SALLY'S SURF SHACK!

THE CHAMPION ATHLETE HAS BUILT HER DREAM HOME

- Jodie Wolf

Situated on the Gerroa headland in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Highline House is the glorious new beach home of professional Australian surfer and Olympian, Sally Fitzgibbons. The athlete took on the renovations to the beach shack with her builder and friend, Simon Rees, who she calls a “true craftsman”. The pair have created a haven. “I’ve been fortunate enough to grow up on this headland and it definitely restores energy. You start to realise as you grow older that you don’t have that teenager ‘energiser bunny’ energy that you used to have, but living here there is a never-ending resource of peace you have to top you up.”

The home exudes rustic charm and has been designed so that the contemporary and the traditional cohabit together seamlessly. “We only built two bedrooms in this home,” she tells WHO. “I could’ve added more, but I chose to do a nice boutique gym instead so I can come home, train and use the pool.”

The home also has a bathroom, kitchen, dining area, separate living room and a study nook. With the elements in mind, the revamped space offers Fitzgibbons, 31, hints of the nearby ocean at every turn.

“I don’t know what I love more, the recycled timbers in the boardwalks or the salt-crusted rock platforms that inspired the kitchen benchtops,” she says. “But it’s those things that make you feel you’re walking more into a story and I feel very connected to it.”