Checking into Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat for a two-night Wellness Weekend, Karryon founder Matt Leedham sat down with Retreat Sales Manager Matt Du Bois to uncover the magic and the enduring pull behind this uniquely Australian sanctuary.
Perched high in the Gold Coast hinterland and set on 500 lush acres, Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat is unlike any hotel, spa, or resort I’ve stayed in before. It’s not just about massages, saunas or delicious organic food. This place operates on an entirely different rhythm, one that strips away the noise of modern life and invites you to reconnect with yourself.
Sitting down with Gwinganna’s Retreat Sales Manager, Matt Du Bois, to find out more, it became evident why the retreat has not only survived but thrived over nearly two decades.
Du Bois is himself well-travelled in the industry, having spent 27 years in the field, working at Corporate Traveller, Helloworld, Contiki, AAT Kings and Anzcro, to name a few.
As Du Bois notes, guests don’t just come here once; they come back again and again.
“Repeat guests make up around 60 per cent of any given program, which is an incredibly high number for a retreat,” Du Bois explained. “One of our past guests has been 67 times, another 47 times. You put 67 times into 20 years… It’s a different number.”
What is it, then, that’s in the air (or maybe the water) here that keeps people coming back for more?
To start, the day at Gwinganna doesn’t begin with alarms, coffee, or a breakfast buffet. It begins with the sun.
“It always starts with Qigong at six [or as close to sunrise], which is just more about bringing the energy into play. We follow a circadian rhythm, so everything revolves around the sun. The gentle Qigong session is about half an hour. You’ll then go and have a yin versus yang type exercise for an hour up until eight o’clock [choose from a leisurely or energetic walk, for example]. Breakfast is at eight, lunch is always 12:30, dinner is always six o’clock.”
In between, guests can choose from activities including walks, yoga, pilates, talks, swims in the two pools, downtime, or one of 65 different therapies, ranging from acupuncture and Reiki to astrology and equine therapy. It’s important to note that this is all optional. You can choose guilt-free what you want to do outside of the standard meal times and take all the time out you need.
The best part? You don’t plan any of it.
“At your table with your name tag beside it, there’s another space, and that space tells you everything that you have booked in for that day. You don’t know what time it is until that morning, which is bliss.”
Phones are away for everyone (You can still use them in your accommodation if you must), stimulants are off the menu, and the nervous system gets a chance to truly reset.
“Decision detox… there’s no coffee here for the five and seven-day retreats. No dairy, it’s all gluten-free, all organic, and because we have naturopaths on cue, they can provide things to help ease any detox symptoms.”
And, he adds firmly:
“No vaping, cigarettes, drugs, caffeinated drinks and alcohol. We have to ask people politely to depart, purely because it undermines everybody else’s experience, which also means no walking around the retreat with the phone.”
A home, not a hotel
Unlike uber polished resorts that can sometimes feel sterile, Gwinganna leans into its sense of place with a mix of heritage and contemporary stay options.
“It’s more like coming home, because many of the accommodations are Queensland-style homes… heritage-listed properties literally lifted and removed from nearby.”
After driving up a private road and gated entry, guests arrive at a setting far from everyday life, complete with wallabies and joeys grazing nearby, and koalas in the trees, thanks to a partnership with Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation and Land for Wildlife. Numerous rescued Koalas have been relocated to Gwinganna in recent years thanks to a Wildlife Survival Program.
Even the infrastructure reflects the ethos.
“Everything is tank water from the mountain… pools are magnesium. It’s about an eye for detail and a personal touch. And that’s the expertise across the retreat; all the specialists are experts in what they do. They’re not just here for a job.”
“The tenure here is long, which is fantastic,” Du Bois adds. “Even for the casuals within my team and others, they’ll often work across multiple areas, including the stay-overs, because we always have someone on site. There’s always someone here, catering to guests’ needs.”
Gwinganna has around 65 spa and wellness practitioners, part of a wider team of around 220 staff in total across the retreat. The spa is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, offering 33 treatment rooms, along with a Crystal Steam Room, a Cold Plunge, and a Whisper Lounge. It’s also a gorgeous spot to sip on some botanical Gwinganna tea and marvel at the enormous trees flourishing in the spa’s circular garden.
Food philosophy centres around seasonal, local, and organic whole foods, with much of the produce harvested daily from the extensive on-site gardens. There’s also a focus on eating mindfully, which means slowing down [including chewing more], being in the moment, and being truly aware of the food you are eating and its impact on your health and wellbeing.
Who comes — and why
The guest mix is surprisingly diverse, ranging from 18-year-olds to 80-year-olds, with most falling within the 33–55 age bracket. As there were more men than I’d anticipated here for the weekend, I wondered if this was a growing trend.
“Guests are made up of about 85% women and 15% men,” says Du Bois. “But absolutely, [men] are growing. There’s a real movement out there on the masculine and men stepping more into themselves so that as a manager, or a leader, they are making better decisions from an authentic place.”
Couples and mother-daughter pairs are also a strong presence, as are Kiwis, who surprisingly make up around a quarter of the guests, alongside a solid base of Australians, Brits, and Americans.
Before stepping into his permanent role at the retreat, Du Bois first experienced Gwinganna as a guest, spending a week immersed in the product he now shares so passionately with the travel trade.
“When I was here for my seven days, there was a guy I befriended who had been here for nine weeks, and after I finished that and continued and started working here, he was still here. That’s remarkable.”
Du Bois goes on to tell me that one guest even stayed for three months, and I wonder how they felt after returning to normality.
Always evolving
As wellness has gone mainstream, Gwinganna has expanded its scope while staying true to its roots.
“There’s a real shift toward a more personalised approach,” Du Bois said. “It’s not just about creating your own retreat anymore, but about providing guidance that helps people reconnect with themselves and with one another. There’s also growing interest in nutrition-based programs, particularly those focused on gut and brain health.”
Educational seminars covering the gamut of optimal wellbeing are also a daily (optional) fixture, featuring some of the industry’s biggest names, including Dr Libby Weaver, Dr Karen Coates, and Sharon Kolker, who run specialist periodic retreat programs.
It’s not just individuals who benefit. More corporates are discovering the retreat too.
“We have 110 people coming next month for a summit. Companies want to move away from the traditional hotel model. Whether it’s fully inclusive or just the property, we can make it work.”
What luxury means at Gwinganna
Despite its high-end positioning, Gwinganna doesn’t flaunt chandeliers or designer fittings.
“It’s not over the top luxury, not at all. It’s not perfection. It is rustic. You feel a part of it. It does not feel separate to you.”
All of the accommodation options have been carefully considered and designed to be screen-free, understated, and generally distraction-free (except for the surrounding spectacular nature) in their approach.
For Du Bois, and for many guests, luxury is defined more by absence.
“Most people will have dinner and finish about eight o’clock, and then they go to bed, and they wake up and follow that rhythm again. There’s an actual relinquishment of everything that you did before. It’s freeing.”
Even Du Bois himself felt it when he first arrived.
“I brought a laptop, thinking, Okay, I’ll check in every now and then. I didn’t. I thought I would read a book. I didn’t. I kept my watch on purely so I knew when the meals were coming. That is luxury, isn’t it?”
The advice for first-timers
As I prepared for my own stay, I asked him what advice he’d give me to get the most from the experience.
“Follow what your body feels like. Qigong in the morning is well worth doing. Participate in the walks and wander around the space. There are 15 trails throughout the bush area. It’s not about needing to get out and about; there’s a lot to do, but you don’t need to.”
Ultimately, he says, Gwinganna is about turning down the noise and turning up your presence.
“This is you time. It’s not my time, because I paid to go somewhere. That’s the beach holiday. This is more about coming back to yourself. By default, you let go. It’s a really, really nice experience.”
And that, in the end, might explain why Gwinganna remains here, still full, and continues to draw people back after 20 years.
More info: www.gwinganna.com
Located in the Gold Coast hinterland, 30 minutes from Gold Coast Airport, Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat offers multi-day programs designed to restore balance and vitality. Packages range from two-night Wellness Weekends to five- and seven-night programs, including Triple S (Sleep, Sugar, Stress), Women’s Discovery, Burnout, Mother-Daughter, and Detox retreats.
Two-night Wellness Weekends start from $1,275 per person twin share and include 2 nights accommodation, one classic massage, all organic meals and snacks, morning coffee, herbal teas and an evening glass of organic wine, a key wellness seminar, access to all facilities and scheduled activities, a chance to try the ancient art of Qigong, yoga, hiking, some dynamic exercise options and complimentary transfers from Gold Coast Airport at set times.
For travel advisors, Gwinganna offers commissionable packages and tailored wellness group options.
