“TripAdvisor is awarding the Escarpment Retreat & Day Spa with a 2013 Certificate of Excellence.

This prestigious award, which places you in the top-performing 10% of all businesses

worldwide on TripAdvisor, is given to businesses that consistently earn high ratings from TripAdvisor travellers”

Here is a picture of me getting ready for the annual Vinnies Sleepout. We are wanting to raise the visibility of homelessness in Australia and have decided to contribute ourselves. We have created a package where we will give $50 to Vinnies and also give you a $100 discount for helping us to help them.

I can personally relate to their plight as I was once living on the street. Here are details of the package and my life when I was homeless

For further specials and discounts, please visit our Happy Deals page

$67 Four-course Mothers’ Day Menu

SPOIL MUM, AND THE WHOLE FAMILY! WITH THIS ULTIMATE FRENCH MENU
Here is our Mothers’ Day Menu, served all day on Mothers’ Day, Sunday 12 May, at lunch and dinner:

APÉRITIF
A glass of Kir royal, Kir Blanc, Belgium Beer or La Ferme’s non alcoholic cocktail, our “Yellow Possum”
****
ENTRÉES
Nems de Foie Gras et de Poitrine de Canard, Chutney aux Poires (Nems of Foie Gras and Duck Breast, Pear Chutney)
Or Aumônière de Saumon Fumé et Oeufs de Poisson Labeyrie (fine crêpe parcel filled with Tassie Smoked Salmon and Labeyrie salmon roe) GF Option available
****
PLATS PRINCIPAUX (Mains)
Coq au Riesling (Creamy free range chicken dish in a Alsatian Riesling sauce -famous Alsatian recipe) GF
Or Porc au lait Madeleine (pork loin braised for eight hours in milk) GF
together with:
Fresh Spaetzle (Alsatian pasta, made in house) and seasonal greens
****
DESSERTS
Éclairs du Jour Maison au Café ou Chocolat a volonté ! (HOUSE Eclairs, filled with a coffee or chocolate CRÈME PATISSIERE filling- all you can eat!!!)
0r
Charlotte aux fruits rouges, sauce au kirsch alsacien
(Berry Charlotte, served with an Alsatian Kirsch Liqueur Sauce)
Or
Verrine au Yogourt de Lait de Coco, avec Framboises Fraîches (Delicious House Coconut Milk Yogourt Verrine with Fresh Raspberries)
Yes, we make our own coconut milk yoghurt- and this is the ideal dessert for the non sugar, non dairy, non grain diet.

$67 three courses, with apéritif
$44 entrée dessert/main dessert
$48 entrée main

AND FOR THE LITTLE ONES:

Children under twelve: $21
Crêpe Franc-comtoise et sa Petite Salade (Ham off the bone and gruyère de comté cheese crepe fine with a garden salad)
followed by:
Éclairs du Jour Maison au Chocolat – à volonté! (all-you-can-eat House Chocolate CREME PATISSIERE filled Eclairs!!!)

Scenic Rim Regional Council is committed to promoting the arts as a tool for cultural expression and development. Cultural engagement and participation is recognised by Council as integral to building community capacity.

Mt Tamborine is home to acclaimed artists, musicians and performers and boasts a bohemian coffee culture. Award-winning wineries, galleries, vintage outlets and a diverse range of other activities ensure there are plenty of things to suit the interests of all visitors.

Here are the participating artists for the said event

•  Mountain Dreams

•    Kate French

•    Louise Grove Wiechers

•    Jennifer McConaghy

•    Marianne Halpin

•    Tamborine Mountain Creative Arts

•    Therese Flynn-Clarke

•    Fiona Rafferty

•    Art at Thunderbird Park

•    Blue Bird Art Studio

•    Cherie Strong

•    Bec Andersen

•     Nikki Chenoweth

•    Annapurna Moongrove

•    Jacques van der Merwe

•    Richard Roper

•    Margaret Goldsmith

•    Betty Bull & Margaret Smit

•    Bound and Wrapped

For more information, you may visit their website

Be part of the annual vinnies sleep out and help raise awareness of this important community cause

My name is Gary Poole and I am the owner of The Escarpment Retreat and Day Spa.

This winter, I will take part in an event called CEO Sleepout in Brisbane where I will be given three pieces of cardboard and a cup of soup for a night to simulate the experience of homeless people.

Around 100,000 people are homeless every night in Australia. They are teenagers, children, the elderly, the mentally disabled, the addicts and regular people like you and me who have worked hard all their lives but cannot find cheap rental accommodation because they have lost their jobs.

I know exactly how they feel because I too was homeless from the age of 14 years old. I left home and never returned. I lived in sheds and slept on dirt floors with a cordial bottle full of hot water tucked in my blanket. Despite enduring freezing Victorian winters this way, I was happy to be free of the abuse. Yet I was incredibly scared – I was still a child after all, had no social skills, life skills or money.

To make my situation worse, I had a stammering impediment due to years of abuse.

It was so serious and so humiliating that if I needed to communicate, I would write it down and hand it to the other person. Buying milk in a shop would consist of a note to the shop owner requesting milk – followed up by another prepared note to say thank you.

Because of my crippling speech impediment, I found career solace in the world of computers (after all, machines do not judge you on the way you speak). I spent my whole life savings ($327) on a computer course. The money wasn’t enough – but the academy principal felt sorry for me and let me in anyway.

This was in the late 1960’s.  Hypnotherapy helped me get over my stammering impediment, unlocking the door to career development and the opportunity to manage a computer company.

It was there that I first witnessed a contractor staying for a substantial time in a motel and I observed his gradual despair at not being able to do simple things like doing his laundry and cook his meals. I then realized that there was a market for good quality accommodation that straddled short and long-term. After all, everyone needs to have a space that is bigger than a hotel room in order to give them the dignity of independence.

It was on that note that I decided to leave the computer industry and open up my first serviced apartment business where people could have their own kitchens, laundry and outside space without committing to a long-term lease.

Looking back, I am grateful for those early years on the street as they taught me about survival. I honed my business skills and came up with some enduring philosophies about customer service. I might have once been homeless but I made sure everyone else who leased my serviced apartments had a good roof over their heads.

Having thrust myself into an entrepreneurial position, I realized that my education was lacking. What others learnt from a business degree, I learnt from a 10 week Council of Adult Education marketing course. I either had to learn fast or sink in the process.

My goal was to have 100 serviced apartments in 5 years. I remember telling everyone I met what my goal was. They did try to give the impression that what I was embarking on was credible. However, it was clear when I looked into their eyes I could feel the burning sensation of the word ‘stupid’ etched into my forehead. Rejection had been an old friend of mine from before, but this time I was on a mission and facts werent going to get in my way.

The business grew and I became CEO a few years later. Instead of 100 apartments in 5 years, it grew to 300 apartments in 3 years. It was here that I then met my soul mate, sold the business and moved to Mt Tamborine to operate The Escarpment Retreat – a beautiful boutique luxury bed and breakfast in the Gold Coast Hinterland featuring four poster king sized canopy beds and log fireplaces.

You can probably see the pattern by now – giving everyone a good nights’ sleep and happy experiences is important to me – anything less reminds me of dirt floors and cordial bottles filled with hot water.

I am sharing my story with you to tell you that homelessness can be overcome – and those horrible conditions can lay the foundation for a better life. Ultimately it is up to the individual, but surely we can put our hand out to at least help them get off the ground.

I am so convinced of this that I am contributing part of The Escarpment Retreat’s profits to the cause.

If you are moved or in any way feel inclined to help, then here is the link. I know times are tough so any amount is ok with me. I hope you can pass this appeal along to your friends and work colleagues.

Thank you for reading my story.

Tamborine Mountain Tours provide airport pickup and local tours

Getting from Coolangatta Airport to Mt Tamborine via taxi can be quite expensive. I would budget around $180 to get to the Escarpment and maybe  $200 to get to other properties on our mountain

Less expensive is a personalised pickup of $165 for two people provided by Tamborine Mountain Tours which is cheaper than a taxi. They also charge the same price from Brisbane Airport

However, by far the best plan is to catch a regular bus from the Coolangatta Airport to Surfers Paradise, enjoy the day on the Gold Coast exploring the tourist razzle dazzle and then catch the local daily Tamborine Mountain Tours bus later in the day that will make it’s journey up to your Mt Tamborine accommodation from the Gold Coast

Here are the times:

- The 702 bus runs every 15 minutes from the Coolangatta Airport and takes about 30 mins to get to Surfers Paradise

- The Tamborine Mountain Tours  bus departs from the Surfers Paradise Transit Centre  to Mt Tamborine daily at both 15.00 and 17.00 and will deliver you to our reception at around 16:40 or 18:00 for the grand cost of $20 p.p.

From Brisbane Airport, you can catch a train to Helensvale Train Station and Tamborine Mountain Tours will pick you up on the same daily afternoon service en route from the Surfers Paradise Transit Centre. ETA for collection from Helensvale is at 16:05 and 17:30

Friday 3rd May 2013-Wongari Walk BEAUDESERT

                                                   the enemy of good is perfection

How many times have we stopped doing things because there are obstacles and we just want to get it right.