After 10 years, Halcyon House remains one of the country’s best boutique hotels
Staying here is like slipping into a dimension where time passes sumptuously slowly – with only the sun and the sound of the crashing ocean to coax you out of bed.
It’s a very good morning when the soft, burnished glow of dawn soaks the floor-to-ceiling drapes of my suite at Halcyon House, and the ceaseless rumble of crashing ocean waves fills my ears. Waking up here is gentle – no alarm required. Only sun and sound called upon to coax me out of bed.
Scanning the room for any sign of the time, I realise there is no clock in here. None of the ticking variety, nor any of those ghastly, lurid green digital ones. This just ain’t that kind of place. At Halcyon House you have nowhere else to be, nowhere else to go.
Nowhere except yoga on the lawn, I suddenly remember. That’s where I’m supposed to be. I’d been invited to salute the sun this morning and welcome another bluebird day at Cabarita Beach. The staff left me a note – no, not a note but a small embossed card – as “a gentle reminder” to meet their yogi and other assorted guests on the strip of green that separates Halcyon House from the sand and spray of the sea.
For the past decade, this stylish boutique hotel on northern NSW’s Tweed Coast has served to soothe. Staying here is like slipping into a dimension where time passes sumptuously slowly. For example, upon my arrival, I wrote a short list of all the things I simply had to do while here: eat at the restaurant, swim at the beach and in the pool, have a spa treatment, take a walk, enjoy a long bath. And yet my two-night stay was so hopelessly languid that at one point I wondered, how I could fit it all in?
Halcyon House is the vision realised of Brisbane’s Bickle sisters, Elisha and Siobhan, who in 2011 bought what was then known as the Hideaway, a budget red brick motel popular with backpackers and surfers itching to take on Cabarita’s famous point break.
The sisters, working with architect Virginia Kerridge, reimagined the property as a kind of laid-back European beach club, and alongside in-demand interior designer Anna Spiro (the woman responsible for the interiors at Brisbane’s buzzy new Naldham House precinct) created 22 suites, each uniquely appointed with antiques, fabric-upholstered walls and luxurious king-size beds.
Spiro’s eclectic style in this setting is both luxe and completely inviting. It is unabashedly feminine, with bold patterns and colour, layered textures and warm wood surfaces, and is best enjoyed at night when the low light and plush furnishings evoke, unexpectedly, the splendour of an English estate.
Meanwhile, the full vision of the Bickles is best taken in from a cool navy-and-white-striped poolside lounge under a blue sky. Behind me is the ocean, in front of me the pool, beside me a frozen pineapple and rosemary margarita served by one of the attentive, cheerful staff – all with great teeth and garbed in a breezy uniform of white linen shirts and brown linen pants. Nothing is too big an ask. Take this: after 10 minutes of huffing and puffing, I sheepishly call them to help me open the door to my private balcony, which is surely “stuck”. They arrive to merely flick the lock, slide it along its runners, and mercifully wish me a wonderful day.
For breakfast, lunch or dinner (or bar nibbles in between), Halcyon House’s acclaimed dining venue, Paper Daisy, is a jewel in northern NSW’s burgeoning food scene. Today, the restaurant is under the direction of executive chef Andrew Milford, who has worked under previous head chefs Ben Devlin and Jason Barratt at the venue since 2016. Milford continues Paper Daisy’s “seafood-forward” lunch and dinner menu.
Tonight, locally-caught tuna and mahi mahi are on the menu, as is what turns out to be a generous serving of grilled Fremantle octopus. It arrives perfectly charred and tender, accompanied by Bilambil potato, leek and black garlic. The Kiwami wagyu flank arrives shortly after and is elevated by Milford’s masterful poblano pepper and potato confit.
An unexpected benefit of having the onsite restaurant is that on the short stroll back to my suite, the salty scent of the ocean is matched by the mouth-watering smoky aroma of Paper Daisy’s grill. It is evocative and memorable.
When I visit in early April, the vibes are peak summer. Two 30-degree days back-to-back, and a large swell, attract beachgoers and surfers alike to Cabarita Beach. The clubbies are on the sand, as are the members of the local Boardriders Club. The car park on the headland is full, and so is the line-up. “It’s a pump day!” exclaims one surfer waxing his board on the shore. I take his word for it, chiefly because Cabarita Point is a serious surf spot for serious surfers. The kind who carry short, sharp boards about half their size and aggressively thrash themselves across the face of a wave.
I hike to the top of nearby Norries Headland to watch them, and as I weave past water dragons and through the dappled light of pandanus trees in the littoral rainforest, I reflect on how this tiny pocket of paradise, between Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, has managed to remain so delightfully under the radar.
In spirit, it feels more Byron than the glitzy GC. As if to drive the point home, I note a family of dreadlocked kids applying non-toxic sunscreen from an aluminium tin. (As a ginger, my sunscreen is about as toxic as regulations legally allow.)
On my last evening at Halcyon House, I return to my suite to find the staff have turned down the bed and applied the kind of (literal) sweet touch that makes me chuckle aloud with joy: a chocolate brownie has magically appeared by my bedside.
The treat is accompanied by a note: “We hope you enjoyed your time with us.”
Time – suddenly, I am running out of it. And yet the next day, as I’m shuttled to the airport and thrust back into a life attuned to ticking clocks and chirping alarms, I manage to defy the famous words of Dylan Thomas and go, rather gently.
Checklist
Getting there: Halcyon House is a 20-minute drive south of Gold Coast Airport. The hotel offers an airport transfer via shuttle bus. For drivers travelling south on the Pacific Highway, take the second exit off the highway after crossing Barneys Point Bridge over the Tweed River, and follow the signs past Casuarina to Cabarita Beach. Drivers travelling north take the Clothiers Creek Rd Exit, 20 minutes north of the Byron Bay turnoff, and travel east.
Stay: You can book a suite directly via the website (halcyonhouse.com.au). Rooms start at $750 a night and sleep two. The Halcyon Suite sleeps five and is available from $2110 a night. Breakfast at Paper Daisy restaurant is included.
Do: The hotel has one pool accessible to guests only, plus the very popular Halcyon Spa, which includes massage services, facials and other body therapies; book ahead. Take an easy walk along Cabarita Beach to Norries Headland to take in panoramic views north to Kingscliff and south to Hastings Point. The headland is an excellent whale-watching spot, surrounded by protected paper daisies (from which Halcyon House’s restaurant takes its name). The hotel also provides complimentary use of its bikes and surfboards. Art lovers should consider travelling 25 minutes west to visit the very good Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre.
Eat: Paper Daisy restaurant offers an excellent seasonal menu with a seafood focus; open daily for lunch and dinner by reservation. The Paper Daisy Bar is also open daily from 3pm, no reservation required. Outside the hotel, visit No 35 Kitchen & Bar (number35.com.au) for exquisite modern Italian dining by chef Daniel Medcalf (formerly of Sydney’s Icebergs), best enjoyed from the outdoor area under a starry night sky.
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