Eden Health Retreat near the Gold Coast reveals new look
Australia’s longest-running health retreat has had a makeover.
The river water is shallow but cold, the boulders as slippery as crushed velvet. I’m attempting not to topple as we cross in bare feet. Watery scramble survived, our small group focuses on breathing deeply, eyes closed, wriggling wet toes in damp grass, listening to the cries of currawongs and whipbirds. When instructed to open our eyes again everything seems miraculously transformed, the grass greener, the fringing rainforest more vibrant. This is “medicine by nature”. The prescribed pills? Clean air, cold water, silence. With the luminous Brianna as our guide, this deceptively simple class is one of a suite of inspirational workshops that form the foundation of customised week-long packages at Queensland’s Eden Health Retreat.
Australia’s longest-running wellness resort, which debuted in the heady 1980s, closed in 2020 to undertake a multimillion-dollar refurbishment, relaunching in January 2021 with 12 new luxury villas, a state-of-the-art yoga and pilates pavilion and a handsome new kitchen and dining lodge.
The retreat’s secluded setting, deep in the emerald-green Currumbin Valley, needed no such zhuzhing up, however. This extraordinarily beautiful pocket of wilderness, less than an hour’s drive from the bustling Gold Coast, is a pharmacopoeia of natural remedies, the perfect place to disconnect from the frenetic 21st century.
I admit to approaching Eden with some trepidation. Delayed at Brisbane Airport, caught in an endless traffic snarl to the Gold Coast, it was dark by the time we turned inland to climb the narrow mountain road. I had oodles of time to ponder how I would cope sans Wi-Fi, TV, phone, alcohol and, worst of all, English breakfast tea. Would we subsist on a diet of ancient grains unearthed in an Inca tomb, be frogmarched up mountains, subjected to agonising hours in the gym?
I need not have worried. In the stylish new dining lodge guests are finishing dinner (the kitchen hurries out a plate of juicy king prawns for tardy me). Retreat general manager Chris Van Hoof, tall, toned and positively glowing with good health, is welcoming guests. His briefing is extremely reassuring. “Wake up tomorrow and connect with how you feel,” he says. “Do as little or as much as you like … feel free to engineer your own experience … there’s no need to complete a class if you don’t feel like it … Eden is for you.” Phew.
But as I quickly learn, this doesn’t mean management is hands-off. Quite the opposite; personalised care is central to Eden’s holistic ethos.
Everyone has completed extensive health questionnaires before arriving, outlining goals (and limitations). Waiting for me, along with a large water bottle and journal, is my bespoke schedule for the following day, and it looks promising. I spy the word massage and see loads of meals scheduled.
Before heading to bed, we all fall on the herbal tea bar. A fellow guest suspects the chai might have a smidge of caffeine so that’s me sorted. Water flasks double as thermoses, which is important because there’s no minibar, kettle or any other form of temptation in Eden’s 40 suites and villas.
I’m lucky enough to be road-testing the new Cascade Lodge. Nestled into the hillside affording lovely views through floor-to-ceiling windows, the stylish villa is enormous, with pale timber panelling and contemporary furniture. It’s not the least bit monastic.
There are views into the valley from the king bed, and more as I step down into the large living area where a suspended log fire and ginormous sofa make for the perfect reading/napping nook on cooler days (housekeeping ensures the essential oil burner is always lit so the room smells lovely). The bathroom is similarly oversized, with a double shower and large freestanding bathtub set at the window. A generous deck with armchairs and daybed looks down into the valley, past a shivering clump of giant bamboo over the river to a forest-clad ridge.
I skip the crack-of-dawn walk for a bit of a lie-in, listening to the most extraordinary birdsong symphony. Breakfast is served at 7.30 sharp and it’s substantial: delicious zucchini fritters with a green pea puree, goat’s milk chevre and herb salad dressed with local forest honey.
Under creative head chef Georgia Barnes, the food is a highlight. One of my fellow guests, who fled New York City as Covid landed, remembers coming to Eden a lifetime ago as a student. “The food was terrible,” she says. “We tried to run away.”
Times have changed. Gluten-free and nutrient-rich with lots of leafy greens augmented by tangy dressings and pickled/fermented veg, the menu is varied and delicious. There is some white meat, even a schnitzel with an almond crust. And there are treats, including a signature (and utterly scrumptious) cacao bar strewn with raspberries and little flowers. All the food is beautifully presented, salads arranged as little paintings (very Instagram-able if there were any signal). And there’s no chance of going hungry, with morning and afternoon tea served between the main meals. The new light-filled dining room is the heart of the retreat, a convivial space where guests come together over food, play board games, and gather outside on the terrace in front of the great stone hearth.
As the hours, then days, roll by, the rest of the world seems to fall away. A total absence of English breakfast tea means I sleep like a log, windows open, drifting off to sounds of the murmuring river.
Slumber is further aided by an amazing kahuna massage courtesy of the mystical Margot, who reproduces this former Hawaiian royal ritual with great generosity. There’s smudging with sage, soft incantations, massage, stretching and lots of jettisoning of bad energy. Utter bliss.
My stay takes on a pleasurable routine. Mornings are misty, a soft breeze rustling through the bamboo grove, which crackles like the first heavy drops of a rainstorm. As the sun hits the ridge opposite, great flocks of birds emerge from the canopy, their cries echoing across the valley – kookaburras, black cockatoos, galahs and currawongs.
I mosey down to grab a quick chai, taking a slow spin around the stone labyrinth en route. Others are in the Mud Club, caking themselves in New Zealand clay and emerging as shiny and hydrated as newborns.
If you’re a busy sort, days can be crammed with activities such as pilates, yoga, boxing, Zumba and exercise circuits. The massive gym complex includes a sauna, steam room and world-class day spa, offering an excellent treatment menu. (The age-corrective facial does what it says on the tin, or so I tell myself.) A large heated swimming pool occupies a restful garden setting. The 162ha grounds include tennis courts tucked at the forest’s edge, ornamental lakes, walking trails and plenty of quiet places to sit (there’s also a resident flock of wild but friendly chooks that make delightful company.)
I highly recommend the nutritional counselling. Saliva and urine samples are collected and analysed (dehydration is common), then the divine Kate spends a couple of hours mapping out a plan to take home, recipes included.
If, like me, you just want to be left alone to put some sleep in the bank, the Eden crew are wonderfully accommodating. While other guests are leaping from the flying fox or boxercising, I opt for some low-key Qigong. Or pursue a spot of shinrin-yoku (forest bathing), strolling next door into the stunningly beautiful Springbrook National Park, where a narrow path shaded by prickly tree ferns winds past thundering waterfalls to an abandoned sawmill.
The river is high and the forest hums with a sort of green energy. Medicine by Nature. I close my eyes, empty my mind and listen. In this moment I’d happily trade the noisy, hyper-connected world out there for Eden’s enchanted valley.
But truth is, I could murder a good cuppa.
In the know
Eden Health Retreat is 100km southeast of Brisbane. If departing on a weekend morning, drop by the charming Currumbin Valley Harvest roadside market. Grab your first coffee in a week or stock up on “ceremonial grade” cacao and “reiki infused” candles. It’s a last chance to take a little bit of Currumbin serenity home with you.
Christine McCabe was a guest of Tourism and Events Queensland and Eden Health Retreat.
This article was originally published in June 2021 and has since been updated.
