Great example of sustainable tourism in Australia.

1. WELCOME
PRESENTED BY ROSS MCLENNAN

2. MEET THE FAMILY

3. LOCATION

4. HISTORY
Demolished existing residence Installed 1500 watt, 24
and started building BBQ area on volt inverter with 2
same site. battery banks of 600
amp/h x 24 volt. This
Purchased Returned was to power
Hidden Valley Finished to Hidden refrigerators when
Cabins BBQ Valley generator wasn’t
area Cabins running.
1986 1987 1988 1989 1992 1993 1997 2000 2005
Demolished
shop, bar and Built new
dinning room owners Installed 600 watt
and rebuilt to residence inverter and 6 x
include 2volt batteries to
storeroom power TV, VCR, TV
Leased
swimming pool including a
Hidden salillite dish and
cold room.
Entertainment area, Valley computer in owners
installed 12 volt lighting Cabins residence.
cabin 5 as a template for
others
5 more individual cabins
existing 4 rooms,
adjoining to toilet block
40 seat restaurant

5. ROSS & CHELS HISTORY
• Travelled around the world and lived in United Kingdom and
Canada
•Love for nature and environment
•Learnt a lot about carbon footprint and environmental issues
•Tourism was the right industry for us
•Chelsea – Marketing degree & Ross – business experience

6. POSITIVES & NEGATIVES OF
HIDDEN VALLEY CABINS

7. POSITIVES
• Location & Remoteness: HVC is in an isolated setting, surrounded
by a 90 square mile cattle station.
•The setting: Pristine bush setting and outback ambience.
•Proximity: Outstanding natural attractions
•The drive to HVC: Guests travel through a variety of eco-systems
•The weather: Mild weather, invariably fine for almost all the year
• The Historic and Natural Environment: The area has a fascinating
history and our family has been a part of this history

8. POSITIVES
•The Architecture: Unique hand-crafted furniture, architecture and
landscaping, using local timber.

9. NEGATIVES
• Location & Remoteness: HVC is in an isolated setting, surrounded
by a 90 square mile cattle station.
•No council amenities: e.g. waste, power, water, sewage etc…
•No drive by trade: Like on a major highway
•Destination: Hidden Valley isn’t on the map, Townsville our major
regional hub is getting there – domestic, not international
•Our road: 8.5km of gravel, which a council looks after and they
just amalgamated

10. WE HAD TO TURN OUR
NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES

11. IDEAS
•Introduce tours: Both On-site and off-site tours, including viewing
Platypus, nocturnal walk and Running River gorge safari.

12. RESEARCH
•Started researching: Through the various bodies
•Tourism Australia www.tra.australia.com
•Tourism Queensland www.tq.com.au
•Townsville Enterprise (RTO) www.townsvilleonline.com.au

13. STARTED TO LINE UP THE
POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES

14. BIGGEST PROBLEMS
1. Power
2. Carbon Footprint
“Living next to outstanding natural attractions such as the world’s
oldest living rainforest and we have a 110 million year old egg
laying mammal swimming in our creek next door. It our
responsibility to protect that!”

15. OPTIONS
1. Running Diesel Generators: Not environmentally friendly. Very
loud. Very time consuming, very labor intensive and expensive
2. Solar power the entire resort: Ian’s experience with solar power
over the past 15 years was critical
WHICH ONE WOULD YOU PREFER?

16. OK GREAT IDEA BUT HOW
DOES THIS RELATIVE TO THE
BIG PICTURE?

17. WHATS NEXT?
•Had a meeting with Townsville Enterprise – Loved it!
•Tourism Queensland – Loved it!
•Tourism Australia – www.tra.australia.com
•Common sense – linking your product with tourism bodies

18. SOLAR POWER
1. Knowing how much power you need – Energy Audit
2. Installed a meter
3. Recorded our daily usages for 4 months
4. Worked out how we can save energy

19. SAVING ENERGY
• Every Watt is sacred
• Lighting
• Refrigeration
• Appliances – switching them off over night and sourcing energy
efficient ones. Leaving a TV set on at the power point draws 20 watts
per hour, 0.48 KWH per day, 1226.4 KWH per year, resulting in 1.2
tonnes of CO2 emissions.
• Changing menus
• After 7 months – WE’RE READY!

20. SOLAR POWER
1. Knowing how much power you need – Energy Audit
2. Installed a meter
3. Recorded our daily usages for 4 months
4. Worked out how we save energy
5. Design and Purchase a Solar Power System

21. AUSTRALIA

22. SOLAR POWER
SYSTEM
1. Got a quote
• 1st Quote $530 000
• 2nd Quote $187 000, difference $343 000, quote came from 1
Alternative way, Nimbin NSW
• Rainbow Power Company www.rpc.com.au

23. SOLAR POWER
SYSTEM
2. Installed Solar Power System 16th December 2007
• 18 months of research
• 10 days to build it
• Final cost $75 000
• In 1st year of operation, will save 26 000 litres of diesel and
78 tonnes of C02 emissions

24. SOLAR POWER
SYSTEM

25. SYSTEM PAYBACK
PERIOD
• Under two years in diesel alone
• $1.2 million saving over the next 20 years
• Approximately 1.5 hours of maintenance per month

26. CARBON NEUTRAL
• HVC commissioned Climate Friendly to complete in-house
audits to reduce carbon emissions
• purchased carbon credits to make HVC the first resort (and tour
business) in Australia to be carbon-neutral.

27. CARBON NEUTRAL

28. ECO-CERTIFIED
• Received accreditation on 4th April 2008
• Eco-Tourism Australia www.ecotourism.org.au
• Best submission they has received to date

29. MARKETING
• No advertising budget – have to be creative
• News & Magazines Articles
• Television
• Blogs & Forums
• Media Releases
• http://www.hiddenvalleycabins.com.au/MediaPage.htm

30. OTHER SUSTAINABLE
PRACTICES
Solar
Buildings. Built to
Power:
blend with the natural Carbon Audit
Australia’s
environment Nature
1st solar
based
powered Water Conservation
Exotic Plant activities
resort
removal
Power Conservation.
Replacing light bulbs with
energy saving compact
Native Plants
ENVIRONMENT fluorescents.
Waste Management
Accreditations & Recycling. All
Committees aluminum cans are Walking
recycled Tracks Education

31. EDUCATION
• Built an interpretive Centre
• Developed renewable energy workshops in conjunction with
Tourism Queensland
• During check-in, guests are informed about power conservation
and our renewable energy system.
• Guests presented with a “Certificate of Sustainability” during
check-out
• Information in the compendiums about our sustainability
initiatives

32. CHANGE
• Tourism as an industry has the chance to lead

33. SMALL ACTIONS
• Hidden Valley Cabins is just a small family run business. We do
not have huge amounts of money
• THE HARDER I WORK THE LUCKIER I GET

34. THANK YOU
For more information, please visit
www.hiddenvalleycabins.com.au
www.tq.com.au/sustainability