Have you been dreaming of a rainforest retreat that you can escape to for a well-deserved break?
Only a short drive from Brisbane, you can relax in your own cabin nestled amongst 22 acres of abundant Sunshine Coast Hinterland rainforest.
Light a fire, kick back on your private deck and listen to the bird song.
The Kondalilla Eco Resort is waiting to welcome you.
Booking some time away amongst nature is definitely a treat, and something to be savoured if you get the chance to enjoy it. Kondalilla Eco Resort ticks all the boxes, regardless of your box preference or what you use to tick it.
Are you an adventurer? Love the idea of hiking through the hinterland with only your wits and a fully curated “walking backpack” to keep you alive? Maybe you even know a better name for a “walking backpack”? Well you’re in luck! The Resort is located right at the entrance to the world famous Kondalilla Falls National Park. You can get lost, found and lost again as many times as you like – and then pop back to your private room for a recuperative “walking pizza”.
Bear Grylls swears by it. Probably.
Perhaps you get through your work week, by dreaming of the ultimate pamper session. Facials, spa treatments and a virtual parade of qualified masseuses (massai?), ready to relax you to the max in the privacy of your own villa.
Well, you wouldn’t believe it! The Eco Resort has a range of Holistic and Spa Treatments, that will cover all your bases. And when you just can’t get any more relaxed, you can go and spend some time sitting in one of their Conference Rooms, to remind you of work and even out your chakras. I assume that’s how that works.
What do I look for in a rainforest retreat? Peace and quiet, a gorgeous view of some greenery – and a fireplace in which I can burn some of the bounty that I see around me. Ok, all. All of the bounty. Thank you, logs.
We stayed at the Eco Resort for 3 nights in one of the Deluxe Villas. Each room has an allocated car spot. Our driveway was on a slant, so immediately we felt like we were going to tip over and out of the car in excitement. We remained upright, but the excitement was warranted once we checked out the villa. Bluey (inspirational name of my car) didn’t mind or notice, on account of he’s non-sentient.
If you can pull yourself away from the carport, up the stairs is your own private balcony with a baby weber BBQ (not as cute as baby Yoda). I don’t cook anything that can’t be ovened (chef term) or microwaved, so didn’t bother taking its hat off as we’d already sensed the microwave was waiting for us inside.
The lights were on, with a welcome glow. The villa has some of the coolest lamps you’ll ever see – fashioned out of olde-worlde lightbulbs welded (or magicked) onto logs. The downside of being so cool is that they did keep drawing our eye – which meant that we were blinded a lot initially by staring right into the globes. We ended up turning the main living room lamp around so we could stop staring into the artificial sun and enjoy looking at some other things.
On the second balcony level were two ‘relaxing loungers’ and a bath that was also being mysterious with its cover on. A little side table held some complimentary bath bits.
The villa felt private – not overlooked by any other cabins, so you could jump straight in the bath if you wanted. With or without a possum.
The lounge room sported a comfy 3 seater couch that I think might once have reclined, but the buttons on the side didn’t work (or I couldn’t figure them out). The stereo was playing a soothing track of someone chanting which was quite nice as we entered and there was a clean fresh smell in the air.
Most importantly – there was a real fireplace! Burn, baby – burn! Instructions are provided in the compendium on how to best light the fire, along with a very generous supply of logs and fire starters.
The room lighting was cosy and warm, especially when you make the fire too hot in the evening, however we would have liked a floor lamp or two to make it a bit brighter when reading. You’ll be pleased to know though, that we struggled through in our luxury surrounds. Little Aussie battlers.
The filter tap on the kitchen sink confused us a bit – felt like a game of ‘which was the better tap?’. Was it a contest and were we winning? We decided on using small tap, assuming it was filtered water, but it might have been the possum hose – who knows what they do in the country. Choose your own tap, friends.
The kitchen was small, but had everything you’d need – accept for a dishwasher or oven. Cooking hotplates and the like are provided, if – for some reason – you hate microwaves.
A little milk was provided in the fridge, along with the usual tea and coffee sachets. No snacks or biscuits, although there was some hot choc. We did bring quite a few of our own snacks, so we agreed that any provided snacks would have been overwhelming and would have ruined the whole thing. Disaster averted.
If you don’t tend to pre-fill your car with snacks, there is a restaurant onsite – the Kondalilla Restaurant – which is a Pescatarian/Plant Based restaurant. The Resort also offers a large selection of additional hampers that you can tack onto your booking – from cheese boards to mini stuffed donuts and back again to a full Bush Breakfast hamper.
I love a hamper, and these looked great – so we’d definitely book one on our return visit!
I also loved that they offer a supermarket delivery service if, during your stay, you need to have extra bits and bobs delivered. You can also make a Woolies or Coles order online and have it delivered to the office on the day of your arrival. Fancy!
The walk-in rainforest shower was impressive and a definite novelty. Good pressure and water temp!
As you can see from the photos, the shower is essentially an open room with a sheer curtain that you can pull across the glass bit, but I think that’s just for display. If you were staying here with a friend or a prudish rich dowager who you would prefer didn’t see you naked – you’d have to make them go stand outside.
Though not out the front bit or the side balcony, on account of there are no curtains on the windows, so they’d get a better view of your front portions from outside. Maybe just drape a blanket over them until you’re decent.
The bed was very comfortable, however the villa layout means the bedhead lines up with the main floor level. I had visions of country things crawling on me during the night – not helped by the fact that I did have to dislodge 3 ants from my pillow. Ants love the hinterland, and rightly so.
I channelled my inner MacGyver and scooted the bed away from the wall a bit, so things would have to jump across a small gap – essentially an uncrossable void to small creatures, my internal inventor surmised.
Reader, I lived. And slept well.
It took us awhile to get used to the country sounds at night. This means, claws on the roof, animal friends walking around on the balconies and – if our ears could be trusted – having a macadamias fight. It’s funny how your ears can’t tell if the noises come from inside or outside the room.
Well, your ears might be able to, but my ears were still remembering the ants they saw on the pillow earlier. Yes my ears can see.
Toilet – there is one, and her name is Sharon. It says so on her porcelain. I did take a photo of her name, but I won’t post it here as I don’t want to be known as the lady who puts too many toilet pictures on the internet.
Suffice to say that the door to Sharon’s lair has warped over time and sticks a bit. This means there’s always a moment in the day when you think, “Do I live in here now?” or “Is my partner in shouting distance and do they have the upper body strength to free me from Sharon’s prison?”.
We really enjoyed our stay, and think you will too.
If you’re in the mood to light a fire, order a hamper and relax in glorious nature – I’d recommend booking your next rainforest retreat at the Kondalilla Eco Resort.
In our opinion, there is simply nothing better than curling up in your holiday accommodation with too many books. This becomes even more important when your villa doesn’t have internet connection!
If you’re in the Montville area looking for your next favourite read, you cant’ go past Rosetta Books. Maybe take a drive to Eumundi and the wonderful Berkelouw Books.
Our Kondalilla Eco Resort Holiday book haul included:
