeah, I see it.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
I've I travel a bit and you know, I'm involved in,
you know, quite a few things, so I do see it.
And I think you know, as you know, just listening
to what you were saying before about you know, when
you escape to your farm and one of the things
that you know, you is a byproduct of staying, you know,
(46:36):
whether it's at a cabin or whether it's anywhere regionally
in terms of that rest piece, is you know, that
circadian rhythm that you get into where it is phenomenal
to me that even with all I've learned and all
I know that I still you know, when I get
to Kangaro Island and you know, it's one of the
most beautiful places in the world that we have there
(46:58):
at capes and albans. But you know, and that's why
we like the cabin that we're in now. We built
these huge, big skylights for people to be able to stargazs.
But you can't even get to stargaze after night two
or three because as soon as it's dark you're ready
for you're asleep.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
But that's great. It is it's supposed to happen, correct,
And that's.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Where we're missing that piece. And do your point around
you know the growth of things and you know the
data that's behind the compounding growth of AI things like
cabin and like you're getting away to your farm. My
firm view is that will become even more important because
(47:43):
that that need for balance and to be able to
I mean you imagine what imagine the speed of information
that we're all going to be getting and look, you
know we use it, but there will never be a
more important time for balance moving forward and also get
(48:05):
ready for a lot more burnout.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Well, it's great that South Australia is actually, to be
honest with you, just providing that because like you can
also not just have this, you can dip into in
the case of this particular cabin venue, the one here
in the the one here in Sepper's Field, which is Brossa,
you can actually if you want, you're not gonna get bored,
(48:29):
just get outside and go for a drive down the
road and go to all the wineries and have a
taste and buy a bit of wine. And you know,
perhaps go up to Adelaide Hills later on there's another
hour away. Whatever, if you've got time to kill, go
up there. There's you know, there's so many things. I mean,
yesterday we interviewed the couple from the Little Rickshaw, which
is a great little restaurant. Like there's unbelievable food and
(48:52):
Adelaide in this area here of McLaren var with Broussa Valley,
the Adelaide Hills. I mean, there's restaurants everywhere, great food,
grete wine, great venues. And then you can, as you say,
you can, you know, for once, tap into your circadian rhythms.
Actually got asleep when the sun goes down and wake
(49:12):
up when this when the birds start making a noise.
Corner barrows I was just saying earlier, Corner barros are
my favorite bird in the world. Bar no No. I
only ever met one person who's similarly and I didn't
realize it was his favorite bird, but his wife, Delvine Tommy,
it was her husband's favorite bird, and that's John John
(49:34):
Cornell from the Crocodile Under series. It was a maid
of mine. But I only found it up after he
passedway that he also loved corner barrels. And by the way,
we live two hundred meters from each other, three hundred
meters from each other, owned Byron. That's where our farm,
his farm's are and my farm's eve. That's were mates
for a long time. And corner barres to me, are
so important in my life it's ridiculous. I actually commissioned
(49:57):
someone to paint me one. This cook as represents something
too extraordinarily important to me. What the first the first
bird that makes the first noise in the morning. They
go as a flock, they mate for life, they made
for life, They look after their family. Their ability to
(50:19):
interact with us as a community, humans as a community
is incredible. And they also have this and it goes
right back to your one of your earlier statements, this
childlike manner about them laughing Kooka Barros laughing is childlike
and it's a bit like.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
It's the kid jumping in the puddle. To me, it's
like skipping. I don't mean skipping with the rope, I
mean skipping along along fifty meters. We forget about those
important connections to being a kid, and all of us
are still I've still got the boy inside of me.
I can see you have. And really, if we sit
(51:01):
back for a minute, you know we have got the
kid inside us. And and that's why Corcabara is important
to me. It's a childlike laughter. I just love it.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
That's that is awesome, mate, I because clearly they've been
with us for ever, so that would be taking you
back to a childhood memory.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
Every time you hear it as a kid, I remember
hear him as a kid.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
How cool is that?
Speaker 1 (51:25):
And you know, and if we talk about our First
Nations people, corcobaras or birds generally are extraordinarily important to
the First Nations people. In fact, my own whiskey business
up here is called the bird. And you know we
we name that the bird. We're going to be cheeky
because on one hand we were doing we give the bird.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
I've seen it it's one of the best labels on
a bottle whiskey I've seen.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
But it also is a nod to our First Nations
people in Australia that the importance of a bird to them,
and that's why we chose a bird. It's also related
to the burden hand winery here as up in the
Adelaide Hills, but it had too many combinations with birds,
childlike noise, absorbing these things which I'm getting from talking
(52:12):
to you here, right here in your cabin business here
right at this particular you know, this particular vendue. It's incredible.
So I want to say to Michael Emperor greater meet
you first. Wonderful, wonderful designs, wonderful architecture, great setting, wonderful
part of South Australia. Thanks very much for their gentle
(52:37):
reminder of what's important in life.
Speaker 2 (52:40):
Thanks very much, Mark, Thank you for your time, Thanks
for taking the time to come and experience what we're
creating here for people. And like I said before, welcome home,
don't stop. Thanks Mane
Welcome to the mentor. I'm Mark Boris, Michael Emprel, Welcome
to the Mentor.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Mate, Thank you Mark, thanks very much. Where As we
say to all of our cabin guests, welcome home.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yeah, I actually, well, I was going to say, it's
funny with me saying welcome, because you're not in my studio.
I'm in your studio. I'm in money of your cabins
and nice and cozy. I must add, we've got the
fire going here, which our listeners can't or our watchers
can't see or yeah, they're differently gonna hear the fire.
But I can tell you I'm on the side of
the fire, which is my preferred position to be. And
(00:39):
it's a beauty. And I'm going to ask you about a
bit later. So you're the founder of Cabin and by
the way, spelt C A B M. Very clever you.
And there's more than one cabin. There's lots of cabins here.
And I actually noticed some tent style things down there
which I want to ask you about as well, Safari
safari tins. Yeah, because I'm actually curious about those things
myself often first level. But let me just get a
(01:03):
bit of background about you. If you don't mind, please, Michael,
have you always been doing retreats or whatever we call it,
How do you best describe this? Give me your description
and what we're doing. And we're in the Brassa Valley,
that's the first thing. Yes, yeah, it's awesome outside, like
it's a bloody, beautiful, crisp, clear, sunny, unbelievable day. But
(01:25):
describe maybe where we are, what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Sure, well, yeah, as you mentioned, we're in the beautiful
Brossa Valley, which is the home of some of the
best wines in the world. And we're in Seppuletsfield, which
is one of those magnificent palm lined promenades that has
a history all its own. We chose this property, we
handpicked it, as we do with all of our properties,
(01:49):
to make sure that we're aligned with all the principles
of cabin But this is a beautiful example of how
we're creating I guess. I guess in a sense, if
I was to explain what this is to people in
one sentence, it's that we're a nature hotel like no.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Other nature hotel. That's interesting, and you've got unbelievable people
can't wait out of suit. Although we're going to put
some stuff up on the show and the show notes
and the b roll and the promos that this place
is just not in the middle of I wouldn't call
it the bushmen, not quite the bush but we sort
(02:27):
of are in the country. So definitely the countryside, but
it's also a well structured because when I was driving here,
something I know is interesting is I saw these phoenix
palms or Canary Islan date palms lining the streets. I mean,
what the hell is that? That's obviously not a native
thing that someone's gone to the trouble as the government
(02:49):
or the council or who's done that.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
It's a great story mark and it's actually a legacy
piece from the Sepults family. So in World War two.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
The Wine family, yes, which is the beautiful building structure
across the road from us. I saw it actually went
in there this morning and it's old, really old buildings.
It looks like one hundred odds. I mean, what were
we talking about historically here?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, yeah, well plus you know it's yeah, yeah, one
hundred and fifty. But that the family had a lot
of immigrant employees that didn't have work during World War two,
so instead of sending them on their way. They employed
them and kept them on at their own expense. And
(03:35):
one of the things they got them to do was
to plant all along separate children. So that was how
they kept them busy, kept them employed even though there
was no income coming in themselves. And it's one of
those you know, when I heard that story, and that
to me is one of those legacy pieces, which is
clearly you know here well beyond the generations of that
(03:58):
family and generations come, and they're those little things that
you know, have really helped shape a lot of my
thinking around you know, what are you doing that creates legacy?
And that's part of what we're trying to do with
cabin as well.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Like I may have a little bit of knowledge about
those canarios on Dope palms or phoenix palms, got lots
of different names, but they're a beautiful looking palm, very statuesque,
quite imposing to look at. And one thing I'd help
about because what went through my mind is I thought,
my God, who planeted them? All these these trees? There
(04:34):
must be one hundred maybe thousand of them, and they
grow very slowly. And I do know that if you
were to buy one and let's say it was ten
meters tall. Lot of these are ten meters tall. Easy.
If it was ten meters tall, it will cost you
about two thousand bucks a meter to buy one. So
if you're going to buy one as ten meters, that's
(04:55):
twenty thousand dollars like just for one there would I
would say. I was sort of trying to count them
up as I was driving here. There's probably a thousand
of them up and down the streets here, and thought,
my god, who invested that sort of money? Now that
makes sense. Someone's planting them when they're small, and they've
probably taken thirty forty fifty years to grow to that
height by look at But that's what I think, that's
(05:16):
what you're telling this. Yeah, that's pretty unbelievable. That's pretty unusual.
I've never seen anything like that anywhere in Australia when
I've traveled at this place broad and wide, I've never
seen streets lined with those sorts of date palms.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Even just you talking about that to me also just
that that's a really interesting analogy of that because it
reminds me of you know, a story that I was
once told you about legacy, and you know the person
that plants a tree is planning it for future generations totally,
not themselves. And that's as vision exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, that's amazing and not you know, not to take
away from the fact this is a great wine country too,
because that you've got the interposition of those palms lining
the roads, statuesquely looking through those palms, they might be
spread every fifty hundred meters. You see vineyards everywhere. Obviously
(06:14):
we're in a famous part of Australia and famous part
of Soustralia that's Brossa Valley where then we produce great wines.
A straight produced great great wines. So you're looking through
and you see these vineyards everywhere, and then all of
a sudden, I see the sign that says cabin which
is your joint. If you don't mind, take me back
(06:36):
to younger Michael.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And what was he doing, the one without gray hair
and that doesn't have to eat glass night?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, well, maybe don't go I'm just joking. If you
just go back and just tell me, you know, what
were you doing?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah. So I was really fortunate Mark that I was
brought up in a fam where we had you know,
we had some rural property ourselves on the Murray River.
We had cousins or have cousins that you had a
lot of farmland up in the Flinders Rangers, southern Flinders.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So I was brought up.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
You know, in a really fortunate position where and I
guess it's also my makeup. I could not wait to
get out of the city and into the bush. And
that included fishing, motorbikes, tractors, you know, mustering sheep, helping
out in the shearing yards and sorting and probably mainly
(07:35):
getting in everyone's way. But that that was my happy place.
And then that you know, as you get older and
you know you're morph into professional life. I stepped away
from a lot of that life, spent some time overseas,
came back, started an agency which I had for around
(07:55):
twenty years, which was you know, fashion apparel for where
sporting industry. And I was in that for quite a
long time and it was really rewarding for a time.
But then you know something, there were a couple of
quite you know, almost gradually overnight, these these things started
(08:20):
to happen, you know, to me on a on a
personal level where I was certainly no longer enjoying it,
no longer fulfilled. I could see, you know, through a
whole lot of things that transpired over that time, that
I had really shifted away from the values that my
parents brought me up with. And I didn't like the
(08:41):
person that I saw and the the decision that I
had to make. And I, I mean, I'm sure you
will understand this, but you know, I had a lot
of young kids that work for me over that period,
and you know, as they're going through different professional phases,
(09:03):
you know, they want to leave, or they're you know,
a bit discontent or looking for different avenues. One of
my mentors said to me at an early age, either
love it or leave it, and that was, you know,
one of the principles that he had in life. Either
embrace it and fall back in love with it and
give it one hundred and ten or find something else.
(09:25):
And so that, you know, I gave that advice, and
I thought it was time to take some of my
own advice. And that was you know, that was a
challenging period, but I was also I was desperately unhappy.
You know that there was some periods there where I
you know, it was certainly never diagnosed medically, but I
was in you know, some severe bouts of depression pretty
(09:50):
confronting at the time when you can't get out of
your own way. You don't know you know what it is,
but the symptoms are all there and and so you know,
I've learned now, and the more that you know, you
talk with people about it, and and you're vulnerable and
happy to discuss these things. That the biggest I opener
(10:15):
for me is how many other people have gone through
those phases in different stages of life. And that was
that was I guess the inflection point for me of
am I going to continue on this path and what
a waste of you know, a beautiful opportunity that we're
(10:38):
given in life? Or am I going to find something
that is aligned with the values that I was brought
up with that brings together a culbination of all the
things that made me truly happy when I was younger.
And you know, there's a bit more detail to it,
but that's how cabin was more that's very me.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Do you remember the moment or it was remembered that
you said, that's the stuff that I'm out.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah. Yeah, it was a really distinct set of circumstances,
So I guess it was a combination of a few things,
but myself and a couple of friends. You know, I've
always had a huge thirst for knowledge and to learn
(11:28):
and grow, and so we were heading off to Boston.
We'd spent a week over at Harvard Business School doing
a Advanced Leadership course, so we you know, do study
trips and learn and explore and have a bit of
fun along the way. That particular trip, one of the
(11:48):
friends that I was traveling with gave me a book
which was called The Minimalists, which was to the minimalist Yes, ye, minimalists. Yeah.
And that was two guys who were you know, Wall
Street traders, absolutely cooked, burnt out, were really trying to
(12:09):
reconcile with this balance of you know, loving things not
people instead of the other way around, where you should
love people and use things. Whereas they had this I
guess they morphed into this you know, love things, use
people lifestyle. And so that those that was one of
(12:30):
the moments. And you know, I think timing is everything,
So that was really good timing for me to read
that book, and their journey resonated with me, you know significantly. Then,
when after we'd left Boston, we did some traveling and
you went to a few other places. When we were
(12:51):
at Harvard. That was around the same time that there
are two graduates that looked at starting a company that
was the opposite of a tech startup. So they you know,
everyone's doing a tech startup and they thought, well, what
would it what would it look like if we.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Took anti tech?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Exactly, Well, it is. It's it's the it's the antidote
for all the people that are starting the tech companies.
And then that that inspired me to come back, sketched
out the strategy, the business plan, sketched out, the first
cabin built, the first cabin, or at least got people
(13:31):
to help me build it. If I built it, it
wouldn't be standing still. And and so I guess, I
guess Mark I did it for me. It was almost
a bit of a I wouldn't say selfish quest, but
it's I just felt I had to do it. I
(13:52):
had to build this little cabin in nature that's off grid,
without technology too. And it was almost, well, I feel
like this is going to help me save myself. And
of course, you know, with a background in you know, entrepreneurialism, business,
(14:12):
I yes, I was obviously hoping that it would be commercialized,
but I had no idea, no idea how quickly and
how much it would resonate with people. It was. It
was mind blowing, which made me think, well, you know,
there's there's really something here and a need for it.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Can you tell me? Can you take me back to
your very first cabin, Like where was it?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah? Yeah, in the Adelaide Hills.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It was like a tiny home. Is that type of
thing it was?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
You know, and we've you know, we've evolved rapidly over
that time, but it was. It was a tiny home.
It was on wheels, so it was towed it in. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I toted it in. That was interesting and something.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Did you have a plot of land though, or did
you park on someone else's land?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Good mate of mine who has got a beautiful winery
in the Adelaide Hills, I pitched it to him and
he said sure. And so I've had incredible support along
the way as well of people that you know, have
helped with the journey and continue.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
To which success is always on the up on the
broad shoulders of others. There's never one one only, it's
always the broad sholders. Lots of people, and you need
those people. Everybody needs those people. So you're first, did
you just buy the tiny home from someone just go
was one for sale? Do you remember what happened to
you bought?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, I remember like it was yesterday, which
is quite incredible because it's you know, eight years ago now.
But I designed it from scratch, so I think. You know,
I'm a frustrated designer and civilian architect yep, with absolutely
no skills, but really you know, really clear idea of
(16:03):
of what I like and I don't like. And I've
always been interested in form. You know, I've always looked
at Japanese and Scandinavian architecture still do. I really enjoyed.
I think it's art. So so that that was my design,
and we we wanted to do something that just looked different,
(16:26):
that you know, had a real that that was really
cabin where you could look at it and say, well,
I know I know who that is, I know who
built it, you know. I I think we were really
successful with that and that that particular design, you know,
it was heavily featured. We we you know, won some awards,
(16:46):
design awards for it, and something the very first night
we were there. Something happened that was really making.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
You build yourself. Was it for you to stay in
or did you do it as a commercial but like
I just I'll rent it out.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
You know, I did it for a commercial outcome. Yeah, yeah,
I look, I did do it. I started this journey
for myself in a very significant way. But I also
you know, wanted there to be commercial outcomes and.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Had to pay its way.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
And did you just had a budget for this first cabin?
Did you sort of say I don't want to cost
me any more than fifty grand or twenty five thousand
or some number. Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah, I had done a lot of work on you know, costings,
And what I can tell here is that building something
pre COVID was very different to building something post about.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
One hundred percent different. Yeah, get the cost Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So look, I used my own money to invest in it.
You know, I got the trades in. We built it
from scratch.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Youring that do you bring the carcass in on a trailer?
Did you love the frame and did you build a
side or did you bring the whole thing, build the
whole thing offside and drag it in.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
We we had the chassis in the frame, built separately. Yep.
So we built that, then towed that into the factory
where we then constructed, fitted it.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Out, and then towed it up to the site.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And then and in terms of what did you make
do wrong? Do you think or what or not? What
did you improve upon from the very first, very first exercise.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, we we we certainly, you know, we've learned a lot.
I mean, we we made We've made some mistakes. You know,
we've constantly you know that the one of the ethoses
of the business from day one, you know, is to
improve and always always think of the people that are
(18:54):
staying here to shape all of our decisions. So you know,
you live and learn. And when you're starting something completely
from scratch that that had not been done in this
segment of the market before, you know, you make a
lot of mistakes. But I'd say the biggest changes that
we've made from the operational model that we started with
(19:16):
and still staying off grid, would be shifting from you
know what a lot of the other operators do, you know,
compostible toilets, you know, shifting to a closed septic flushable
toilet system, you know, with an enviro cycle. So it's
still doing really good things for the environment.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
That so because where we see now this is all
connected to septic yes, yeah so, and is it a
central aceptic or there's a sceptic off. Every one of
these cabins centralized central so they will feed into one
big tank, yeah, actually two big tanks. And what about water?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Water has always been a challenge, So we have a
combination of collecting rain water plottable water. So we so
Kangaro Island as an example, we have to bring in
water into that property as well. And then there's also
an initiative that we've undertaken up in the Adelaide Hills
which is another first and we're super proud of with
(20:18):
Essay Water where we're running treated water into the property.
That's you know, almost recycled water from one of their
plants up into the property, which is a quite a
good initiative from us. But what water is, you know,
our most precious resource and has been a challenge from
(20:39):
the outset and power so because are you that far
off grid or is it solar power, battery storage or
what are we talking about now? Yeah, yeah, predominantly solar.
So we run Victron systems on all the properties. We've
you know, when you talk about learnings, I would say
(20:59):
that that's been one of our largest learning curves is
getting the power requirements right, and especially when we've evolved
so much to you know, like this this cabin that
we're in now, which I would call a penthouse, sweet
in nature. You know, we've got they've all got in
(21:21):
built sauna.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I saw that there's a sauna. Yeah, like as a
power it's electric sauna. Yes, it looks like it's using electricity.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
So we might just describe I might just describe this one.
So this is like it's around ten boy three would
it be about right or close to ten bo three three.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Wide, ten long, fourteen long? I think you're pretty close.
That's impressive.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah. So and then what you've got at the fourteen
is probably the extra three or three in a bit
that you've got where there's a barbecue area then you
come in then, but the main internal part, we've got
a Queensos bed. I got a kitchen just there, cupboards,
kitchen bench where you can sit down and have your meal.
(22:06):
Then on the other side of that as a bathroom
with a generous bath, a generous shower, quite generous. It's
not pokey toilet. Of course, on the other side of
that there's a sauna, and then on the other side
of that, I'm not sure if it's this side of
that side now, but on the other side of that
as an outdoor barbecue area, which is pretty cool. So
and all this is off grid. I mean, I guess
the barbecue if it's gas, it's got gas bottle or
(22:28):
something like that. Yeah. Yeah, we've got a nice warm,
cozy fire here on to my left which no one
can see, but it is nice and warm, cozy of
me tell you then you've been. It's quite high ceiling,
so it gives it a sense of a lot of space.
Whilst it's not that wide, it's white enough, but it
gives you a sense of space with the ceiling. I
want to talk to you about how you build these
materials and all sort of stuff. In a second, and
(22:48):
external to this, we've got a you know, you surround
let's call it the tiny house, but you surround the
cabin with a balcony of veranda. It's probably better way
facing north, I can notice, and so you get get
catching all the sunlight, which is very clever in the design.
It's beautiful. Someone's just shining above you.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
They' and on you.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Now you look a halo above you, and and but
I do know it's no telly. There's no phone in
the room as such. Leading back to a central place there.
I guess people got the mobile phones. They can do
what they want with that and sound a nature outside.
You open the door, it's fresh air. Today's quite a
(23:27):
still day. It's you know, you get the best of
everything here that we're sitting here with a bit of
a view down towards that way down down ud looking northeast.
So I think this direction is do you have facilities
here or do you not? Is it like a pool
or that sort of stuff? What's going on there?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
No, No, we don't that that is something We do
have a master plan for this and other sites that
have some more stages. So that's just another stage.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, how many sites do you have apart from so
you got this one here in the ross. What else
you got?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
We've got the Clare Valley, Yeah, Barossa, Adelaide Hills, which
is our newest site up in Harndorff, McLaren Vale, Kaypo
Forest which is a really exciting partnership we did with
forestry and then kangaro Island.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Wow, yeah, there's there's quite a few then. Yeah, they
have done that in eight years.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's been. Yeah. We we
have not sat still. We've we've been you know, really
bold with with our growth plans. And it's yeah, it's
especially when we do things as opposed to you know,
that original tiny house model where you're you know, pulling
a trailer effectively onto a plot of land. You know,
(24:42):
everything we do is you know, even even things that
you know cleverly have picked up on like north facing
and you know there's everything is done with regulatory vigor
so you know, all proper approvals, you know, native vegetation,
you know, we've we've Yeah, it's it's a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I can see the landscaping outside. There is a lot
of native education vegetation. In fact, a lot of it's
quite recent, maybe last three or four years here until
about that Beltsfield in bros.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
We only finished this two years ago.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah it looks that way, but you got beautiful pathways
through everything. Everything looks young and fresh.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
To me.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I'm big on nature, and I can just see a
lot of the especially the Australian natives or the native stuff.
It's so sort of young and fresh, and it looks
quite vibrant and new, but at the same time it's
it's like a teenager. It's big and fluffy, and it
looks quite interesting to me, Like nearly looks edible. That's
(25:44):
the fairly sense I got it. Nearly looks edible. It's awesome,
bright green, and it's sort of invigorating. It is probably
the best worth of med us I felt quite I
felt it looked looked quite invigorating.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, yeah, well that's my work he has done, because
that's exactly what we try to achieve everywhere is how
can you how can this feel like a big hug
to all the people that are visiting and that we're
lucky enough to call guests. So that's that's the design
(26:20):
intent that we go through with everything from the cabins
all the way through landscaping. You know, the natives we've
planted just here alone. I think it's eighteen hundred natives,
and that is again another big commitment that we make
to regenerative tourism and something that we've.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Learned regenerative regenerative tourism. That's an interesting adjective to put
in front of the word tourism, because what you're what
the tourists or guest is experiencing, is the regeneration of
the land. So maybe this was I don't know, what
was this before you got here.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
So this is sheep can probably well, this is probably
the perfect example of a regenerative tourism project. So this
was an existing this was an existing use site, so
it had old cabins on it. We bought this site,
and so we we thought what would it look like
(27:22):
if we reinvented it and took those regenerative tourism practices
into effects. So we you know, this is when I
I guess to go back to just a quick step how
we see regenerative tourism and the guiding principles that we use.
We've learned from indigenous culture and from some First Nations
(27:46):
groups that you know, we we've worked pretty closely with
and continued as in regeneration, yeah, as in really it
should start with your intent of how can I leave
something better than I found it, and how can I
look after it for the next generations, you know, like
you know, in similar way to the palms that we
were just talking about, So that that sort of shapes
(28:08):
how we go through a native vegetation planting process and
then the things that we've seen that have evolved from
us completely breathing you life into this site is a
way more bird life. You know, the boys that stayed
here last night would have heard so many birds with
(28:32):
heaps of wildlifees come back in, so it's really you know,
it's multi layered. Also, this stops a huge amount of
soil erosion that the benefits are pretty far reaching.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Apart from visual benefits. Yeah, of course, I mean, I
mean some people probably a lot of people don't realize
is because I've done a few of these projects myself,
not to extend you have done it, but just linking
up all the more forests or small outgrowth, so like
you might have a growth of something here but a
(29:04):
big gap just grass for example, and then the next
lot of growth is down there. The problem is the
wildlife that lives in this growth always wants to go
down to that wildlife growth down the road, but they
don't want to take travel over the grass, snakes, small
small reptiles because again to get picked off by the
(29:25):
birds and actually connecting all these things is really important.
They need corridors and I was noticing, how you know,
your little areas that you've just looked like they've just
been plunged, as you said, the last couple of years.
They're all connecting each other. So you give wildlife the
opportunity to make its way from a tree or from
the ground, or whatever the case may be, along the
(29:46):
corridors sort of safely as nature has designed it. That's
proper regeneration. I mean, I did notice that when I
first came in here, and I actually got a surprise,
and all of a sudden, you're hanging out in this nice,
cozy little cabin, and I think it's important. And I
notice you have a book here, which we we've got
(30:07):
how sound systems sitting on, but a book here which
probably explains the people. Well, maybe it's important for you
to explain to everybody what you would like people to
get out of coming here, not just from staying in
this cozy little cabin that's nice and warm, and all
the facilities here blah blah blah. Yes, you can have
a sauna and it's plenty of room to move around,
and if you wanted to go on a wine tour
(30:29):
and all that sort of stuff. What is it you
want them to get out of here, which they may
not really realize if they're sitting on that brand of
there without someone like you telling him a story. Not
unlike how the indigenous elders might tell a story about
you know, something about First Nations myths and stories. I mean,
(30:51):
what would you be wanting to tell? Does your book
do that? By Wade? What do you want to tell
me about it?
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I'll show you afterwards. But that's one of the books
that we were featured in with our design of the
first cabin.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
So outside of the cabin though, what would you you know?
If I'm seeing that on the balcony, what do you
want to tell me about it? Mark appreciate this and
it's not s guiding, but you know yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I think at its core is appreciate nature and all
its benefits. I and it takes me back to my
childhood of you know what, what I resonated with was
the joy of play and the joy that you get
(31:37):
out of nature. You know. I was I was driving
this week and we've had some rain here and we
stopped at the lights, as with my family, we saw
a little she would have been two or three years
old girl at the traffic lights and she was jumping
in a puddle and you know that brought me so
much joy and we were like, exactly because we lose
so much of that with you know, as we evolved
(31:59):
through through you know, our generations and different stresses and
different things that come, you know, with age and responsibility.
So it's really about creating a space and a place
for people to switch off. And primarily that's exactly why
we don't offer Wi Fi and we don't have screens,
(32:20):
because that that is you know, they're enablers. And of
course if you need it, you know, everywhere we are
within the state, you can get you can pay your
phone to something. But the idea of it is to
not do it and to breathe, to listen, to smell,
(32:40):
to just stop and slow down. And I still do
it myself, and I think it's you know, it's really important,
you know, even last night, just to stand by a
fire and that it's those sensory things that really can
can help hugely with burnout, with taking yourself out of
(33:03):
a out of the mindset that you know, we we
tend to be in on a day to day basis.
You don't get that, you know, I'm not knocking motels
or hotels. You know, I stay in a lot of
them with my travels. That they're fantastic, but it is
nowhere near the except function and.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Practical that exactly me, Let me sleep somewhere, let me
have a shower, and then I'll get on that exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Yeah, it's a purpose, you know, we were our strong
purpose is to reconnect people with nature and each other,
to get people to rediscover those things, you know, those
childlike things, the things that like jumping in the puddle,
but also to reconnect, you know, to reconnect with with
(33:48):
your loved ones or whoever you're traveling with you. You know,
it's pretty hard to do that when you're watching Netflix
as opposed to know, sitting here playing a card game
or or even just the active cooking a barbecue together.
And so they're they're they're those quintessential pillars of of
what Cabin is designed to give people that you know,
(34:11):
we're I mean, we're we're super proud of and you know,
I'd love to be able to share some of the
stories of you know, of of the impact that Cabin's
made on people that have stayed. And it's incredible.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
What's the average stay here two nights. Yeah, it's funny,
you know, Michael, that's it's an interesting thing. I was
just thinking of just speaking sometimes you only need two
three days, two nights, and that sort of use that
word recharges, recharge ourselves. But and you mentioned and people,
(34:48):
you know, connecting the nature. But I actually think it's
a little bit more than that. I think nature is
just a naghbler. It allows you to reconnect with yourself.
And what I mean by that is a you said
earlier about connecting with reconnecting with your values. I mean
you've made a major reconnection. You've actually turned it into
a life lifestyle. But just reconnecting with what's important to you,
(35:10):
but also reconnecting with your senses. Like if I stood
out there now, the sunshining, and if I just let
my senses take over and maybe even close my eyes
and not use my eyes, but listen and feel, like
feel the air on cold air, hot air, whatever it's summer, winter,
(35:30):
It doesn't make any difference, but feel it and listened.
Listen to the things that you're allowed back onto the property.
Birds usually it's bird life. You know. You can hear sounds,
maybe the rustle of the trees, if there's a slight breeze.
Just reconnecting with your senses. I think that's a really
(35:51):
important thing because when we're living in the city, we're
living in that hustle bustle, we're not relying on many senses,
usually just our eyes. Usually we're not smelling anything. Rarely
do we smell anything. Do we take a moment to
think I'm smelling something. You do smell things which you
don't consciously are not aware of it. And I think,
(36:11):
what just my experience here this morning is giving me.
I mean, I do it like as I own a
farm and I go there all the time. So I
do this a lot. But it almost up a Byron
Bay Oh beautiful, But I put it. I appreciate it
is because I appreciate what you're saying, because I do this.
I've created this twenty odd years ago, mainly because similar
(36:34):
to yourself, I need to do it for myself and
for my kids, so that I had somewhere I could go.
And what I originally termed as recharging, But what I
can say today is reconnecting, and it's about just stop.
Have a cup of coffee. If you're gonna have a
cup of coffee mark, walk outside and let the light
(36:56):
shine on you, the sun and look towards us. I'm
not into this. Somebody look towards the sun, enjoy the
morning sun, appreciate the fact that the sun comes up,
you know. You know, we don't do that like in
the city where in Sydney where I live, I'm at
work before the sun rises, especially at this time of
year June, and I'm at home when the sun's already set,
(37:20):
so I don't see any daylight unless I take the
time to go out to my office go for a walk.
So but that's fine. I'm not complaining. But I also
know that I need to go reset somewhere, and I
need to do at least once every two months, or
at least around that to six state week period. Not
everyone can afford to have their own property like that,
(37:40):
but something like this and all your other venues around
South Australia, I think is playing a critical role in
allowing us to stop going nuts crazy as a society.
I mean, I just wish everyone go every every month,
every single person in the country. I wish there were
(38:01):
enough enough of these outlets you and others could set
them up all around Australia. That Australia could boast is
one of the because our nature is unbelievable, that Australia
could boast as being the number one country in the
world for people reconnecting with nature and reconnecting with themselves
at least every eight weeks. And maybe instead of measuring
(38:23):
cells by GDP, only by GDP and our inflation number
and the interest rate and every other bloody thing, whether
we could also do another measurement a bit like they're
doing some other Central Asian countries they do about happiness,
but like reconnection or how.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Do I feel?
Speaker 1 (38:42):
And Scandinavia scan correct how do I? And Japan does
it too to something. How do I feel? Do I
feel reconnected? I don't mean emotionally, I'm not talking about
that like deep seated emotions, just physically. Can I feel
relaxed and connected? And I think that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I mean, I couldn't agree more. You know, when I
was listening to you talking about, you know, getting to
the office before sun up and leaving after sundown and
then what it's like you know, which I would say,
and you know there's not every I mean, you certainly
get it, but you know, my team and I work
(39:26):
extremely hard to deliver this for people. So you know,
not every day is this, but a lot of what
we do is just running on adrenaline, you know, it is.
It's adrenaline that's getting us through, you know, the day
to day. So to be able to come to somewhere
like this and something that we know we're working on
(39:47):
as a company and we've recognized a huge need for it,
not just for the individual, but you know, certainly for
midweek corporate retreats or for you know, people to recognize
where their team might need a reset and to reconnect,
you know, to come somewhere like this. I still do it.
(40:08):
You know, I'm really maybe I'm not surprised about this
or or proud of it, but I still find myself,
you know, like like you know you do with your farm,
finding any excuse I can to get to one of
our six properties and you know, to go away for
a midweek stay. And I actually find that I'm because
(40:35):
of what we've created here. When I'm in a cabin
or you know, one of our other products, I think differently.
I have I'm a little bit more structured with some
of my decisions and outcomes because of less distractions. I
(40:56):
think that there's less noise so I can recalibrate. I
actually leave sometimes, and yeah, you can say, well, it
shouldn't always be for a work purpose. It should be
for something you know, personal and nature base. But I
leave so many of these stays myself with some really
(41:18):
key decisions that are better for the team and the business.
And it's it's it's got so many broad reaching benefits.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Yeah, it's it's most people. We talk about it in
general times. We have you and I have been today
and again I was thinking to myself because I'm really
interested in the science of this stuff, and this is
not very fairy, you know, promotional stuff what I'm going
(41:48):
through and you and I discussing about today. To me,
I think there's you can actually find a basis in science.
You know, if you're running on adrenaline put it this
start again, if you're in order for you to run
on adrenaline, in other words, for your adrenal gland to
be pumping adrenaline into your system, and for your your
other parts of your body pumping quartersol in your system,
(42:09):
you know, And we keep hearing this about this in
the in the health environment generally speaking, you are in
that fight or flight mode. So a part of your
brain sending a message down to your various areas of boty,
including your adrenal glands, to say to your based on
its senses, what it's seeing. So your eyes are seeing something,
or you're feeling something, but just generally speaking, you' seeing something,
(42:32):
you're experiencing something. It sends a message to your brain,
and your brain then sends a chemical down to a gland,
and the gland this says, shit, fiight or flight. Let's
produce quartisole. Let's produce adrenaline, and that merely grabs a
whole lot of all the glucose in your system, and
it pumps you up, and you go hard. Your eyes
(42:52):
light up. You're on. You're actually on. But we're not
meant to be that way all the time. We are
meant to be that way, but we also meant to
go into rest and digest mode. So we're also meant
to after that happens, stop and slow down and give
ourselves a chance to have a slower heartbeat, to breathe
(43:14):
less breaths per minute. And you know, there's a lot
of science that tells you how many press per minute
at rest you should be doing if you should be
doing less than sixteen some other number. If you're doing
more than sixteen untills, you've got some other issue, perhaps
a come to oxid issuld. But like scientifically having the
and mindfulness, all those other things like yoga, breathing exercises, meditation,
(43:44):
but the big one is nature and reducing the noise
and all the distractions out of life, just for a
short period so that you can actually sleep well and
and you can wake up I use the word right
the beginning reinvigorated, but basically clear of all the chemistry
(44:08):
that's been building up in your brain and the rest
of your body over that long period of time you've
been putting yourself under these stresses, which, by the way,
it's okay. Those things are okay. We do need stresses
in our life too, but we also need the opposite.
And it's about that's the balance. And I think that
what cabins like this, adventures like this look at it
(44:30):
as an adventure, but an eventual like this coming to
one of these places, which is in the middle of
a beautiful environment, actually gives an opportunity to appreciate how
important it is us to bring balance back to our life.
And as I said, I'm lucky I own a farm
and I can afford to pay for the maintenance of
because you don't make any money out of them. I
(44:51):
can afford, but not everyone's in that position. So what
I really feel good about in this conversation, Michael, if
you don't mind me saying this, is that I know
this is a commercial venture for you, but at the
same time, it serves an important purpose. And I think
we are running these days at such a hectic pace
(45:13):
just to compete and to keep more importantly, just to
keep up with the whole world. Now it's not as
you know, me keeping up with Sydney or someone down
to keep me up with Adelaide. It's they're keeping up
with everyone in Australia, and in Australia keep up with
everyone in the world. To some extent, we're competing with
the world. And it's it's never been like this before.
It's it's post COVID. Is just I just can't I
(45:36):
can't believe the rapid pace that things have happened. And
you know old Moore's law, which is like you know,
transistors develop and double their speed within you know, on computers.
I'm talking about double the speed in two years. Whatever
is I mean, I think that law's been shot to death.
We're like two months. Things change so fast here and
just keeping up it's quite impossible nearly. So we do
(45:58):
need this. I don't know if you, I mean, maybe
you do realize, because maybe I'm just wondering with it.
You've been out of that city rat race for so
long now you may not have seen it. Or maybe
because there's a commercial business you still see it. No,
I do, Yeah, I see it.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
I've I travel a bit and you know, I'm involved in,
you know, quite a few things, so I do see it.
And I think you know, as you know, just listening
to what you were saying before about you know, when
you escape to your farm and one of the things
that you know, you is a byproduct of staying, you know,
(46:36):
whether it's at a cabin or whether it's anywhere regionally
in terms of that rest piece, is you know, that
circadian rhythm that you get into where it is phenomenal
to me that even with all I've learned and all
I know that I still you know, when I get
to Kangaro Island and you know, it's one of the
most beautiful places in the world that we have there
(46:58):
at capes and albans. But you know, and that's why
we like the cabin that we're in now. We built
these huge, big skylights for people to be able to stargazs.
But you can't even get to stargaze after night two
or three because as soon as it's dark you're ready
for you're asleep.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
But that's great. It is it's supposed to happen, correct,
And that's.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Where we're missing that piece. And do your point around
you know the growth of things and you know the
data that's behind the compounding growth of AI things like
cabin and like you're getting away to your farm. My
firm view is that will become even more important because
(47:43):
that that need for balance and to be able to
I mean you imagine what imagine the speed of information
that we're all going to be getting and look, you
know we use it, but there will never be a
more important time for balance moving forward and also get
(48:05):
ready for a lot more burnout.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Well, it's great that South Australia is actually, to be
honest with you, just providing that because like you can
also not just have this, you can dip into in
the case of this particular cabin venue, the one here
in the the one here in Sepper's Field, which is Brossa,
you can actually if you want, you're not gonna get bored,
(48:29):
just get outside and go for a drive down the
road and go to all the wineries and have a
taste and buy a bit of wine. And you know,
perhaps go up to Adelaide Hills later on there's another
hour away. Whatever, if you've got time to kill, go
up there. There's you know, there's so many things. I mean,
yesterday we interviewed the couple from the Little Rickshaw, which
is a great little restaurant. Like there's unbelievable food and
(48:52):
Adelaide in this area here of McLaren var with Broussa Valley,
the Adelaide Hills. I mean, there's restaurants everywhere, great food,
grete wine, great venues. And then you can, as you say,
you can, you know, for once, tap into your circadian rhythms.
Actually got asleep when the sun goes down and wake
(49:12):
up when this when the birds start making a noise.
Corner barrows I was just saying earlier, Corner barros are
my favorite bird in the world. Bar no No. I
only ever met one person who's similarly and I didn't
realize it was his favorite bird, but his wife, Delvine Tommy,
it was her husband's favorite bird, and that's John John
(49:34):
Cornell from the Crocodile Under series. It was a maid
of mine. But I only found it up after he
passedway that he also loved corner barrels. And by the way,
we live two hundred meters from each other, three hundred
meters from each other, owned Byron. That's where our farm,
his farm's are and my farm's eve. That's were mates
for a long time. And corner barres to me, are
so important in my life it's ridiculous. I actually commissioned
(49:57):
someone to paint me one. This cook as represents something
too extraordinarily important to me. What the first the first
bird that makes the first noise in the morning. They
go as a flock, they mate for life, they made
for life, They look after their family. Their ability to
(50:19):
interact with us as a community, humans as a community
is incredible. And they also have this and it goes
right back to your one of your earlier statements, this
childlike manner about them laughing Kooka Barros laughing is childlike
and it's a bit like.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
It's the kid jumping in the puddle. To me, it's
like skipping. I don't mean skipping with the rope, I
mean skipping along along fifty meters. We forget about those
important connections to being a kid, and all of us
are still I've still got the boy inside of me.
I can see you have. And really, if we sit
(51:01):
back for a minute, you know we have got the
kid inside us. And and that's why Corcabara is important
to me. It's a childlike laughter. I just love it.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
That's that is awesome, mate, I because clearly they've been
with us for ever, so that would be taking you
back to a childhood memory.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
Every time you hear it as a kid, I remember
hear him as a kid.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
How cool is that?
Speaker 1 (51:25):
And you know, and if we talk about our First
Nations people, corcobaras or birds generally are extraordinarily important to
the First Nations people. In fact, my own whiskey business
up here is called the bird. And you know we
we name that the bird. We're going to be cheeky
because on one hand we were doing we give the bird.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
I've seen it it's one of the best labels on
a bottle whiskey I've seen.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
But it also is a nod to our First Nations
people in Australia that the importance of a bird to them,
and that's why we chose a bird. It's also related
to the burden hand winery here as up in the
Adelaide Hills, but it had too many combinations with birds,
childlike noise, absorbing these things which I'm getting from talking
(52:12):
to you here, right here in your cabin business here
right at this particular you know, this particular vendue. It's incredible.
So I want to say to Michael Emperor greater meet
you first. Wonderful, wonderful designs, wonderful architecture, great setting, wonderful
part of South Australia. Thanks very much for their gentle
(52:37):
reminder of what's important in life.
Speaker 2 (52:40):
Thanks very much, Mark, Thank you for your time, Thanks
for taking the time to come and experience what we're
creating here for people. And like I said before, welcome home,
don't stop. Thanks Mane
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