The military version of the DC-3 – the plane often credited with introducing air travel to the masses and known as the Gooney Bird – is the latest addition of quirky living spaces at The Lily, 100km North of Albany, WA.
Hosts Hennie and Pleun Hitzert have been working since September 2012 on the restoration of the Dak – one of thousands manufactured for the war effort and build in the USA in 1943/44. It was delivered to the Dutch East Indies in 1944 and did service in Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. In her day, she was reckoned to be a technological marvel and still is one of the most iconic and successful planes ever build. Now available for couples to stay in, she is, so far we know, the only Dakota rental accommodation in the world.
The Lily itself is centred on the Lily Windmill, an authentic 16th Century design brick ‘ground-sail’ mill. The five story full size Dutch windmill, with its 22 ton cap and a sail length of 24.6 meters, is one of the largest traditional windmills ever built in Australia and the only operational flour producing windmill on the mainland.
Next to the windmill there are 16th Century replica Dutch Houses and the original relocated and reconstructed 1924 Federation style Railway Station from Gnowangerup.
All boast “fabulous views of the Stirling Range”.
