The charter flight from Cairns takes 22 minutes.
asserted
flight → take → minutes
For the first part we’re over sparkling blue ocean; then it starts to rain.
asserted
it → ’re → ocean
Soon we can see nothing outside the windows but white.
asserted
we → see → windows
Then, just as suddenly, we emerge from the clouds.
asserted
we → emerge → clouds
The landscape beneath us shows that we’ve entered a different world: no more ocean, just scattered eucalyptus trees and red earth stretching for kilometres until we spot the giant sandstone escarpment of Mount Mulligan and eventually the Mt Mulligan Lodge, looking every bit an oasis.
asserted
we → show → Mulligan
We land smoothly – and gratefully – beside a couple of tough-looking safari-style vehicles.
asserted
We → land → vehicles
Beside them, elegantly dressed waiters hold trays of perfectly chilled champagne.
asserted
waiters → dress → champagne
It’s an excellent introduction to a place where the environment is rugged, but the experience is decidedly not.
asserted
experience → ’ → place
I’m here for the world’s first Veuve Clicquot Sun Escape, a luxury lodge takeover that is the latest in the champagne house’s long pursuit of joy under the sun.
asserted
that → ’m → sun
In French, veuve simply means widow, and the name refers to Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, who was 27 when her husband François died in 1805, leaving her to take over the family champagne house in Reims, France, a job almost no woman of her era held.
asserted
woman → mean → era
If you want to look like you know your bubbles, you should only ever call it Clicquot, never Veuve, which essentially means you’re asking for a glass of widow.
asserted
you → want → widow
The Widow Clicquot turned out to be exceptionally good at her job, becoming known as La Grande Dame of Champagne.
asserted
Clicquot → turn → Champagne
She went on to perfect the riddling table that still clears sediment from bottles, and is credited with the first vintage champagne and the first blended rosé.
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that → go → champagne
The yellow label she popularised, formally registered in 1877, has become shorthand for what the house now calls its solaire spirit: sunshine, optimism, food, champagne and the particular pleasure of bringing people together somewhere beautiful.
asserted
house → popularise → people
If you want to look like you know your bubbles, you should only ever call it Clicquot, never Veuve...
asserted
you → want → it
That philosophy has become a travelling series of takeovers, from après-ski
asserted
philosophy → become → ski
Mount Mulligan is the first time the idea has travelled to the rugged outback.
asserted
idea → travel → outback
Mount Mulligan, or Ngarrabullgan, is eight times the size of Uluru, and the Mt Mulligan Lodge sits on a 28,000-hectare working cattle station, taking just 28 guests at a time.
asserted
Lodge → sit → time
Its shared spaces are chic, but relaxed rather than showy: a lofty main pavilion opening onto an infinity pool that sits at the edge of the water, a river weir that, we’re told, has a resident crocodile, although it’s apparently perfectly safe for paddleboarding and kayaking.
asserted
it → share → paddleboarding
(No one in my group wants to test this.)
asserted
one → want → this
In my suite on the river, a bottle of Yellow Label waits on ice.
asserted
bottle → wait → ice
I open it while running the open-air tin bath on the deck (so deep it takes 40 minutes to fill), one eye looking out for the croc.
asserted
eye → open → croc
That evening we’re driven up to a lookout for golden hour, where the sun goes down behind the mountain and we drink Veuve Clicquot Rosé the exact colour of the sky.
asserted
we → drive → sky
Later the lodge’s chefs cook dinner over open flame: Balmain bugs in Café de Paris butter, tiger prawns with a chimichurri beurre blanc, a bone-in rib-eye.
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chefs → cook → blanc
The dish of the night is a side of sweet potato slathered in honeycomb and sage butter.
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dish → slather → butter
It’s all eaten under the stars and paired with different vintages of La Grande Dame, the house’s prestige cuvée, including La Grande Dame Brut 2018.
asserted
It → eat → Brut
Years ending in eight tend to be good ones for champagne, although nobody quite knows why.
asserted
nobody → end → champagne
(1928 and 1988 are both revered, and La Grande Dame 2008 is considered one of the all-time greats.
asserted
Dame → revere → greats
It’s perhaps more than a coincidence that Monsieur and Madame Clicquot married in 1798 too.
asserted
Clicquot → ’ → 1798
The next morning we meet at 5.30am – thankfully recalling how if you only drink champagne, you don’t get a hangover – to watch the sunrise.
asserted
you → meet → sunrise
We drive in a convoy of our own Clicquot-branded yellow ATVs, wearing goggles and dust masks.
asserted
We → drive → goggles
The Brahman cross-cattle watch us impassively as we pass by the ruins of the old Mount Mulligan township, abandoned in 1958.
asserted
we → watch → 1958
Once there, we take in the vastness of the mountain as the sun rises and its face throws back a shifting slideshow of orange.
asserted
face → take → orange
Ngarrabullgan is sacred to the Kuku Djungan people, with occupation dating back some 37,000 years, and believed to be the birthplace of the Dreamtime’s Rainbow Serpent.
asserted
Ngarrabullgan → date → Serpent
We’re warned not to take anything of nature from the mountain unless we want bad luck to fall upon us, and we all look out for the wedge-tailed eagles, a sighting of which is supposed to be a sign that you’re on the right path in life.
asserted
you → warn → life
We didn’t spot any, but breakfast, delicious and eaten around the Lodge’s mineral pool, tells us so anyway.
asserted
breakfast → spot → us
It’s tempting to laze here all day (there’s a poolside canapé menu calling my name) but we commit to a hike.
asserted
we → ’ → hike
The walk is steep enough to be satisfying without being punishing, and the reward is a natural swimming hole tucked into the rocks.
asserted
reward → punish → rocks
The water is clean and cool, and with butterflies fluttering around the rock face that rises high above us, it definitely feels like there’s some bush magic around.
asserted
it → flutter → us
I drag myself away and feel I’ve earned those canapes while I wait for the hero event of the stay: one of Clicquot’s beloved Le Picnics.
asserted
I → drag → Picnics
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
