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Southern Comfort
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By: Hilary Doling, Issue 35 – Winter 2008
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(Emerald Valley Villa – Goonengery, New South Wales, Australia)
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A SPECTACULAR VILLA BRINGS A TOUCH OF BALI TO BYRON.
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I’m lazing on a day bed in a Balinese teak rice barn looking down on a valley so green and lush it deserves its name – Emerald. Beside me, an equally jewel-bright frog hops off a wet leaf and into the undergrowth. This isn’t Bali, its Byron. The two antique rice barns, the beautiful day beds and the friezes that decorate this villa, have all been especially imported by owner, businessman and environmentalist Michael J Robison. Built in Asian style around a central courtyard, Emerald Valley Villa is the ultimate holiday home. Available for exclusive rental it offers 80 acres of private grounds, a personal concierge, swimming pool, outdoor spa, massage room, private use of four wheel drive vehicles, helicopter landing area, ultraluxurious interiors and state of the art technology. Yet all of this indulgence is sumptuous AND sustainable.
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The buildings and grounds have been designed for minimum impact on the surrounding environment, and are climate neutral and run on 100% green power. Jump into the swimming pool and it feels like silk on your skin. Like swimming in a bottle of Evian only much better because you’re swimming in the purest Emerald Valley Spring Water. An aquifer supplies the entire Villa and grounds with spring water, to drink and swim in. Inside the villa with its glass sliding doors that look out to the valley beyond there are eight luxurious bedrooms with downy doonas, and marble bathrooms, a vast living area, a TV screen large enough to double as the local cinema and an open plan kitchen so well-planned and equipped I wanted to take the whole thing home with me. Varney, the on-site concierge, can get in supplies for your stay if requested and as you’d expect they’re organic, delicious and to a gourmet standard; something there is no shortage of in the lush hinterland surrounding the villa. Alternatively guests can hire the services of a personal chef.
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Outside the entire 80 acres of pristine Emerald Valley is yours to freely enjoy from a leisurely walk through manicured tropical gardens or some of the finest remnant rainforests on private property in Australia. One day we drove the villas’ little 4X4 Polaris down to the River Pavilion where a waterfall spills over granite boulders and then flows gently past, and drank champagne as the sun was setting. The next morning we sat in the outdoor spa bath and greeted the other end of the day in equally impressive style.
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The villa has the ultimate indulgence; its own marble steam room and a private massage room. Therapists and personal trainers will come to you. This is Byron Bay after all, so the list of experiences on offer is endless from Aromatherapy through to Zen meditation, stopping at crystals, reiki, shiatsu and all points in-between. And because this is Emerald Valley Villa, you’ll get only the best.
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Details:
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Emerald Valley Villa
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