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Gibraltar Country Club Hotel and Spa in Australia's Southern Highlandsis a stylishly modern Sydney city escape, set amongst rolling greenery, sunlit lakes and lush pines. Of (golf) course - It also happens to be a golfers paradise!
Gibraltar Country Club Hotel & Spa is located in Bowral - an antique town, filled with arty people and scenic views. Annual flower shows bring yearly visitors to what is considered one of the prettiest café and garden communities in Australia. Gibraltar Country Club Hotel & Spa, easy to find, is enormous on sight. Perched majestically on a beautiful golf field, it's easy to see why not only golfers are attracted to weekends away here.
Quite modernly styled, Gibraltar Country Club Hotel & Spa has only recently opened - meaning everything in the vicinity is new and shiny. Friendly staff greet you at reception with a guided tour of the grounds. Adorning the walls is a collection of mostly Australian themed etchings, paintings and drawings - hand selected by the hotel owner. An owner, who clearly has design taste, for he played a large role in the entire hotel décor. Simple stylish elegance and comfort are designed into your stay. Spacious rooms face directly out to the golf course landscape, with artwork, heavenly bed, large deluxe spa bath, flat screen TV and all the typical modern trimmings highlighting your happiness.
Restaurant and bar
In-room dining is available, or dine at the Gibraltar Grill, where a perfectly cooked succulent steak awaits - if you choose, from the grill. Meet the locals at Harvey's Bar on weekends.
The Gym
New equipment is decked out in the gym, including exercise bike, treadmill and weights. Rolled towels and reclining lounge give that added hotel glamour, and an indoor heated pool is perfect if you've spent the day on the course. What a great way to unwind!
Weddings & Business trips
Enormously high ceilinged conference rooms are available for functions and weddings, if your trip is for this reason - you are in for a treat. All function rooms look out over the magnificent golfing grounds. Sip your tea, and watch the sun catch light from the duck's favorite lake, while your meetings are underway.
Day Spa
The hotel spa is appropriately named The Bowral Day Spa. Appropriate that is, because you will want to spend all day here. Walking into a low-lit lounge to fill in your information-form and sip detoxing tea, your therapist soon escorts you to a personal room for changing. It's the little details like a soft lux dressing gown and slippers which make such a difference! Treatments compliment natural surroundings by embracing ancient indigenous techniques and products, as inspired in the Australian LI'TYA range. LI'TYA uses mud powders, local infused oils like lemon myrtle or bush rose. Serenading your senses are ancient indigenous chants set to modern beats and piano sounds. At your choice, treatment will begin with a welcoming smoking ceremony from Australian bush barks. I tried the hot stone massage on my visit. Stones from the west of Australia's land have been hand crafted, and are heated to 38 degrees before the therapists glides them over my body, kneading away any tension and inducing a relaxed state of mind. Pure Bliss!
Nearby
Vineyards
The Southern Highlands region, being one of Australia's most picturesque tourist destinations, wouldn't be complete without quintessential romantic vineyards scattered throughout. I visited the Centennial Vineyards for a spot of wine tasting, with afternoon lunch at the Centennial Vineyards Restaurant. A dessert wine aptly named 2009 Autumn Late Harvest Chardonnay, (which yes, I selected because of my namesake!) won numerous awards and accidently found itself purchased by me for later consumption! Well, who could resist sweet wine offering a beautifully balanced palette of white peach, nectarine, and subtle caramel/vanilla aromas!
The Centennial Vineyards Restaurant offers European barn style elegance; with high beams, antique farming equipment and wagon wheel props embedded in the decor to create an amazingly charismatic ambience. Dine on fine delicacies, I recommend The signature Highland tasting platter, as you glance out a window showing baby lambs and sheep roaming sunlit vineyards.
Illawarra Flyover
Imagine walking through the tallest of age-old trees at extraordinary heights!The Illawarra Flyover is a 45-minute walking track raised up in the air, set inside a beautiful tropical rainforest stretch. First take a peaceful stroll through the flora and fauna at land height, soaking in nature. Then embrace your innerCrouching Tiger Hidden Dragon for the ascent into the air. If you love views, climb the central tower to experience a magnificent sight of rolling green hills and leafy green forest, which stretches out to the distant ocean. Not for those who experience vertigo, as sometimes the footpath moves with the breeze...however all the more fun for the slight thrill-seekers among us!
Getting there:
The Southern Highlands are an easy hour and a half away from Sydney city; unless you're travelling at peak ‘weekend escape time' being 6pm Friday night, in which case definitely include traffic time in your itinerary. Or opt for the easy 2-hour train rides which stops in the heart of Bowral town.
Services spa, swimming pool, fitness equipment, parking, hotel restaurant, hotel bar, room service, business services, internet access, golf course, tennis courts, air-conditioning
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I entertain at the Yamba Golf Club on a Friday night every three months or so, and occasionally at the Yamba Bowls Club, and sometimes I stay over for a mini-break, rather than driving back to Byron Bay late at night. It's a price-driven decision where to stay, and on my last trip down I scored an online deal at the Aston Motel in Coldstream Street, Yamba.
It turned out to be a surprisingly good basic motel that is very close to the both the Bowling and Golf Clubs, and also an easy walk into the town centre. Super close to shops, restaurants, the pub and beach, and you must visit the quaint little fishing village of Yamba.
We were quite satisfied with our stay at the Aston, a calming and quiet stay, featuring a retro decor. The room, which had been expertly cleaned and presented, is quite large, cosy and comfortable. Featuring a large king bed with generous sized television, and free to air plus pay TV. We had an upstairs unit with a balcony overlooking an attractive pool area. It was a cold night, so luckily the room is equipped with reverse cycle air-con. If you are on a budget or prefer self catering, provided in-room are a microwave, cutlery, glassware and etc.
There's plenty of parking. The motel is located at the end of a road however, so there was little or no traffic noise and plenty of wildlife around. The grounds are manicured and the pool, spa and barbecue area looked well maintained and very inviting. Reception was friendly and helpful.
The little details are the most memorable. I appreciated fresh milk for tea, not UHF which I hate. An important drawcard for me was free wi-fi, but also Motel guests have free use of the adjacent fitness centre. The bargain rates and comfortable inclusions make the Aston a real gem for a budget stay in this laid back little town.
Yamba is on a river inlet and a nice drive from the highway through farmland, with river views - and as you get closer to town it's very picturesque with fishing boats and yachts moored in abundance at the marina in the river. There is a steep hill up from the main town centre to the headland and a small beach which is dominated obscenely by the big old Yamba Pub. The Yamba pub has bee turned into a backpacker style establishment with amazing views and live music on the weekends. There is a pretty lighthouse on the headland, and the town itself has plenty of interesting restaurants and cafes and some good antique op-shops. There's also good fishing, and a gentle, laid back, family friendly atmosphere.
You haven’t truly been to the Blue Mountains unless you’ve viewed the spectacular landscape sights from a cable car at Scenic World. Or ridden in Scenic World’s steep rainforest railway; descending from the top of a rocky mountainside down a slow drop to the bottom of thick lush rainforest.
The Blue Mountains are a short two-hour drive from the city of Sydney, and well worth the day trip. Famous for the rock formations known as The Three Sisters, the Blue Mountains are also a great place to go for fresh air, relaxation, and especially winter festivals. The arty, crafty villages will charm your thermal socks off, and are all close to each other atop the mountain area making a village-hopping drive-by very easy.
You’ll find Scenic World well signposted with lots of parking. Scenic World is mainly a divine walking track looping through forest with a ‘choose your own adventure’ option on which path you take. Everyone will start off at the check-in. Take the steep railway to the bottom of the rainforest, and then pick a path to walk around the lush raised walking tracks through tall trees and flowing creeks. There’s a cable car to take from one side of the rocks, over the rainforest to the other, in super close view of the tumbling waterfall and three sisters.
The best way to experience Scenic World is with a guided tour. My tour guide was Murray, who grew up in the Blue Mountains, and whose grandfather was an original Scenic World railway engineer driver. Murray tells interesting stories of the land’s history of the great coal mining days, points out the tools & machinery left behind so camouflaged I wouldn’t spot it, and describe interesting facts about the fauna and flora which you will walk through. A tour guide is also brilliant because instead of iphone-googling for answers to all your hundreds of questions that pop to mind like ‘how can you tell how many billion years old that dicksonia Antarctica fern really is?’ Murray will tell you – count the rings. Murray even holds the talk on Carnivorous plants. Kids love it. I’ve seen Little Shop of Horrors - think I would too!