Words by Liz Schaffer & Photographs by Anson Smart
Over the past few years, I’ve started to appreciate the importance of slowing down. I’m not always great at it - the urge to be busy is hard to ignore - but I have managed to find increasingly brilliant ways to switch off from the everyday and appreciate the benefits of being still.
A good book and a long soak can get you in a leisurely mood. But when it comes to truly calming your mind, time in the wild can work wonders. We all know how freeing it is to dive into the natural world, to swim beneath a waterfall or hike across a valley. Your thoughts slow as you focus on your movements and the beauty around you. Yet simply having trees, sun and water as a backdrop - and a backdrop alone - can be all you need.
I discovered this while staying at Chalets at Blackheath, a collection of four gorgeously-crafted studio chalets adorned with sandstone, wood-burning stoves, Italian linen, armchairs that cocoon you, and a palette inspired by the world beyond your floor-to-ceiling windows. Celebrating sustainability and luxury, this Blue Mountains bolthole makes use of rain water and solar energy, while its internal walls are built from clay, hemp and stone.
My friend and I arrived with every intention of being active. We planned to hike the six-kilometre-long Grand Canyon Trail, which begins at Evans Lookout - found a mere 600 metres from Chalets at Blackheath. We were going to take a dip at the base of Minnehaha Falls, and make our way to Govetts Leap, following a trail we hadn’t walked since we were kids. But the weather gods (who often have a way of knowing what’s best for you) had decided to put on a particularly moody show. So, while sipping a welcome glass of Champagne in our chalet, we watched as the mist descended and the rain closed in. This felt like the perfect time to put my ‘slowing down and staying still’ skills to the test.
We lit a fire and threw open the blinds, our attention shifting from the scene before us to the books purchased en route at Leura’s Megalong Books. With a cheese plate and lush bath big enough to swim in, there was no reason to leave.
The following morning began with breakfast in the library, and while the beloved Black Cockatoo Bakery pastries are worthy of their praise, the ingredients from social enterprise NATIF took centerstage; think quandongs, Davidson plums, desert limes and lemon myrtle - which were particularly scrumptious scattered over yoghurt and muesli.
With the rain slowing to a drizzle, I set about exploring the hotel’s grounds. There is a communal fire pit (ideal for those with a penchant for star-gazing), a collection of e-bikes, and a thriving indigenous edible garden. Around me, rosellas darted amongst the foliage while flashes of sunlight made the paths and wildflowers glow. Standing there, I drank in the delicious post-rain aroma - a heady combination of eucalyptus, citrus and moss.
But what struck me most were the blackened trees, cloaked in vibrant veils of new growth. Scarred by the Black Summer bushfires, they are almost sculptural now and uniquely beautiful, poignant reminders of nature’s power, and the immense, cyclical wonder of it all.
I know I will go back to the Blue Mountains. I want to hike to Victoria Falls and swim in its Cascades, and wonder if I’ve stumbled upon another realm while following the Fairy Bower Track. I long to gaze across the Kedumba Valley from the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, and while away an afternoon at Everglades House and Gardens. But for now, this escape to Chalets at Blackheath was all that my busy mind required. Proof that when slowing down, a little nature-infused luxury is all you really need.
To learn more or book a chalet, click here. Originally written for Black Blaze.
