Young at heart again
A complete restoration of body, mind and spirit is at your disposal during a stay
at leading health and wellness retreat, Golden Door.Wo rds ALLY MCMANUSI
t’s late on Monday afternoon and I’m
walking up Meditation Hill as the
sun shines across the rolling hills of
the Hunter Valley. I’ve just finished
meditating so I’m in the perfect space to
walk mindfully, noticing each step on the
gravel as I tread with ease.
I look to my right to follow a fluttering
butterfly and see two young kangaroos
beside me. They’re standing upright,
watching me as curiously as I’m taking
them in. A smile creeps across my face and
I let out a giggle in delight at what I see. This
innocent, free-spirited expression takes me
back to my younger self when uninhibited
playfulness was second nature. Despite the
fact that I am now 25 — a fitting time to be
staying at Golden Door as it just celebrated
its 25th birthday — I am taken back to
my five-year-old self: carefree, joyful and
vibrant. I feel young at heart again.
Let me rewind a bit so I can reveal
exactly how Golden Door allows you to
reconnect to your youthful spirit.
While I’d like to think I’ve made the lives
of others a bit brighter in the 25 years of my
own, I’m no match for this renowned health
retreat, which has welcomed 65,000 guests
through its famed golden door, transforming
each of their lives throughout the course
of their stay. It is no coincidence this Road
Test is placed in WellBeing’s first-ever
Renew Me edition — Golden Door is a sacred
place to heal, reground and recalibrate.
A safe environment to “refresh, restart
and renew” was the nurturing description
general manager Brigid Walsh left in her
handwritten note to me in my one-bedroom
private villa. Renewal is at the core of my
four-night experience at the retreat.
I arrive on Sunday, the first day of
Golden Door’s program each week.
Guests traditionally stay for three, five
or seven nights. After a tour of the (very
impressive) facilities, I settle into my
villa. I am blessed with a view of the
surrounding vineyards from the comfort
of my couch where I sit and hear cackling
kookaburras and feel worlds away from
the hustle of Sydney, although it’s only
a two-and-a-half-hour drive away.I embrace — with very little convincing
required — Golden Door’s tech-free offering,
which encourages guests to lock their
phones in their room’s safe or leave them
at reception. Despite how Instagrammable
our delicious Buddha bowl is at lunch in
the dining room, the mental photograph
is enough to satisfy me.
The afternoon’s yin yoga session with
naturopath, yoga teacher and wellness
consultant Peter Rule leaves me so Zenned
out I stay in the room to meditate and
lose track of time, making it back just in
the nick of time for dinner. Mealtimes are
a wonderful opportunity to connect with
guests and I share deep belly laughs with
a gorgeous group of women at dinner. I’m
reminded of the power of human connection
and that sense of awe stays with me as
I collapse into bed with cheeks sore from
laughter and a heart full of joy.
“Good morning, Ally” greets me with
a gentle knock on my door each morning
at 6am. The soothing nature of the morning
continues at 6.30am on Meditation Hill
for tai chi qi gong shibashi, overlooking
the beautiful surrounding valley. We begin
the session in a conga line to give each
other a massage, which is therapeutic for
the tension it physically dissolves and the
endorphins it elicits from our laughter.
I close my eyes as we flow through the
sequence, feeling the sun on my face and
the air between my fingers, and when
I open them a few moments later there are
two hot-air balloons floating in the sky as
the sun rises in breathtaking beauty.
Brad Thompson, remembered as
“Brad the breather” by my dad who visited
Golden Door many moons ago, takes us
through a 10-minute standing meditation
that afternoon. We experience complete
skeletal alignment, otherwise known as
“standing in your bones”, as no muscle
activation is required. Brad presses
down into my shoulders and I feel this
vibrant line of energy all the way from my
shoulders down to my feet.
I enjoy a morning bushwalk on Tuesday,
passing through the nearby golf course in
Pokolbin as the sun streams through thetrees. The detoxing process (and my caffeine
withdrawals) has cranked up a few gears,
leaving me feeling worse for wear in a (non-
alcoholic) cocktail of low energy and mood,
sore eyes and a slight fever. Tuesday —
affectionately referred to as “Teary Tuesday”
— is notoriously the hardest day on the
program so, after our stretch class and an
interesting seminar on sleep, I skip Pilates
and attempt some midmorning shuteye.
Wednesday is “let it go day” at Golden
Door, which acts as a gentle reminder for
guests to release anything no longer serving
them. I enjoy a 5km hike through the valley
that ends at a nearby winery where I don’t
feel a drop of thirst for a glass.
That evening we enjoy a stargazing
session. As the last moments of sunset
dissolve behind the mountains, we excitedly
spot Mercury in the distance. Connecting like
this on a human level is just as profound as
the insights that arise from the informative
seminars and healing treatments.
I wake up to my last morning at Golden
Door feeling renewed, just as Brigid had
hoped. Three brain tumour stories are shared
between eight of us over breakfast, reminding
me you never know the struggles someone
is facing unless you are open and willing to
share and receive acts of vulnerability. Golden
Door provides such a healing platform to
elicit that exchange between guests.
I give everyone big hugs and swap email
addresses after our post-breakfast stretch
class. These are the beautiful, unexpected
takeaways from a stay at Golden Door:
the magic of sharing a healing experience
and being able to reflect on that for days,
months, even years to come.
I leave Golden Door transformed from
the person who arrived. It may have taken
me until Thursday to get the “Wednesday
Golden Door glow” but Emma Edmonds,
one of the wonderful women in Golden
Door’s marketing team, tells me my eyes
are shining brightly as I say goodbye.
I transition back into the real world with
grace and flow on the slow drive back to
Sydney. I feel aligned to my natural rhythms;
I’ve deeply reconnected to myself. I feel
young at heart once again.24 | wellbeing.com.au
road test
GOLDEN DOOR WELLNESS RETREAT & SPA