It's a dark and stormy Saturday morning. Thick grey clouds have rolled in over Sydney and the rain is bucketing down. With the rest of the city still sensibly tucked up in bed we set off on a 3 hour drive north-west over the Blue Mountains, past Lithgow to the mystical Wolgan Valley.
It's here - in a little-known grazing plain surrounded by towering red-faced sandstone cliffs - that Emirates has built its first Australian eco-resort - the
Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa.
The Wolgan Valley? As in the fictional setting for the television series A Country Practice? No, that's
Wandin Valley.
The Wolgan Valley has been a well-guarded secret known only to the local Wurundjeri people, a few graziers and some serious bush-walkers.
As you drive past the power station at Wallerawang and the local colliery, and make your way down the steep cutting fringed with ancient ferns, this extraordinary valley is the last thing you expect to see.
It's simply breathtaking. A seemingly geologically impossible creation. 300 metre high fire-red cliffs rising from the lush valley floor.
The scouts from Emirates apparently stumbled across this location during a helicopter recce. How else would they have known this ancient jewel was here?
But there's still a hairy challenge ahead for us ...
After the heavy rain, the 14km pot-holed dirt road leading to the resort gives our stationwagon quite a work-out...
We slip and slide as the red mud flies in all directions. The signs say drive with care. No choice but to.
We leave our car at the main gates and are picked up with our luggage and taken to the main homestead for check-in and a quick orientation.
With a location as jaw-dropping as the Wolgan Valley, the resort doesn't try to compete. In fact the selection of architecture and building materials were all designed to have minimum impact on the local environment and to blend in to the natural colours and bushscapes.
A quick lunch of beef burger and mushroom pie in the country kitchen dining room .....
and then it's off to explore our stix for the weekend.
The 40 individual lodges combine the elements of an Australian bush homestead with the luxurious fittings of the most upmarket 5-star hotel apartment. This is the sort of ''roughing it' I could get used to.
Conservation is an important ethos of the resort and many sustainable principles have been incorporated into its design.
Rainwater is collected from each lodge and solar panels heat all the hot water systems. Building materials have been sourced from natural and recycled materials where possible. The work of local tradespeople and artisans feature throughout the resort from the sculptural metal door handles to table lamps.
Each heritage lodge room has its own heated swimming pool,
gas fireplace and four poster bed
double sink vanities
bath
spacious shower with a glass sky roof
satellite TV and a surround sound DVD/CD and iPod system
no mobile reception but every building has free WiFi
The selection of linens and fabrics, rugs and furniture take their influences from African safaris, New Zealand ski lodges and exclusive London clubs.
Nightly rates start from $1,560.00 (meals and alcohol included) so Wolgan is a celebration destination for most of us. We want to stay indoors to revel in this luxury but the landscape beckons.
The first stop is the property's original homestead which has been diligently retained and restored and features in a guided tour.
The valley was a sacred Aboriginal meeting place and hunting ground and then used by pastoralists for cattle grazing.
An original hut.
A hole for a rifle to help keep intruders at bay
The famous naturalist Charles Darwin even visited here in 1836.
The kitchen gardens are used to augment the resort's menu with fresh seasonal produce.
Kitchen herb garden
Parsley
Lemon grass
Very life-like scarecrow
Strawberry patch
Rhubarb
And lovely flowers to atttract pollinators
Several rivers including the Carne Creek have kept the Wolgan Valley well-watered for centuries. Tests have shown the Carne Creek still has some of the purest drinking water in the state.
It's what keeps the Valley so rich with wildlife.
A four wheel drive tour at dusk gives us a glimpse of the inquisitive locals..
walleroos
kangaroos.
Sadly no sightings today of the famous three white albino walleroos who live in the valley.
Then it's on to dinner served in the cathedral-style dining hall in the main homestead.
Dwane Goodman's menu changes daily ensuring that the best local wines and produce get to feature
Tonight in the five-course menu there's a duck, quail and chicken terrine with a fennel remoulade.
A Pedro Ximenez sorbet palate cleanser
a beetroot tart
And a chocolate molten pudding for dessert.
and fruit and cheese plate if you can find the room
This is very serious food - well worth a trip in its own right.
All courses are accompanied by an inclusive selection of local wines. My highlight - a delicious sauvignon blanc from Printhie wines in Orange.
We stagger back to our lodge well-sated. The night is inky black.The air is fresh and crisp. We've only been in the valley for a few hours but it already feels like days. This must be what relaxing feels like.
The next morning the clouds have gone and the cliffs are shimmering in the bright light.
Breakfast is generous, and filling.
We are leaving after lunch. Just enough time to squeeze in some treatments at the Timeless Spa Centre.
A Barbour facial for me and a Swedish massage for Mark.
The barbour facial uses products from the German babour skin care range and a cool crystal stick which my therapist uses to gently press down on my face's pressure points. Wonderful sensation and deeply invigorating.
Mark emerges from his massage in a floating cloud of deep bliss.
We check out at reception where our driver is waiting to take us back to our car parked at the main entrance
Magical and memorable
Those ancient cliffs are calling me back......
Saucy Onion stayed as a guest of the Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa View Larger Map
