Beenak House Sanctuary

An hour east of Melbourne, a winding road leads through tall gums, banksia, tree ferns, and wattle. And then, as if the forest has been keeping a secret, a mosaic sign beckons. You've found Beenak House.

A three-storey mud brick and pole home, built by hand from the land itself in the 1970s, rising out of the hillside like it grew here. Tree trunks vault through the interior. And somewhere in the understorey, a lyrebird is singing the forest back to itself.

I've just made this place home. A sanctuary. Quiet on the surface, and absolutely alive underneath. A rare corner of Australia that quietly answers a dream a lot of people carry, of forest, of growing food, of wildlife at the door, of living off-grid, of a life that feels natural.

Nothing anywhere is permanent, though we tend to live as if it is. This place has known fire before. This channel is my way of honouring and celebrating it while it is exactly as it is right now.

Welcome to a slice of life at Beenak House Sanctuary.