Following the busy festive season, this is a chance to slow down, set intentions for the year ahead and spend some quality time with the family.
After cruising along the winding country roads, we arrive and draw an appreciative breath as we spot our home for the next three nights.
This is no rustic country abode like the original farmhouses in the area. Amileka was designed by celebrated architect Sharon Fraser and has won several awards for innovative architectural design.
We're met by our smiling concierge and long-time Byron local Joselle, who gives us a tour of the magnificent modernist home, which was once owned by The Farm founders and owners Emma and Tom Lane.
As someone with a keen interest in architecture and design, I’m impressed.
The house is spread across one level with concrete floors and open indoor living spaces that seamlessly connect inside and out.
Along with the chic sunken lounge - one of my favourite parts of the house - it also has a butler’s pantry and an open kitchen, an oversized dining table and an indoor/outdoor entertaining space with a remote-controlled Vergola roof.
The master bedroom opens out onto a private patio overlooking the valley, and I admire the Slim Aarons print which hangs above my king-sized bed adorned with luxurious linen.
Its spa-like ensuite features a huge sunken bath and two shower heads.
All five beautifully appointed bedrooms come with robes designed by luxury Australian lifestyle brand, The Beach People.
There’s also a home cinema, where the kids collapse to watch movies on Netflix at the end of a busy day of swimming and exploring.
My two boys, Sunny and Ziggy, also enjoy the basketball hoop, cubby house and the tree swing that hangs from an ancient black bean tree, which we later discover, illuminates at night.
The piece de resistance, though, is the 18-metre swimming pool which looks out over the rolling hills, and a giant red steel rabbit sculpture by Melbourne artist Peter McLisky.
Considered design aside, I admire the thoughtful, personalised touches such as the robes, the bottles of wine in the fridge and the loaf of freshly baked bread and goodies for a welcome platter from local company Table Under a Tree, which offers gourmet meal pods and personalised food tours around the Byron region.
What's more, Amileka is also the first Tesla Destination in Australia, with the home powered by solar and stored on the property with Tesla Powerwall home battery storage, which means the property can account for most of its own needs without drawing from the grid.
We spend most of our stay cooking, swimming, reading, shooting hoops, playing cards, watching the kids run free and making the two-minute drive to Federal to enjoy lunch at Doma.
The humble weatherboard garden café, which is open for breakfast and lunch, was founded in 2012 by chefs Takayuki Kuramoto and Takashi Yaguchi.
Despite its remote, rural setting, its Japanese fusion menu is so popular, there’s often a long queue to order sushi, salads and creative specials, all of which are fresh and flavoursome.
Federal’s local general store, which also doubles as a bottle shop, has beautiful organic produce, and a few doors down, the family-owned Moonshine Coffee Roasters is a good spot for an espresso.
On our second morning, A Perfect Stay organise for Pieta Devine of Corealign Yoga to come to the house and take me through a yoga practice as the welcome rain gently falls outside.
That afternoon, I also experience one of the most beautiful treatments I’ve had anywhere in the world.
My therapist, Danielle Gigante of Resonate Therapy, tells me the treatments usually take place outside underneath the black bean tree. However, due to the rain, she sets up on the patio off the master bedroom.
The powerful two-hour ritual begins with a remedial massage and includes a chakra cleanse and balance, clearing and grounding meditation and sound healing. For those open to alternative therapies, it's the perfect treatment for body and mind.
As we eat dinner that evening, two curious horses wander up to the fence, prompting my boys to get up and run outside for a pat mid-meal.
The sun is setting and looking at the beaming little faces of my barefoot boys fills my heart with joy.
After our blissful three nights, it is clear why the micro-cation – holidays of four nights or less – is one of the key trends in travel right now.
Sometimes, it just takes a few days away from the fast-paced digital world to feel refreshed and truly reconnected with the ones who matter the most.
A little luxury certainly doesn’t hurt, either.
https://www.aperfectstay.com.au/properties/amileka
The writer was a guest of A Perfect Stay.
