AFTER buying the Bloomfield Beach Camp sight unseen from Western Australia at the height of the pandemic, new locals Kat Hewitt and Yogi Noble say they are loving life in the Far North.
The couple spent several years travelling the country working in various hospitality management positions in between staying at accommodation venues as patrons, which Ms Hewitt said gave them a good insight before buying in the southern Cape.
“We were working at a resort in Broome at the time and were so short-staffed we couldn’t take the time off to fly over and look (at Bloomfield Beach Camp) so our friends stopped in and checked it out for us,” she said.
“We didn’t have any hesitation buying an accommodation place in the middle of COVID; we’d done research and knew at the time there were 20,000 caravans and camper trailers sold but not yet built and there had been a massive move towards camping because people still wanted to get away on holiday but couldn’t travel overseas.”
The couple packed up their former life in Adelaide, sold their house and moved to Bloomfield in September 2021.
After a one-week handover with the previous owners, the Beach Camp was theirs.
Their first task was changing the name to avoid disappointing travellers who thought they could camp on the beach.
Kat Hewitt and Yogi Noble have settled into the Far North lifestyle.
“The name Beach Camp didn’t reflect what the park is, which is cabins and camping in Bloomfield,” Ms Hewitt said.
“People would get here and get upset because they think they’re going to be camping on the beach.”
The couple have other plans, including re-opening the restaurant to the public, weekly movie nights and even traveller’s yoga.
“Two chefs are arriving this month, and initially it looks like the restaurant will be open four or five days a week for breakfast and dinner and will be adjusted as the tourist season develops,” Ms Hewitt said.
“As soon as it’s dry we’ll also have Saturday night family movies which will be open to everybody for a gold coin donation.”
Along with her extensive hospitality management background, Ms Hewitt is also a yoga-lates instructor, and after spending long hours on the road knows how bad sitting in a car can be on your body.
“I’m going to do a traveller’s reboot, based on chair yoga, which will help people who are tight and sore from driving and sitting in cars.”
Ms Hewitt said she and Mr Noble had been kept busy updating and renovating the park’s three safari tents and cabins, amenities and camp kitchen, and extensive grounds, which feature 20 sites.
“Someone at some point spent a lot of time building incredible grounds, so we’ve been finding them again, removing the overgrowth and finding the original design.”
