Independent editorial without retail bias
Spa Sublime, Katoomba, Blue Mountains
............................................................................................................................................
Marc Llewellyn and partner enjoy a smoking ceremony and a couple's massage in the mountains.
The Blue Mountains is rapidly turning into one of Australia’s signature spa regions, particularly since the opening of the Emirate’s Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa beyond Lithgow.
If you are heading to the central Blue Mountains though then you’d be well advised to take time out at Spa Sublime in Katoomba. It’s part of The Mountain Heritage Hotel & Spa Retreat, a wonderful colonial-style historic hotel with roaring fires in winter, spa baths in every elegant room, a cosy bar and atmospheric seating areas, and long corridors framed with dozens of antique bird prints.
Spa Sublime is set in a separate building close to the main hotel complex. As it was a bit of a romantic weekend away for us, we opted for a couple’s massage complemented by a half-hour facial.
Our two pretty young female therapists were softly-spoken as they gracefully led us through the procedure in the calming treatment room (‘they get several marriage propositions a week’, the spa’s director, Lynda Davis, joked later).
We were to have a Kodo massage using quality LI’TYA products in combination with LI’TYA spa rituals, which are based on Aboriginal healing principles. ‘It’s really quite a different massage’ we were told. ‘It’s uncomplicated, but effective. When you’re taught massage you’re taught to massage towards the heart, from the outside in, but in this principle it’s the other way around, and all the negative energy is released.’
We started off by choosing our massage oil - as part of the ‘sensory journey’ we were about to embark upon. We closed our eyes and, one by one, three oil blends were brought up to our noses. I chose the Reharmonise Oil Blend, which is apparently good at ‘relieving anxiety and stress and bringing overall balance’.
Then, as we lay on our stomachs, we were treated to an Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony using smoldering lemon myrtle leaves and tree moss held in a hand-carved wooden Coolomon dish.
The Smoking Ceremony is designed to cleanse the air of negative energy and bring the therapist and client into the present moment.
The massage then started, and for the next half an hour we were treated to a soothing treatment of rhythmic strokes and light pressure work, as the therapists worked in harmony with each other. I felt very pampered.
Then it was time for the facial. It started with a lillypilly cream cleanser, followed by a lillypilly gel cleanser. Then came a wattleseed exfoliation treatment, and a Tasmanian kelp hydrating mask. Between each stage our therapists gently pressed warm towels over our faces to remove the products.
After a light sprinkling of desert lime mist there came an application of macadamia hydrating cream, followed finally by a baronia eye serum to firm, cool, and soften the skin.
‘That was seriously the best facial I have ever had’, gushed my partner, who was far more experienced at this kind of treatment than I was.
We were both left rhapsodising about how we felt as we floated out of the spa and back towards our car. We were both strangely revived and seriously relaxed at the same time. Highly recommended.
Spa Files
Spa Sublime
9 Penault Avenue,
Katoomba, NSW 2780.
Tel: (02) 4782 3113.
Email: indulge@spasublime.com.au
Web: www.spasublime.com.au
The Mountain Heritage Hotel & Spa Retreat
Tel: (02) 4782 2155.
www.mountainheritage.com.au
