Full time: $1,200/week (before tax), 5 days/wk (including some weekends/public holidays). Package includes staff share house accommodation, return flights to Christmas Island from Perth, car, fuel, internet and other perks!
Contract Date: 5th April 2023 until 5th January 2024, with the option to renew for the right candidate. Commitment to the 9 month contract is a must.
Swell Lodge is situated on remote Christmas Island and is an eco-lodge like no other. Perched atop oceanfront cliffs deep within the expansive national park sit two completely off-grid lodges, housing no more than 6 guests in total. Its guests visit from all corners of the globe to witness the rare, unique and endangered animal species, including our famous annual red crab migration where 189 million crabs travel through the jungle to an abundant surrounding ocean!
The experience for guests is carefully curated to offer an authentic luxury experience complete with fine dining, featuring some of the island’s wild foraged foods, and fresh seafood incorporating a fusion of flavours from neighbouring South-East Asian islands.
Skill Set Required: As the only private chef for the lodge you must be able to work autonomously, to design and execute not only a complete menu but also a memorable experience for each guest. This highly personal approach offers great satisfaction, and a unique opportunity to creatively experiment with modern fine dining trends.
The ability to drive a manual vehicle is essential.
Job Role: The role is managed into a 5-day/week workload. The chef needs to prepare gourmet picnic lunch boxes for the guides to collect in the mornings, and 5 nights a week travel out to the lodge to serve a 3-course dinner to the guests in each of the two private eco-lodges, leaving behind a self-serve breakfast for each group.
Once settled into the role, between meal prep, days can be free for snorkelling in the crystal-clear tropical water amongst the coral and fish, exploring the rainforest, caving, visiting the blowholes, experiencing the island’s famous red crabs and endemic birdlife, or just socialising with the adventurous small island community.
Considerations:
Whilst you escape the mainland grind, into a more relaxed ‘island’ pace there are always considerations.
This is a remote island living with slow, expensive and unreliable delivery of mainland foods. The ability to plan ahead, manage and order supplies, be resourceful and have an understanding of growing some fresh herbs and vegetables be advantageous.
Remote island living also requires you to be able to live respectfully and responsibly in a small community.
The freedom that comes with this independent role also requires enormous reliability and work ethic and, of course, good time management.
As our company ethos is based on preserving this wildly abundant environment, our work processes must be considered to offer the least impact on our natural environment. Eco-work practices are encouraged and a love of – and patience for – nature is essential.
While the majority of prep and pre-cooking will be done back in the kitchen at the staff share house in town (30-40min from the lodge), the cooking facilities at the lodge are limited to a single indication hot plate. As the lodge is solar powered, electricity usage needs to be minimised, so skills in pre-cooking techniques including sous vide are important.
Applications close 28th Feb. Due to staff accommodation, this is for a single person, however, If you have a partner who would be interested in a Nature Guide role with the lodge, check out our Chef and Guide couples ad on Seek.
IMPORTANT – If you’re interested (or know someone who might be) or would like more information, please apply below or email Kyle at [email protected] Applicants MUST describe their fine-dining experience, attach their CV, and provide sample photos of their food presentation, along with a recent photo of themselves, or their social media portfolio.
