Murrah Dream Retreat

Vanessa Forbes and Steve Mazabow spent years on the road as HeartSound, a husband-and-wife duo offering yin yoga and sound healing at retreats, festivals and events across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In 2020 they came across a piece of land on the Sapphire Coast of New South Wales and, by their own account, it was love at first sight. They bought it on gut feeling and a love of adventure, and traded a sixth-floor apartment in Bondi for life in the bush with their two dogs, Pico and Bella.

What they built first was a geodesic dome for yoga and sound healing, and Murrah Dream Retreat grew from it. The dome holds 23 yoga mats and can be heated or cooled. It has wifi, a high-quality sound system, and lighting controlled from a phone, with a full spectrum of colour for night sessions. Through its windows the audience is kangaroos, black cockatoos, kookaburras and eagles.

The Retreat House looks over Murrah Lagoon and sleeps up to 13 across five bedrooms. It has an infinity pool, a fireplace on the Eagle View deck, a sunroom that seats 20 for meals, and a catering kitchen set apart for visiting cooks. Four glamping domes with their own outdoor bathrooms take another eight guests, and a solar-lit caravan by the lilypond sleeps two. The total is 23 beds.

The property is now offered as a venue to facilitators running their own retreats, trainings, seminars and workshops. Clare Lovelace of Soultribe Studios says she has hosted five retreats here. HeartSound still hold sound healing, gong baths and occasional music events in the dome.

Murrah is about three hours by car from Canberra, six from Sydney and eight from Melbourne. The nearest airport, Merimbula, is an hour away.