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Bathing Beauty
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By: Alice Coomans, Issue 35 – Winter 2008
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(Mantra Deep Blue – Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia)
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MANTRA DEEP BLUE IS REVIVING THE PRACTICE OF WASHING YOUR TROUBLES AWAY.
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Across the waters of Lady Bay the sun is rising, slowly spilling colour over the peninsula on the horizon and out onto the ocean. The early morning surfers have taken to the waves: small bobbing dots of colour decorating the coastline, birds circling overhead. Framing this panoramic view of Warrnambool, Victoria, are the large glass doors guarding my balcony (which, positioned on the fourth floor of Mantra Deep Blue, has enough height to let me look out over the sand dunes and across the bay).
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Slow mornings spent soaking in rugged coastal views like this from over-sized King beds draws many luxury-lovers to the Great Ocean Road. And for good reason, but at Warrnambool at the western end of this epic Australian drive and right in the heart of the Shipwreck coast, there is yet another reason to visit. Mantra Deep Blue, which opened late last year with 75-rooms and six two- and three-bedroom Penthouses, is reviving Warrnambool’s history of therapeutic bathhouses. (In the early 1900’s Warrnambool was the place to be in Victoria for seaside bathing.) The natural thermal waters deep under the hotel have been piped not only into its private indoor Bathhouse, but also into the rooms of the hotel itself, creating the first geothermal spa hotel on the Great Ocean Road.
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The Deep Water Baths and Spa complex has four private pool rooms and a private spa therapy pool, as well as a full massage and beauty treatment menu. And although the mineral-rich water can be enjoyed in your shower and spa bath in-room, it is worth booking into the private rooms to float weightlessly in the giant pools of hot, cloudy mineral-rich water that is piped directly in from the giant aquifer below.
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The hotel also has its own restaurant, Water Table Restaurant and Bar, serving breakfast, tapas lunch, and dinner. The highlight of the menu is the local fare served at dinner; such as the pan fried whole snapper on an olive oil based stew of green beans, black olives, cherry tomatoes, lemon and potatoes. As the sun continues to rise over Lady Bay, thoughts of the hot breakfast menu begin to occupy my mind – along with plans for a long stroll along the beach just a hundred metres away.
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Details:
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Mantra Deep Blue
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Whale Watching
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Each Winter female Southern Right Whales come to Lady Bay to calve. The whales often swim within a hundred metres of shore and are easily seen from the beach and the neighbouring sand dunes or even your Mantra Deep Blue balcony.
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