Queensland’s Gold Coast has long been known as a party girl, but when she throws off her high heels, trades her Pina Colada for a green juice, and swaps her favourite nightclub for an oxygen bar, she becomes the ultimate destination for healthy indulgence.
Eden Health Retreat, located on 400 lush acres in the Currumbin Valley, is Australia’s longest-running health retreat. It has undergone a dramatic transformation in the 30 years since I was last there, ditching dorm rooms, Pritikin diet principles and group therapy in favour of luxurious facilities, nutritionist-designed meals, and activities ranging from pilates to boxercise. During its 10-month Covid-related closure, Eden also built 12 new cabins and a yoga pavilion. “People used to come to a health retreat and look for ‘the guru’ to show them the way,” says manager Chris van Hoof. “Now they’re owning their own health.” Some things don’t change though – at Club Mud, you can still slather yourself in clay and sunbathe.
Established in 2006, Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat is so alive with rainforest sounds that I fall asleep to rapturous frog song and wake to laughing kookaburras. Breakfast is served after a sunrise Qigong class, a brisk walk and a shot of apple cider vinegar (“to aid the digestion process”). Optional activities like strength training or deep-water running follow, but afternoons are devoted to rest and relaxation. The spa here is the southern hemisphere’s largest, with 33 womb-like treatment rooms. I don a cloud-soft robe, pour a cup of lemon myrtle aniseed tea, and head for the new wellness lounge, with its meditation chair offering guided breathing exercises, an air-purifier oxygen concentrate and zero-gravity experience.
Many glitter strip hotel spas have closed due to the pandemic, but Azure Spa & Fitness, which opened in early 2018, is still soothing frazzled souls. Located on the pool deck level of The Star Gold Coast, the six-room spa offers an inviting range of facials, massages, body wraps and other treatments, some designed specifically for blokes. Bookend your treatment with a gym workout or a dip in the pool beforehand, and a meal at Japanese restaurant Kiyomi afterwards. The sashimi here, including petal-dusted seared scampi, comes highly recommended. The Star is the place to stay if you’re still keen to stay close to a cocktail and a craps table on your health journey.
Under the shade of a sprawling fig tree, The Bathhouse, which opened in June at Ground at Currumbin, offers a barefoot, open air experience. Facilities include a traditional cedar hot tub, two hydrotherapy spas, a cold magnesium-enriched plunge pool and a hand-built Finnish sauna complete with woodburning stove and hot volcanic stones. Infrared sauna sessions and (for the brave) ice baths can be booked separately. A range of natural therapies including cosmetic acupuncture, shiatsu and sound healing are offered upstairs in the renovated century-old farmhouse, which rocks its own relaxed vibe. Ground at Currumbin is situated in an award-winning eco-village where all homes are solar-powered and water self-sufficient.
Spilling out of The Bathhouse and into Pasture & Co next door for brunch is an effortless process. Pasture & Co features fresh, local, sustainable produce, and a cabinet full of vegan, raw, and gluten-free sweet treats. The ‘brunch’ menu spans choices which work equally well early or later in the day, such as zucchini and potato rosti, or the Ground bowl filled with roasted pumpkin, brown rice, zucchini noodles, miso dressing and, if you wish, smoked tofu. Cold pressed juices are a further drawcard – my beetroot, apple, carrot and ginger blend struck just the right note between earthy and sweet. Raw cake making classes are offered on occasion. Pick up some Currumbin Valley honey or organic locally grown produce from the neighbouring Ground Grocer before heading off.
The centrepiece of Soak Bathhouse, which opened at Mermaid Beach in January, is an undercover pool heated to 34 degrees, surrounded by treatment rooms where guests can add-on massages, LED facials or infrared sauna. Soak also has two outdoor mineral spas, a cold plunge pool, an ultra-dry red cedar wood sauna, a eucalyptus scented steam room and a sun deck. Choose the ‘soak and sip’ option to enjoy two drinks from the bar. CEO and co-founder Alexis Dyson says bathhouses are back because they surmount the stress of social distancing. “People are feeling the need to connect with others,” she says. “You get huge health benefits from that connection.”
Sparkling aqua waters make Tallebudgera Creek the perfect spot for stand up paddleboard (SUP) yoga with Pure Aloha Yoga. After paddling upstream and anchoring at a small sand cay, our instructor Miranda Jones leads us through a gentle flow. Manoeuvring on a floating paddleboard while embracing the sun, wind and other elements adds a new dimension to down dog and pigeon pose. “It’s a completely different connection to what it would be in a studio,” Jones says. “We challenge people and encourage them to fall off because that’s part of the fun.” Sure enough, I spend more time in the water than out of it, but this only makes savasana at the end of the class all that more rewarding.
Based at Mermaid Beach, The Milkman’s Daughter is a vegetarian café, but there’s not a mung bean or lentil in sight. Chefs make around 60 recipes from scratch, including the nourishing apple pie porridge made with oats and quinoa, and lemon ricotta pancakes with vanilla turmeric custard. “Embracing a plant-based theme has allowed all our team to be more creative and innovative than our present day deep fried high preservative culture allows,” says owner Andrea Neave. Neave abandoned an international finance career to seek a slower-paced lifestyle. Coming soon to this sun-bleached space is a “conscious bar” offering alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks with tapas.
Organic meats, local produce, and plenty of plant-based options keep health-conscious diners coming back to Stable Coffee Kitchen. This café opened in 2018, with indoor and courtyard seating, and a stretch of grass for the sipper cup set. I tucked into the Spring breakfast salad featuring kale, wild rice, crispy chickpeas and baby beetroots and carrots, but if you want bacon and eggs, that’s available too. (Everything free range, of course.) Drinks-wise, there are banana and cacao smoothies to breakfast margaritas. “We tried to bring something genuine and unique to our community,” says owner Benjamin Honey. Stable is nestled in the Cornerstone complex opposite Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and is also home to a fromagerie, boutiques and studio for yoga, barre and meditation.
Rich in lean protein, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins, the health benefits of seafood are indisputable. But the ocean has more to offer than barramundi and snapper, says Paul Gloftis, who opened Miami Fish Market with Craig Warren in July. Miami Fish Market encourages people to broaden their piscatorial horizons – through sampling periwinkles, gooseneck barnacles, or sea anemones. “People are blown away … they say they can’t get this anywhere else,” says Gloftis. Fresh, more familiar favourites are also flown in daily from all around the country. Check out the sashimi bar, oyster shucking station, caviar fridge and dry-ageing fish cabinet, then pull up a stool outside to enjoy your very own catch of the day.
This story originally appeared in The Australian’s Travel + Luxury pages. Read it there.
