BELLA BREAK
Bella Break - Luxury Travel Magazine
 | |||||
Bella Break | |||||
| By: Erin O’Dwyer, Issue36 – Spring 2008 | |||||
| (Bellachara Boutique Hotel – Gerringong, New South Wales, Australia) | |||||
| THIS SOUTH COAST BOUTIQUE HOTEL FINDS BEAUTY IS MORE THAN SKIN DEEP. | |||||
| Driving down to the NSW South Coast is like stepping into a Lloyd Rees painting. The mountain ranges race down to the sea and old dairy farm homesteads shiver in the shadow of the escarpment. I know the coastal landscape of Gerringong like the back of my hand. But the dear friend who accompanies me has just arrived home from a lengthy stay in Ethiopia. She is overwhelmed by the preposterous beauty that rolls past her open window on our 90-minute trip south of Sydney. It reminds me that everything old can be new again, if only we open our eyes. It’s an apt sentiment for our stay at boutique hotel Bellachara, just outside Gerringong. The 4.5 star property was once an old motor inn. Think two-storey red brick, expansive bitumen car park and $80 standby specials. In 2004 hotelier Gregg Curie bought the motel, paying just $3million at a time when occupancy rates had fallen to 11 per cent. He then poured more than $4.5million into the 52 rooms – changing everything from the name to the room numbering. The result is nothing short of exquisite. Bellachara (meaning beautiful character) is opposite protected wetlands and protected from the road by gum trees. Reception is a farmhouse restored in taupe and white. Rooms are sleek and spacious. Choose from garden courtyard or balcony; deep bathtub or walk-in rainshower; galley kitchen or kitchenette, each with stainless steel appliances. For those that like to keep in touch there is broadband internet access, an 113cm Plasma TV and Sony PlayStation. If you are intent on decadence, there is a chocolate-coloured corner leather lounge, generous magazine stack and king-sized pillow-top bed with high-thread count cotton sheets. We have barely arrived when we are whisked away to the day spa. A complimentary selection of leaf teas are served before and after the treatments, which range from sea salt scrubs to a warm water essential oil bath, to hot stone massage. I opt for a revitalizing facial. My experienced beautician uses Payot products and pays particular attention to my skin type. Afterwards, I enjoy a glass of bubbly on the balcony as the sun sets over the dairying hills. Then it is time for dinner. The restaurant has a barn-house feel. There is a bar stocked with South Coast wines at one end and slate brick wall with gas fire at the other. Scarlet-red leather chairs and vibrant local art add pizzazz. Chef Garry Reay sources local produce including oils and olives, sourdough bread and fresh seafood. We go for fish all around. King prawns with crisp kipfler potatoes; herb-crusted barramundi with lemon and parsley risotto; dukkah-crusted Atlantic salmon with steam choy sum and sweet corn soufflé. All delicious. I really rediscover my love for soufflé when it comes time for desert. The piping hot, light-as-a-dandelion poached rhubarb soufflé is memorable, even eschewing the cinnamon gelato. Everything old is new again. | |||||
| Details: | |||||
| Bellachara Boutique Hotel | |||||
|
