Cabarita Beach
Close enough to the border that the highway signs heading north list mostly Queensland stops, we turn right and follow a winding melaleuca tree-lined road to the coast. But before the ocean we see the bright white walls of our luxury stay, Halcyon House (halcyonhouse.com.au).
At check-in, Alicia is giving us the rundown – “We were voted Australia’s best beach in 2019” – when she’s cut off by a guest who drawls, “It’s fantastic here,” as she drifts towards the spa.
Soon we’re sipping purple Husk gin welcome cocktails at the terrace bar and struggling to resist a pre-dinner bowl of mussel and clam linguini. Our waiter wonders if we’ve spotted any whales yet, which in mid-July seems an innocent enough question.
We scuff through white sand on empty Cabarita Beach, about 100 steps from the pillow-fortified king-sized bed in our garden room. The sea is calm beside us and I search for seashells as we ramble towards Norries Head.
At the base of the steep wooden stairs to the top, brightly coloured bikes are abandoned against the fence – no locks, no worries. Barely two hours after check-in and less than two minutes since settling on the rocks with only blue in front of us, my boyfriend grabs my arm. “Look, a stingray!”
I’m rapidly blinking my contact lenses into focus when a new thrill appears – “Dolphins!”
Then, as if a “bring in the whales” call has gone out from back at the bar, a jet of salty spray is followed by the curves of a surfacing cetacean.
The show continues until we wander back to the hotel in last light.
We soak in the huge tub before dinner, open a mini-bottle of organic wine and a packet of chips from the complimentary mini-bar. A second packet of chips is torn into but I’m smug knowing the stash will be refilled the next day and because “we did just go for a walk”.
Our four-course dinner at the hotel’s one-hat diner, Paper Daisy, is a tactical affair: we quickly calculate that over two nights we can try each of the 16 dishes on the menu – if we share. The wheels come off at mains. Neither of us can resist the kingfish, line caught off Brunswick Heads and wrapped in kelp foraged locally by the restaurant’s seaweed guy – “He’s a character,” our waiter tells us with a laugh – and plated with new potatoes and coastal succulents picked at Byron Bay.
On cue, a guest stops at the kitchen door to bellow, “That kingfish is the best fish I’ve ever eaten!,” at chef Jason Barratt.
Sleep comes easily with satisfaction and the anticipation of sunrise, mooching by the pool and a second crack at that menu. As for Cabarita’s charms beyond the beach and the hotel… don’t ask me.