Consider Health As A First Resort
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday November 25, 1993
THE health farm holiday is rapidly shaping up to be the boom segment of the world travel market of the 1990s. Forget spartan fat farms that charge you$300 a day to starve yourself. The distinguishing traits of Australian health retreats are exclusivity, a little or a lot of luxury, pampering massages, and fine food, usually vegetarian - holistic or gourmet.
Lax or strict exercise regimes and friendly advice on how to shed weight form part of an experience designed to have you coming home feeling 100 times better than when you left.
Prices have also tumbled in recent years and health farms offer some of the cheapest holiday packages on the market. Here are 10 of the best:
NEW SOUTH WALES
Kurrajong Heights Health Farm, 1537 Bells Line of Road, Kurrajong Heights; (045) 677 575.
In business for 22 years, Kurrajong offers budget seven-day packages(all-inclusive) from $499.50; weekends from $199.50. Set in 50 ha of bushland adjoining the Blue Mountains National Park, the emphasis is on Healthy Holidays for the Healthy (weight-loss programs only if required).
Get in shape with planned bushwalks, aerobics, aquacise and cycling. Wind down your mind with aromatherapy, massage and beauty therapies.
La Mancha Health Centre, Lindendale Road, Lismore; (066) 295 138. Midway between Ballina and Lismore on the far north coast, La Mancha has a foot in both camps - health and holiday.
Specialists help with specific problems such as obesity, stress, chronic fatigue syndrome and asthma.
Those here for a rest also have a medical assessment, but after that it's all swimming, walking, bird-watching and checking the progress of the on-site tropical orchards. An all-inclusive daily rate of $60 twin-share; weekly rate$370 twin-share.
Solar Springs Health Retreat, Bundanoon; (008) 044 944. Billing itself as Australia's premier health retreat, Solar Springs is about pampering, not hairshirts.
Right on the spectacular escarpment of the Moreton National Park, the high-tech enclave has an extensive range of beauty and hydrotherapy treatments- facials, bodywraps and peels for both sexes.
The active can choose from archery, volleyball, golf, cycling and tai chi. Three-night Summer Stopover packages begin at $355; full-week packages from$575. Crystal Lodge, 19 Abbotsford Road, Katoomba; (047) 825 122.
The pulls of this restored Blue Mountains mansion are the vegetarian cuisine, massage and beauty therapies, and creative healing.
But the approach is far from authoritarian and guests are offered walks, cycling, joy flights, and burn-ups round the mountains on Harley Davidson motorcycles.
Throughout December, there is a 20 per cent discount of five-day and seven-day packages (call for details). Daily rates begin at $85 twin-share.
Hopewood Health Centre, Greendale Road, Wallacia; (047) 738 401.
The Hopewood health farm has been operating for more than 30 years and it's still one of Australia's best. You choose your own program as a health care or holiday guest. Beauty treatments, a healthy diet, sports activities, discussions and relaxing - the epitome of the European-style experience in Australia.
Budget rooms are available from $85 a day; standard double rooms $119 a day.
VICTORIA
Ontos Health Retreat, Buchan; (051) 550 275.
A 350 ha property in the Snowy River National Park, Ontos is one of the very few health retreats in Australia that welcomes children - scheduling daily children's programs.
Ontos means 'being' in Greek, a reference to the slightly alternative atmosphere. Accommodation is on three levels - motel unit ($75 a day), cabins($65 a day) and camping ($40 a day; children $20).
Prices are all-inclusive, with meals and activities. A flexible program that can veer towards meditation and yoga, or an allaction adventure with bushwalking, farm tours and volleyball.
Warburton Healthcare Centre, Donna Buang Road, Warburton; (059) 664 444.
A 77 km drive from Melbourne in the foothills of Mount Donna Buang, Warburton springs instantly to the lips of Australian health farm addicts.
The January program calendar of week-long courses includes Weight Management, Looking Good/Feeling Great, Stress Management and Stop Smoking.
Otherwise, unwind with hydrotherapy, bushwalking along the upper reaches of the Yarra, golf and massage.
Daily tariffs start from $125 twin-share.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
McCarthy Park, Lot 40 Berry Road, Gidgegannup; (09) 574 7161.
Forty-five minutes drive from Perth, McCarthy Park is WA's most prestigious and luxurious health retreat.
Promised a full rejuvenation program to all comers, you are "cleansed" with Raw Energy, Fibre Plan and Pritikin Diet eating, kept busy with tennis, water-aerobics and swimming, and soothed with massages, facials and reflexology.
The five-day rejuvenation program costs $500 ($300 for three days; $400 for four days).
QUEENSLAND
Hyatt Regency Coolum, Coolum Beach, Sunshine Coast; (074) 46 1234.
Just a 20-minute drive from Noosa, Coolum is halfway between silk blouse and muesli.
Treatments at the beauty centre can be interspersed with power walks in 100 hectares of parkland, a swim in one of the eight pools, or golf on the 18-hole course.
The Health Centre will evaluate your current state of being. Conference delegates can sign on for the Phoenix Corporate Challenge. Call Ansett on 131 344 for the best packages.
Camp Eden, Currumbin Road, Currumbin Valley; (075) 330 333.
Tucked in the Currumbin Valley, the holistic four-point-plan-plan at Camp Eden is Attitude, Relaxation, Exercise and Eating.
The resort has a six-day minimum-stay stipulation - you spend your waking hours attending health-awareness seminars and naturopathic consultations.
There are also exercise classes from aerobics to bush-dancing, and pampering sessions from whole-body scrubs to therapeutic massages. Prices start from $1,450 for a six-day package.
© 1993 Sydney Morning Herald
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