A softly muted, small-engine chug echoes quietly across the water. It is an audible mirror to arrow-headed ripples of wake expanding behind the sleek wooden gondola as it carves the broad, green-brown river’s glass-like surface.
In contrast to bombastic motorboats and speedy watercraft, the hand-crafted vessel barely registers with the pelicans, swans, ducks, rakali, koalas or the many other animals that make their home along the banks. This gliding journey between sunlit gums is complemented by a sumptuous fruit and cheese platter and delicious local wines. It is a private glimpse into the essence of Australia, and just one of the experiences carefully tailored for you by The Frames in the South Australian Riverland.
Local farmers and hosts Cathy and Rick Edmonds have curated a series of essential experiences to accompany a visit to the produce-rich Murray Riverland, culminating in the return to the privacy of their ode to excellence, the architecturally designed accommodation that gives the business its name. Cantilevering out from the signature red cliffs of the Murray River, each of the three adjacent buildings offers fully self-contained kitchens, private swimming pools, spas and saunas, along with discrete and solitary, square-framed views of the Murray and western sunset. Attention to detail has clearly been one of the key principles in creating the buildings. Each reflects a slightly different arrangement of elements wrapped within the consistency of character and design that give The Frames its recognisable aspect. Within the modest footprint of the site, the primary goal is privacy and seclusion, with all the spaces, indoor and outdoor, cleverly hidden from each other and entirely self-contained.
The experiences, too, are completely sequestered for every guest. There is no wait in the lobby at a pre-arranged time to climb aboard the shuttle bus to a busy and crowded destination. All the activities on offer at The Frames are private and tailored to your particular interests. The talented chef can prepare a signature Murray cod dish while you watch and learn or a three-course meal can be delivered to your suite. You can cook your own dinner from the gourmet barbecue provisions that have been delivered, or a staff member will cook it to perfection for you while you enjoy the theatre of an outdoor kitchen within your own pool enclosure. Cruises along the Murray and the network of creeks in the Ramsar-listed wetland, tastings and offerings at micro-breweries and local distilleries along with the best food and produce from the region and Australian wildlife-spotting adventures in comfortable vehicles are all curated for your own personal experience, in your own time. In this way, guests at The Frames are treated to that rarest of commodities – locality. It’s the locals who show you around; in fact, it’s probably Cathy and Rick themselves, and it’s more than likely that you’ll be dropping into Cathy’s kitchen on their grape and citrus farm for a coffee and a home-cooked cake.
From the front verandah of the stone farmhouse, the fields and rows of orchard and vineyard cascade down the sloping hill toward the river valley, while out the back window, the mass of twisted limbs are on the verge of millions of acres of mallee, eucalypt and red-earthed rangelands all the way into the heart of South Australia.
The Frames provides a mosaic of complementing contrasts: agriculture and wilderness, homemade and gourmet, quintessential Australia and worldliness. It is an amalgam of river, red dirt, food, wine, pool, spa, sauna, soft bed, sunset, and deep, smiling sleep. Here you will find adventure and relaxation, hosted by people who love their part of the world and have done absolutely everything to ensure others can enjoy it, in style.
