Style: January 13, 2021

Style | Wellbeing 69
Despite its sub-alpine location, the retreat grows a lot
of its own food. Even in winter, the meals include kale
and greens grown in the greenhouse and conservatory.
During the summer, an orchard and vegetable gardens
provide approximately 35 per cent of the food eaten
during retreats.
After breakfast, it’s time to move. Each morning there’s
a hike into the hills, with old mining huts and ruins to
explore. If you’re not excited by getting into nature,
you can chose to enjoy the view from the outdoor
spa or curl up on a window seat in the library with a
book. Tempting as that is, I can’t turn down a chance to
blow away the cobwebs and get out into the beautiful
landscape that surrounds us.
One morning we head up to Jean Hut, built about
80 years ago from a patchwork of corrugated iron. The
roof is held down by giant boulders on the end of chains,
like a hut in a fairy tale. It bears witness to the harsh
weather conditions that the people who built and stayed
in these huts endured. About eight of us crowd into the
tiny hut, blowing on our fingers as the tussock outside is
still covered in frost. A couple of hours later, I’m warming
up in the sauna with a view, which seems even more
luxurious compared to the basic shelter up in the hills.
In the afternoons, the staff share some of their skills
and passions in hour-long workshops. The talented chefs
talk about plant-based cooking and fermented food,
showing us how to make sauerkraut and kombucha
to promote gut health. Other staff encourage us to
meditate and try functional strength training and journalwriting.
Founder Damian Chaparro makes us all laugh,
while ensuring every guest leaves feeling restored and
rejuvenated.
We’re encouraged to pay attention to the simple
things around us: breath, food, nature. It’s not so hard
when everything is so beautiful. Gravel paths lined with
tussocks link the chalets, each with four bedrooms.
The wooden-clad Scandinavian-style buildings are
toasty warm, with triple-glazed windows. The retreat is
self-sufficient in energy, with its own solar panels and a
water turbine that banishes my Dunedin-bred guilt about
walking on beautifully warm wooden floors.
There’s no feeling guilty about the massage we get
every single day! The massage therapists are all excellent,
and even on day four they can still find tight bits to
release. I start wondering whether, like a flightless bird, I’ll
be ill-equipped to survive out there in the real world.
Too quickly, the last day arrives. The reset has done
its job: my body feels younger, my mind feels clearer, my
jeans fit better and (apparently) even the whites of my
eyes are whiter.
I know I won’t be able to replicate the perfection
of the retreat at home, but it’s a kick-start into healthy
habits that can help balance our busy lives.
Which makes it not just a luxurious holiday to
remember, but one that I’ll be appreciating for a long,
long time to come.
– Gina Dempster was hosted by Aro Ha.