Room with a view

Carool, NSW 16 guests, 7 bedrooms, 9 beds, 3.5 bathrooms Hosts: Bianca and James

Hinterland holidays are having a moment. “It’s all the wonderful things about being by the coast but you’re that bit higher so the air’s cooler and there are fewer people around,” says Bianca Durack of Hillside Carool, a sprawling Airbnb home in Northern NSW’s Tweed Shire, which she co-Hosts with husband James. “It’s a completely different feel.”

In a post-lockdown era, a sense of expansiveness is a deeply appreciated luxury. Their huge Carool homestead rests on a hill overlooking a lush valley, less than 30 minutes drive inland from the Gold Coast’s southern end. It’s this elevated position that creates a feeling of space – that and the sheer scale of the property itself.

At Hillside, there’s a place for every purpose: if you fancy curling up with a book, head to the “fire room”. Sharing a sundowner with family? Take a seat on the outdoor patio, next to the firepit. Or if you want to enjoy the panoramic view over the surrounding hinterland, pick a sun lounger beside the palm-shaded pool. “We wanted to create a space for family and friends to gather,” says engineer-turned-interiors-buff James.

“When we found the place, it was an old winery that had a lot of potential. It just needed some new life breathed back into it. We wanted it to be our forever home but with two young kids, we needed to live closer to work. So we put it on Airbnb and within two hours, we had bookings that we weren’t even ready for. The demand was enormous – much bigger than we could have imagined.”

Thanks to a careful and considered renovation, Hillside Carool is now a holiday house that feels distinctly like a home – well, a home large enough to sleep 16 guests, with its own vineyard, 20-metre lap pool, pizza oven, billiards room and cinema projector, that is.

“The place holds lots of memories for us,” says Bianca. “So it’s nice to generate a special experience for our guests, too.”

Eat and drink

“Potager at Carool is a beautiful little restaurant,” says Bianca. “They grow their own produce and change the menu every season. It’s special and I’d highly recommend it for a long lunch. Husk Distillers is about 20 minutes away – they make Ink Gin and Husk Rum. Do a tour and a tasting, then sit down for lunch on the lawn.”

Things to do

“You can’t go past a surf in the morning,” says James. “Snapper Rocks is probably the closest and best – it’s about 30 minutes away – and there’s a really good surf club there with the best views in the world. I would also definitely do the Summit Track at Mount Warning [set to reopen in July after recent flooding]. The outlook is amazing. If you go at sunrise, there’ll be mist and clouds covering the whole valley. Once it clears, you have views to the ocean.”

Stay a little longer

“Often we find that once guests get to the house, they realise they don’t need to leave,” says James. “There’s just so much to do here.” Adds Bianca: “A lot of people work remotely now so we find more guests are extending their weekends and even working for a few days while they’re here. If you’re staying more than a couple of days, the drive to Byron Bay is about 45 minutes and there are some beautiful small towns down there. There’s Federal and Newrybar, which has an amazing longlunch restaurant called Harvest, where you could spend the best part of a day.”