Sauna a work of art at King Island escape

The ultimate Tasmanian escape — with a sauna handcrafted by a local artist and including an Estonian-made firebox — is making waves on the mainland.

Alexandra and Russell Quigley’s King Island “Porky Beach Retreat” is about as Instagram-friendly as it gets, with numerous cosy nooks to soak in stretching natural views.

“It’s definitely the best coastal house on King Island, without fear of argument there,” Ruralco agent Garry Sutton, who has the listing with Pride’s Charlie Clemons, told the Herald Sun.

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“It’s located on the west coast, which is the rough side — if you like it like that.”

The four-bedroom property, tailor-made for short-stay holiday accommodation, is a cut above other properties on the Bass Strait isle between Cape Otway and Tassie’s northwestern tip.

Art meets practicality meets luxury.

West side, best side?

Its $2.5 million price tag — well above a local benchmark of $1.75 million from last year — will make it a target of an increased flock of Victorians circling the southernmost state.

“It’s more likely to be Victorian or mainland buyers, I think the price range might be outside most local people — and most local people have already got a house,” Sutton says.

The Quigleys transformed the property after purchasing it four-and-a-half years ago following a move from Queensland to King Island in search of a cooler climate to help Alexandra’s MS.

“We completely changed it. It went from just being a holiday house to something extremely different and impressive — people come in and go ‘wow’,” Ms Quigley says.

A nice place for a nice drop.

“It’s literally the only place in Australia you can actually rent that has an outdoor sauna that’s not (made from) a kit — it’s completely hand built and it overlooks four bays.”

Red cedar timber was imported from Canada for the bespoke sauna and spa, created by local artist Anthony Fanning, with the firebox imported from “the home of saunas”, Estonia.

Soak in bay views and sweat out stress from these practical artworks before moving up to the eco-friendly house, which looks across the ever-changing ocean vista to the horizon through rows of floor-to-ceiling windows.

The “very indulgent” location is less than an hour’s flight from Melbourne and — importantly — “three minutes” drive to the King Island Dairy fromagerie.

Cosy by the fire with beautiful views.

“It’s eight to 10 minutes from Currie, the main town, three minutes from the airport and 98 steps down to the beach, your own private beach,” Ms Quigley says.

She says they are selling to focus on her health and the couple, with 35 years in hospitality, will stay on the island, where they live and have another short-stay property.

“Porky Beach Retreat” is the only beach house on the island with a full commercial kitchen, and also has a butler’s pantry, “three and a half” bathrooms, open-plan living area and deck.

It is available via private sale.

This article from the Herald Sun originally appeared as “King Island Escapes: Tasmanian retreat’s sauna a work of art”.