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Sarah Maguire finds the treatment hot and cold at a refurbished Coolum spa.
Three days after my return from Hyatt Regency Coolum, I notice a long smudge of mud on the back of my right calf. It takes me a few moments to work out where it came from.
When the penny drops, I'm amazed. Wow, mud from an extinct Hawaiian volcano really does get in.
Days earlier, at the Hyatt spa, I'd been exfoliated with a medicinal-smelling blend of thyme, lemon and cloves, smothered in volcanic mud and clay, wrapped in plastic with hot stones under my back and left to marinate, while my face underwent a cold stone massage.
It was the first day of operation of the Hyatt's refurbished spa after a $4.2-million, four-month makeover. The resort on Queensland's Sunshine Coast was built on 150 hectares in the foothills of Mount Coolum 20 years ago, and while its spa has long been one of the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere, it is now world-class.
As well as 18 treatment rooms, most with private outdoor courtyards, there are saunas, steam rooms, relaxation lounges, workout areas and beauty stations for hair, make-up and nails.
It's styled as all good spas are, to make you feel as though you've stepped through a wardrobe door into a fresh and breezy world where it's all about you.
Yet more evidence, if we needed it, of our rampaging appetite for all things spa. And it's not just women's business: the Hyatt spa has a wing each for men and women, to keep the genders separate unless they want to hop in the outdoor unisex spa or do laps in the 25-metre pool.
It's styled as all good spas are, to make you feel as though you've stepped through a wardrobe door into a fresh and breezy world where it's all about you. The people talk in comforting tones. The muzak soothes. Mobile phones are switched off. The Carita products in the foyer boutique would be affordable in yet another universe and you yearn for them, promising as they do to make you beautiful.
The sunshine pours in - this spa has a special emphasis on bringing the outdoors in - and tealights flicker too. Some of them keep pots of tea warm for spa goers shuffling by in their fluffy white robes and slippers, perhaps in transit between "suite time" in their own private geisha tub and a slimming pro-lift therapy to visibly refine their silhouette.
My revitalising warm stone therapy continued with a shower to remove the mud and clay, then a full body massage using basalt stones, black and round and perfectly smooth and warmed to 60 degrees. First one leg, then the other; one arm, then the other; back, shoulders, tummy, neck. Predictably, it was bliss. The only bad things about spa treatments are that they end and they are on the dear side. A 90-minute body treatment is $220, a 90-minute massage $170. The intensive lift facial package, I notice in the spa menu, will set you back $1300, although it involves four treatments over two weeks.
That's a long time to stay at a resort but since Lend Lease's purchase of the sprawling property in 2003, you can actually live there: the property developer has plans for 550 homes in three stages and the first stage, comprising 40 homes, has been completed.
For holidaymakers, there are 324 rooms and villas. Our two-bedroom President Lakefront Villa with kitchenette sits by the 18th fairway of the resort's golf course, home of the Australian PGA championship. Beyond the sliding doors is a grassy verge leading to a lake that we imagine must be full of balls.
The ducks that gather are more interested in any food we might have. We rather like the fact that our villa has all the trappings of a five-star hotel room: fully stocked bar fridge, daily housekeeping, room service and movies on demand.
The resort is a hermetic world: once you're there, you need never leave. Cars are parked far away and you navigate the kilometres of winding pathways either on foot, by bicycle or by hitching a ride with the resort shuttle. Tennis courts and the golf course keep sporty types happy; for walkers, the trek up Mount Coolum promises spectacular views; the Activities Centre and Camp Hyatt have kids and families covered.
Of course, there's the beach: this is Queensland, folks, and the Hyatt has a two-kilometre Pacific Ocean frontage.
On the winter weekend we make the exhilarating bike ride to the Beach Club, it looks abandoned - the sun loungers around the pool are empty as is the beach, apart from a furled umbrella and two deck chairs.
There's more action at the Village Square, the hub of the resort, where there are several restaurants, a wine shop, boutique and a general store.
It's the Gift Shop and Creative Art Galleries on the way to the square that keep the shopper in me happy.
Unlike the sheer yet fleeting joy of a spa treatment, you'll find a permanent keepsake here among the works from numerous south-east Queensland artists: things of beauty everywhere, from jewellery, silks and ceramics to prints, sculptures and paintings.
The writer was a guest of Hyatt Regency Coolum.
TRIP NOTES
Getting there: Jetstar flies three times daily from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast (Maroochydore), fares start at $79 one way. Virgin Blue flies up to three times daily, one-way fares from $85. Transfers can be arranged with the resort.
Staying there: Rates start at $240 a night for a king room. Golf villas start at $500 a night. Rates include continental breakfast and access to spa facilities.
Further information: See www.coolum.regency.hyatt.com.
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