Turning off the main road, the Alba Thermal Springs & Spa rises into view as a man-made monolith, confounding in its scale. The ultra-modern concrete facade is spare, imposing, industrial; a Bauhaus mean girl poised against a windswept hillside.

We park alongside electric vehicle charging stations crowded with sleek black Tesla Model Xs and cross to a perfectly weathered wooden pathway. The muted grey-green tones of exquisitely maintained tea-tree brush and Australian natives hug the pathway up to an imposing maw of dark glass.