Long weekends away

REVIEW Sean Mooney relaxes body and mind amid the hypnotic beauty of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.

THE SPACE

My wife and I agree a break in the mountains near Sydney will be just what the doctor ordered. What we don’t realise is that the doctor is Sigmund Freud. His name and stern visage adorn several walls of The Hideaway Retreat Centre and we even discover his likeness wrought in metal beneath our bedside tables. It’s hard to give him the slip. Once we recover from being psyched out by the father of psychoanalysis — and by our room’s basic, slightly threadbare furnishings — we take a look out the window. Good move. The sight of some of the magnificent peaks and valleys of the Blue Mountains National Park cures us of our anxieties. It’s a view shared by all 20 of the retreat’s rooms, and it reminds us why we’ve come here.

Freud said civilisation could not survive without beauty, and natural beauty is what this property is all about.

Freud said civilisation could not survive without beauty, and natural beauty is what this property is all about: it’s set on 13 hectares of bushland, with an outdoor barbecue area and swimming pool with valley views. Inside, there are three function rooms, a lounge area with an open fire and a space-themed games room. While it specialises in conferences, weddings and other group bookings, we see only couples and families during our stay.

COMFORT FACTOR

Comfortable, albeit basic, accommodation in a spectacular location. Perfect for walkers who want to head out the door and straight into the bush. We see a sign behind the pool that points into a steep gully and promises something called the Dell of Nymphs. Deciding that we’d like to walk off breakfast, we follow the trail into moist, and sometimes muddy, bushland. Fifteen minutes and a few challenging sections later, our efforts are rewarded by the discovery of a delightful gorge. This temperate rainforest area is filled with vines, moss-covered logs and small cascades of water. The nymphs must reside in the natural amphitheatre at the end