22/04/2024
Firstly, on behalf of the De Lago team, I must apologise for the inconvenience and confusion the temporary closure of De Lago Resort has caused to so many people. Our team know that it is a much-loved place to visit, and we have really enjoyed sharing our venue with so many great customers. We look forward to doing so again very shortly.
When I first came to De Lago Resort (formerly Lake Bennett Resort) in March, 2020, I fell in love with the peace and beauty of the Lake and surrounds, and could see great potential in the resort, even if the infrastructure and facilities were in a terrible state of disrepair. That started the long journey of securing a long-term lease, and then working to restore this much-loved asset. Tens of thousands of hours of hard work, and $500,000 poured back into the facility, the results have been fantastic. The great feedback from customers, and the looks on their faces when they entered the venue for the first time in years, made all that hard work pay off.
I realised the old resort needed a lot of TLC, investment, and hard work. A brief breakdown of the extensive expenditure is as follows:
• $103,000 spent on installing a new, larger septic tank, 800m of new pipework, new pumps and state of the art electronic controllers.
• $60,000 on replacing all the kitchen equipment, including cool room compressors.
• $25,000 on a new water filtration plant, and large holding tank. This includes 2 by 3 filter systems, and UV light to kill any bacteria and e-coli, not killed by the chlorine.
• Around $100,000 on approximately 25 split system air conditioners of all sizes.
• $40,000 on pest control to kill all the termites and other pests, that hadn’t previously been treated correctly.
• A complete repaint of all Lakefront Rooms, as well as replacement of all electrical installations, including power points and switches, fans, televisions and bar fridges. Additional beds and furniture.
• Tidy up of all grounds, including rubbish removal and restoration of the garden areas.
While there is always room for improvement, I think the Resort is looking the best it has in the last decade.
The Resort was previously closed by NT Health, partly due to the septic system. We took on board all the feedback and points that they highlighted. We replaced the old tank with a new larger one. Authorities said that the black pipework had to be replaced with purple (being septic). Even though 90% of the black pipe was not visible and underground, we dug that up and replaced 800 metres of piping.
The previous owner, when allowed to open, had a total septic tank capacity of 26,000 litres. Quoted from the government-appointed engineers report, they were allowed 126 guests in the resort, based on that capacity. After $103,000 was spent on upgrades, the total capacity was increased to 38,000 litres. I was very disappointed and frustrated to learn we were only allowed a 50-guest maximum under our new Commercial Visitor Accommodation License, and 40 guests in our dining room under the new Food Certificate. This was less than a quarter of the number I was hoping for and needed to make the business viable.
For the next 3 years we begged and pleaded with authorities to allow us to trade with increased numbers, that would allow us to at least break even. I was told to put in a formal request. In November, 2022 we requested the Resort have a capacity of 126 patrons, which is the same as the previous owner received with a smaller system. That request, like other lodgments, was rejected.
In December, 2023, we were informed that a report from a hydraulic consultant would allow the licensed capacity of the Resort to increase straight away. We appointed a very reputable consultant, recommended by NT Government and several plumbers. This expert consultant prepared a detailed report stating the correct capacity was 220 guests, across room accommodation, camping and food and beverage guests. This report was completed and lodged with NT Health in early March, 2024, in time for Easter, 2024. Assuming we would finally be able to trade to normal capacity, we allowed several camping bookings for Easter.
Our report from this expert was ignored and backfired on us. The 50 limit was now being policed very, very strictly. Camping had to go, and the 40 bookings we had taken had to be cancelled. It was not easy informing families they could no longer camp at Lake Bennett, over Easter, potentially ruining their holidays. We could not tell these guests the truth as to why they could not camp at Lake Bennett. We sincerely apologise to all those people that missed out on spending Easter with us, and hope to make it up to them, if and when we are allowed to re-open.
Over the last 3 years, we have chlorinated the water supply daily to safe levels, and recorded the chlorine levels daily to ensure a safe water supply. Even though we are 99.9% sure the water outside of the main building is safe (triple filtered and chlorinated), we don’t want to take any chances. That is why we have supplied 10lt boxed water to all Lakefront rooms, for our guest’s convenience. The water in the main building goes through UV treatment, and another 3 filters, including a carbon filter that takes out smell, taste and chlorine. We have had numerous water samples tested at the government’s water testing facilities at Berrimah, and all samples have been safe. The latest one showed the water was very safe to drink, even before going through the 4th to 6th filter, and UV light.
We do pride ourselves on running a great business and take great care in the wellbeing of our guests. Hence, we would never take unnecessary risks. We were informed on Easter Saturday by the NT Health inspectors, that we were doing a great job, particularly with keeping the patron numbers under 50.
It was a complete surprise, and just shocking news to have a Public Health Order put on the business, and forced to close, less than 2 weeks after this.
We have lodged an objection to the Order on Monday, 15th April, 2024, less that 2 business days after receiving the Order. Our objection listed every point raised in the Order, and how we had addressed or rectified all points. We were told it would take 2 days for a decision on our objection, it is now over a week. We are desperately trying to retain the 13 great staff we had employed ready for the dry season, but it is extremely difficult when we aren’t being told of any timeframes.
We sincerely apologise to the 300+ people who have emailed panicking, but we were hoping common sense would prevail and we would have been allowed to re-open by now.
Again, I sincerely apologise to all former and future customers and patrons, and everyone that loves visiting this tourism icon, that is De Lago Resort. We sincerely hope that common sense prevails, and we will again be your destination of choice for fun, recreation, relaxing and the place where you go to revitalise and refresh.
Hopefully we will meet again very soon.
Best regards,
Andrew
