Skip the beaches in Gold Coast and head to Mount Tamborine for a scenic and relaxing retreat. Photo / Supplied
The Gold Coast is synonymous with sandy feet and sunbathing. But drive west of the coastline, up a mountain road cloaked in subtropical forest, and you’ll discover Tamborine Mountain, an idyllic town hidden 525m in the sky.
During lockdown, I distinctly remember when everyone began discussing their “end-of-day ritual”. After weeks of spending hours hunched at kitchen tables or walking around the lounge on a call, people instinctively created physical rituals to mentally shift out of work mode and relax. For most, it was a walk around the block.
The 40-minute drive from Gold Coast Airport to Tamborine Mountain feels like that walk. Sure, I had just endured a week of work stressors and personal hassles, an early 3.5-hour flight and an anxious first drive of the rental car. But that fades to a smooth hum as I carve through the densely packed eucalypt and hoop pine trees, following the sunlight-dappled road up, up, up until the foliage clears and I’m on the mountain top, views opening out, Gold Coast’s skyscrapers twinkling in the distance like a little Lego set.
My first stop is Picnic Real Food Bar, which serves exactly that on the quietly bustling Main St. I opt for an organic salad packed with beetroot, buckwheat, nuts and seeds, and combined with the cool, sweet green juice, my body already feels more nourished than it has in weeks. Fuelled up, I walk right across the street to Peddly Picnics. If you don’t spot the sign, the line of shiny e-bikes is easily spotted and inside I make fast friends (as I imagine everyone does) with the enthusiastic Jools, a local who started the company earlier this year. This means everything is brand-spanking new, from the Specialised e-bikes with 30 speed settings and thick tyres, to the accessories she loads into a custom wooden box on the back: a soft picnic rug, plump pillows and cooler bag from Byron-Bay brand Wandering Folk. “It’s good to support local small businesses,” she says with a grin.
Armed with a map marking the best roads, sights and picnic spots, I head off. This involves a few shared cycle/footpaths, but mainly roads, and while it’s initially daunting, I soon realise the considerate locals are happy to share the road. “We had a Kiwi couple in their 70s take these for a spin a few weeks ago,” Jools says before I cycle away. “You guys are so game for everything, it’s awesome.”
Hurtling down one backroad hill, Mason Winery’s vineyard on one side and forest on the other, the smell of fresh mown grass blasts through my nose in an unorthodox cleansing ritual, blowing the cobwebs from my mind. Instead of parking up at a winery, shopping along Gallery Walk or taking a brief hike, which you can do thanks to the chunky bike lock, I settle at Gliders Viewpoint and dig into the cooler, discovering fresh strawberries and cheeses, nutty hummus and sweet palmiers. Sipping my coconut water, I gaze across the view of the Scenic Rim and Lamington National Park, illuminated by giant shafts of sun pushing through the fat cloud. Slowly, more couples join and we silently sit, drinking in the calm.
The night ends at the new and oh-so-trendy hotel The Tamborine, a little oasis of white and sage green that blends wellness, nature and pleasure into one highly Instagrammable package. Think sweeping mountain views and 5pm cocktails in the lobby, a serene fitness room, heated mineral spa and pool, plus perfectly positioned fire pits that look out across the mountain ranges.
After breakfast, it’s a 20-minute drive south to the newest wellness darling of Tamborine, Sol Elements, a bathhouse that opened this August. The drive itself feels like a preparation: a quiet 20-minute meander through what feels like a Jurassic Park film set, birdsong as thick as the towering rainforest that rises tall on either side.
Sol Elements itself is in Tamborine Mountain Glades, and the building is striking, a circular wooden structure that appears to float on the lake beyond it. Walking through the glass doors and lobby is a Yin Yang Zen Garden with raked stones and nomo grass. Unlike most wellness spots, Sol Elements skips the classic Scandi vibe for something dark and moody, which pops against the bright natural surroundings. There’s an abundance of onyx and copper, warm pendant lighting and rustic textures, including internal walls that look like they’re made of burnt wood.
Sitting in one of the two private suites, I admire the cladding and wonder how they mimicked the colour and texture. It’s only after asking staff I learn it’s the real deal. Guided by master craftsman, Kenji Nishishita, co-founder Russel Raven hand-burnt every piece of wood for the building. It’s a detail that confirms Sol Elements isn’t just about looking pretty (which it does) but physically embodying the intentionality and care it offers guests.
Inside the suites, I discover black robes and towels, a clay pot of herbal tea resting on a teastove and a fridge filled with health drinks such as a mint and cucumber magnesium drink and coconut water. The first step is the “salt bar”, and while rubbing various flavours of salt across my body does make me feel like a slab of steak, my skin is rendered smooth, soft and smelling like a floral dream. While I don’t typically enjoy cold plunges, I give the private one a whirl, pleased to be alone as I huff and swear in the icy water, lasting a solid 30 seconds before hurrying through a door to a small thermal mineral pool on a private balcony. After defrosting, it’s back inside for 15 minutes in the infrared sauna, a little loop I repeat several times over the next 90 minutes.
If you’re more interested in lakeside views and socialising than seclusion, the communal area offers similar facilities with a generous lakeside view. There’s a “salt bar” for scrubbing, a Himalayan salt cave, cedar wood sauna with a glass window to enjoy the lake and a “silent” steam room. Outside, on the edge of the lake are three magnesium thermal pools and two cold plunge pools. At 11am on a Saturday, it’s lively but not busy (and never will be, since the communal area is capped at 30 guests), and it’s nice to see couples, friends and singles enjoying the space.
However, the highlight is unquestionably the treatment. I’m ushered into one of the treatment rooms by Mai not for a massage, oh no, no, but a 90-minute “Earthing Immersion” and mini bespoke “Alchemy Facial”, featuring native plant oils and stones gathered from across Australia (with permission from Indigenous Elders), heated and used to balance chakras and knead the tight spots from your body, one knot at a time.
There are few unique ways to recount a massage, especially brilliant ones. What is there to say beyond the obvious fact that it feels incredible, bordering on emotional, to have another human leisurely, tenderly, work your stiff, dry limbs into soft submission?
Well, perhaps only that this combination of expert massage and fragrant botanicals in an environment designed for connection and transcendence could render a chronically alert and anxious person (ahem, myself) so relaxed that they float out of the building and halfway to the hotel before realising they’ve left their belongings in the treatment room.
Jewellery retrieved, I cruise back through the rainforest roads, window down and music off to let the breeze and birdsong in. Then, I delight in the true luxury of letting my tightly wound, fully stacked mind do what my body has over the last two days; lightly wander, slower than it has in months.
DESTINATION
Tamborine Mountain, Queensland, Australia
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Gold Coast with Air New Zealand or Jetstar.
DETAILS
Sol Elements | solelements.com.au
Peddly Picnics | peddlypicnics.com.au
Tamborine Mountain | visittamborinemountain.com.au
New Zealand Herald Travel visited courtesy of Tourism and Events Queensland and Sol Elements.