New beginning for beloved Lake Bennett Resort just weeks away

It’s been years since the Lake Bennett Resort closed its doors, but the beloved Darwin rural area hotel is now poised to reopen in a matter of weeks under new management.

IT’S been more than three years since the Lake Bennett Resort closed its doors, but the beloved Darwin rural area hotel is now poised to reopen in a matter of weeks under new management with big plans for the venue.

The 50-room retreat, located 85km south of Darwin, was closed in 2018, but in January the facility was rented to new director and manager Andrew Gunn on a 25-year lease from owner and previous operator Carolyn Reynolds.

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Mr Gunn said since then, his team had upgraded the whole building, including gutting, cleaning, repainting and refurbishing most areas.

Mr Gunn said at this stage, he was aiming to reopen the resort on Saturday, May 1.

“I’ve never seen a venue with more tourism potential,” he said.

“My three-year plan is to employ 100 staff and get the place really firing to what it could be.

“Eventually I’d like it to be run similarly to what it was 15 years ago, and I want to get it back to running with the 50-odd rooms that it could have.

Lake Bennett Resort director and manager Andrew Gunn. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

“In the bigger picture, I want it to really tap into the grey nomad market, which I believe is just going to grow in the next two to three years.

“The golf course, which won’t be coming back, I’m hoping to eventually turn into a caravan park.”

Mr Gunn said initially the resort would only be allowed to accommodate 50 guests at a time, under instructions from NT Health, but he expected to ramp up to near-full capacity in several months.

He said guests would be able to enjoy walking trails, canoeing on the lake or swimming in the pool, or heading out to nearby Batchelor or Litchfield National Park.

Mr Gunn is an experienced hotelier who has previously owned and run about 15 hotels in South Australia, including some of the biggest in the state.

He said he had relocated to Darwin from Adelaide in September to develop the resort after noticing its huge potential, especially amid the COVID-impacted Australian tourism landscape.

Lake Bennett Resort director and manager Andrew Gunn at the freshwater lake at the site. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

“It’s in a great location, in terms of its vicinity to Darwin – it’s less than an hour away – and it’s got a lot of land,” he said.

“And I think the NT in general is going to go through and experience an enormous tourism boom, purely because of what’s happening with COVID-19 and world health.

“We’re already seeing marked growth in local tourism, and my thoughts are that people from interstate … are always trying to escape the winter and go somewhere warm and they can’t go to Bali or Thailand, so I think Darwin, Cairns and Broome are really going to benefit.”

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He said his team would initially be targeting Top End locals keen to relive fond memories of their previous time at the resort.

The Lake Bennett Resort was closed in 2018 after NT chief health officer Hugh Heggie disallowed the resort’s Eagle’s Nest Restaurant’s registration as a food business due to concerns about the use of lake water in its kitchen.

Lake Bennett Resort director and manager Andrew Gunn at the freshwater lake at the site. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

Ms Reynolds has appealed the decision in court.

Mr Gunn said the new management team was in the process of installing a new water system at the resort to address the issue.

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