When you pack your bags for Eco Beach, you can cast your shoes aside – you really won’t need them.  Especially for this weekend.  November 4th to 6th is  Barefoot Weekend.  Eco Beach is celebrating all its activities that can be done with barefeet.  And with a ‘back to nature’, ‘life stripped bare’  focus, that’s pretty much everything.

Have you tried Supping yet?  That’s Stand Up Paddle-boarding.  The Hawaiians started it back in the 1950s, modern Hawaiians have revived it and now it’s taking the aquatic sporting world by storm!   Some say it’s the biggest thing to hit our shores since surfboards 50 years ago.  And at Eco Beach, you don’t need to worry about a surfing ‘code of conduct’ either – you’ll have the Indian Ocean all to yourself.  I’m a barefoot windsurfer by trade, but I’m a supping convert now!  It’s an even more relaxing, peaceful way to enjoy the ocean. It’s a great way to get intimate with the marine life too.  You can sneak up on turtles, stingrays and fish before they even know you’re there. And if it’s a ’6 pack’ ab look you’re after, this is the sport for you! It demands core abdominal strength to balance and twist from side to side as you paddle.  It’s such a balanced package of kicking back and body toning all at the same time.  So serene, it’s almost spiritual.  If you prefer, you can explore the ocean sitting down -  in a sea kayak.  It’s an equally serene way to get around.

Other barefoot activities to tick off your list are: complimentary yoga each morning, sipping chilled sparkling champagne on your private deck or on the beach, swimming in the  signature infinity pool, beach fishing and meditation at the caves.  For a real blast of a barefoot experience, try the “Mud ‘n Bubbles” tour.  After a sand exfoliation, release your inner warrior as you cover yourself from top to toe in revitalising, healing mangrove mud.  Wash it off in the ocean and then wash down the experience with a glass of bubbly.  It’s all about letting your inhibitions go, bonding, pure fun and relaxation. Eco Beach guests rate this barefoot experience as their favourite.  I’d have to agree.

Maybe you want less action and a barefoot beach stroll, beach picnic and ocean swim will do just fine.   If you’re an Imelda Marcos type person, such wild abandonment will test your resolve to remain barefoot, but you can don a pair of special shoes to wear to dinner if you really have to!

For more details on the Barefoot Weekend at Eco Beach, follow the link to November Events http://www.ecobeach.com.au/events-calendar.php

In this changing world, it’s really important to take time out and work out who you are and where you’re heading.  It could be a spiritual journey with a pilgrimage up a sacred mountain or it might just be a reality check in your own backyard.  Eco Beach recently took some time out to “find itself”.  And let’s face it, it didn’t have to go far to find a stunning beach to lay on and do some quiet thinking on the journey to self discovery.  In fact, it got very clever and sent a couple of trusty envoys across the waters to Broome to conduct a customer survey.   The little eco retreat wanted an answer to the big life question “to change or not to change”?

The answer was quickly evident – “to change”.  Everyone – single, couple, family or group –  wants to holiday at “one of the world’s most remarkable destinations”, but more economically and with greater self-sufficiency.  So….drum roll……Eco Beach is very happy to announce to the tourism world that self-catering is now an option.  It’s all about choices.   As if we don’t have enough in today’s world!

Self catering accommodation in Broome is now an option for all our guests. All ‘Eco Villas‘ now have everything you need to cook up and eat a holiday storm: tableware, cooking utensils, microwave, toaster, kettle, bar fridge and shared barbeque.  If you’re in an Eco Tent, you can also play chef with an esky and the use of a shared self-catering tent. The ‘tent scullery’ has cooking utensils, microwave, single hotplate, kettle, fridge space and barbeque.  Picnic sets are also available.

And to top it off, you can choose to dine with others at the outdoor barbeque areas or dine alone in the comfort of your air-conditioned villa or if you’re in a tent – on your private deck, close up to Mother Nature.

And if you want a night (or a week!) off cooking, Eco Beach’s signature bar and restaurant, ‘Jack’s’ is still open, boasting the freshest seasonal ingredients, mostly from Chef Kenneth’s organic gardens.  Oh and beer, wine and cocktails to boot!

Eco Beach Broome is now about “something for everyone”.

Hold my hand and I’ll “lead you down the garden path“.  But instead of misleading you, I’ll make this concept clear for you…….we’re going to take a stroll through our beautiful Eco Resort and take in our organic vegetable gardens.  A little wooden gate is the perfect entry to the experience.  Now, feast your eyes on rows and rows of fresh produce, from the humble tomato to the exotic Lebanese eggplant and everything else imaginable in between.  Marigolds pop their colourful heads up every now and then and help keep the bugs at bay.  And did you know they’re edible!  Our chef loves tossing them into a salad.  Pluck lemon basil and rub it tenderly under your nose, sink your teeth into a juicy TommyToe tomato or perhaps slice open a passionfruit and suck out the sweet sensation that lies behind the wrinkled deep purple skin.  No wonder the Wallabies persist with new ways to enter our abundant patch.

Oh listen, the chickens are calling for their eggs to be collected.  Theses girls very kindly produce about 20 eggs a day as well as the fertiliser for the organic gardens.   They are well rewarded for their gifts to us with scraps from the garden and kitchen.  The great circle of life goes round and round at Eco Beach, reminding us that we are all interdependent.  Enough on the philosophy of life.  It’s time to fill your basket and deliver it to ‘Chef de Cuisine’ –  Kenneth – who will transform your freshly plucked produce into mouth-watering  plates for your palate.

Eco Beach’s self-sustained kitchen really enables guests to experience “from garden to table” goodness in every meal.  Fresh, delicious meals are created with very little supplementation from fresh food retailers.Take for instance this week’s “Tasty Treats”: cauliflower and broccoli sprouts with red peppers, grain mustard and lemon dressing; watermelon with mint, soft fetta and pomegranate; Lebanese eggplant with piri- piri and pomegranate; oven roasted peppers with gremolata… with the accompaniment  dishes of green capsicum and tomato kasundi; paw paw relish and rocket pesto.  Not to mention the freshly picked and stewed rhubarb at breakfast.

So don’t think you’ll miss out on a gourmet experience when on holiday in the remote North West.  Quite the opposite. I remember the old Eco Beach days (prior to Cyclone Rosita)when it was “truck to table”.  We were too busy kick starting the wheels of eco-tourism -  building, gardening, conducting guest surveys –  to plant an organic vegetable garden.  Instead we would await the weekly truck delivery from Perth of wilted greens and bruised bananas.  These days we are truly blessed.  The fact that the chef’s kitchen is just metres from the Indian Ocean must also be an inspiration  for creating gourmet delights.   At the same time we are supporting the sustainability of our planet.  Don’t it feel good!  All we need now is a dairy cow!

Our Tasty Treats