At this High Country retreat, Saturday morning never felt so good

The Ovens River runs strong and fast, tearing down from the Victorian Alps above us. Mid-winter, the water is basically snowmelt and, incongruously, I’m standing at the river’s edge in a bikini.

“Just sit with your back to the current and let it wash over your shoulders,” Harry Borthwick encourages me.

The Ovens River at Porepunkah in the Victorian High Country.

I take the plunge and – there’s no way to sugarcoat it – the river is bloody cold. My saviour is Borthwick’s mobile sauna parked beside the river. A box of cedar-scented heat, at up to 90 degrees, it has windows looking out to the river.

Borthwick and partner Audrey run Haut Hutt, three nomadic, Finnish-style saunas that travel around Victoria’s High Country. This one is on Farm at Freeburgh, my home for a weekend of wellness 10 minutes from Bright, where I’ve planned yoga, massage, healthy eating and drinking and the hero activity, the sauna.

Between the horse paddocks and the Taj Mahal of chook pens, Farm owners Belinda and Brendan Raveane have two self-contained stays, the Stables and the Barn. The corrugated iron Barn is a cosy space that sleeps four, with a roaring fire and kitchenette, and is a three-minute ramble along pony tracks from the sauna after my allotted hour.

Friday night is dinner at Tomahawks, but health food is not to be found in the juicy lamb ribs flying off the menu. The cocktails feature manuka honey or yuzu, and there’s wellness in the restaurant’s warm conviviality, be they happy, puffer-jacketed diners outside or laughing groups inside sharing plates in the warmth.

The Barn at The Farm at Freeburgh, near Bright in Victoria’s High Country.

Come Saturday morning, I’m up uncharacteristically early, slipping into the yoga studio at Botanic Alps. The timber building on Bright’s main street has done an about-face: once the town’s funeral parlour, it is now an earth-conscious emporium of life, as teacher Daniela Julio starts the warm-up for an hour of vinyasa yoga.

From the studio, it’s straight into the massage room, where therapist Jamie-Lee Clauss delivers a 90-minute facial and massage.

Never has Saturday morning felt so good (except maybe the bit where she delves deep into long-ignored muscle groups, to untangle the knots).

Afterwards, in the fire-warmed shopfront, I cruise Botanic Alps’ wares – locally made pottery, jewellery and skincare. Clauss suggests the frankincense and immortelle face serum, made by owner and clinical aromatherapist Mariane Riffart.

Enjoy the warmth by a roaring fire in Barn at Farm at Freeburgh.

Across the road, Wild Thyme is a coeliac-friendly, vegan and vegetarian cafe. The drink order here is a shakao, a healthful blend of cacao and spices invented by Bright local Stan Meissner. Just as I’m about to commit to a caffeine-free morning, the staff let slip that I can order it “dirty”, with a shot of caffeine. Healthy and perky!

All this goodness sets me up for the sauna, which Harry Borthwick tends during my hour of hot power. I could plunge in the cold tubs, but why tub when you can go wild and free in the river?

You may think there’s no wellness to be found in a distillery, but hear me out. Seated at Reed & Co distillery for dinner, the signature free-range chicken grilling over flames before us, Rachel Reed reveals the newest drink, umeshu. It’s a blend of aged shochu made from biodynamic barley and organic South Australian ume (Japanese plums), known to protect the liver. Box ticked.

The kitchenette in The Barn at Farm at Freeburgh.

Back at Farm of Freeburgh, the Barn twinkles with fairy lights, as do the stars overhead. Sleep comes easily, and morning is heralded by the breakfast of champions, Harrietville Bakery’s revered vanilla slice.

They’re best devoured after cycling to the mountain village on the Great Valley Trail bike path, which runs straight past the farm’s front gate. If you can’t get there early, my tip is to phone ahead to reserve yours. Or perhaps you get lucky, and your lovely host delivers.

Happy, limber, warm and well-fed, I drive home feeling the High Country love, running hot.

THE DETAILS

Drive
Bright is 3½ hours’ drive from Melbourne.

Stay
The Barn at Farm at Freeburgh costs from $325 a night: thefarmatfreeburgh.com.au

Get well
Botanic Alps has yoga, massage treatments and hand-made skincare products: brightbotanicalps.com.au

Sauna
One-hour Haut Hutt sauna sessions cost $35 a person for up to six people (shared) and $200 for a private session: hauthuttsauna.as.me/mondo

Eat
Tomahawks: tomahawksbright.com.au Wild Thyme: facebook.com/wildthymecafebright Reed & Co Distillery: reedandcodistillery.com Harrietville Bakery: instagram.com/harrietville_bakery

Belinda Jackson was a guest of Victoria’s High Country. See victoriashighcountry.com.au