First, let me say that none of the constructive criticisms in this review would change my view on this amazing property. We had an absolute blast here over the weekend and loved every minute of our time at Pilgrim’s Retreat. The drive in at around 6pm was fun as the whole family were spotting kangaroos and yelling their locations at me so we didn’t hit any! We had decided to take my wife’s Hyundai i30 and it handled the graded gravel road with ease. The directions we were given, along with the specific distance to drive made finding the place very easy, which was great as the headlights on the i30 aren’t the best for night time bush travel 😊. We are a little disappointed when we arrived to find that the fire wasn’t lit. I know, I know, it wasn’t in the description that it would be lit when we got there, but as we were arriving late and it was very cold, it would have been nice to open the door and feel the warmth. We unpacked our bags, started the oven to cook our dinner and got to work starting the fire. It didn’t take long thanks to the hexamine tablets left by the hosts and the amply supplied firewood on the veranda in the extremely large and tough looking log holder. All of the wooden benches and dining table and bench chairs with their live edge finishes were gorgeous and really helped connect the inside of the house to the outdoors. We ate our pizza and garlic bread, which was cooked to perfection in the gas oven and got the kids (7 and ¾ and 3) to bed. The stairs were somewhat of a novelty to our kids but they handled them with ease. Due to the open nature of the house, the heat generated from the wood fire had started to warm the second level and the bedding supplied kept the kids nice and warm through the night with absolutely no complaints! Now that they were asleep, my wife and I decided to try out the spa, which was all set and ready to go. I’m not one to regularly go over the top when I say things, but O.M.G it was amazing. Sitting in the spa which was at a perfect 38c when it was probably 6c outside, having my back massaged by the water jets, looking up at the stars and in the distance hearing the call of sulphur-crested cockatoos was something that I won’t be forgetting for a long time. It was pure bliss. We finished up in the spa and stoked the fire to keep it warm overnight and in to the morning and went to bed. The master bed is to die for. I haven’t slept so well in a long time. The curtains around the bed to retain privacy were quaint. Our 3 year old son has a habit of getting up in the middle of the night and climbing in to our bed and it was no different here. The gate at the top of the stairs instilled confidence that he wouldn’t go for a tumble in the middle of the night and would easily find us. The size of the master bed was humungous and ensured that when he did climb in with us, we didn’t feel like we were going to fall off the edge of the bed like we do at home! In the morning our daughter joined us and we all had a comfy doze with plenty of room. We cooked breakfast, lazed around for a little bit on the perfectly placed leather couches and then went for a walk down to the river. The scenery and topography is beautiful out this way. Seeing the size of what the Moore River used to be, probably hundreds of thousands of years ago was awesome. Getting to the river proper was quite easy after we walked east from the house and found a way down the steep embankment that wasn’t too difficult for the kids. We saw kangaroos and cockatoos and galahs. We followed several different kangaroo trails through the underbrush and then followed the river back towards the house and climbed up the embankment right next to the gate. I had stoked the fire before we left and we came back to a delightfully warm house and lazed around again, taking in the beauty of both the house and the bushland easily viewed through the many windows in the house. We took the kids in to the spa which was a real treat for them. We started up the fire pit in the afternoon and toasted marshmallows before starting up the BBQ and cooking some delicious sausages and steak. The lower part of the house by this stage was at a perfect 25c, and the upstairs would have been pushing 30c! Suffice to say the kids had no chance of not sleeping as they were snuggled up in their warm beds, in a warm house and tired from the day’s activities. The wife and I again treated ourselves to some time in the spa, in awe of the situation we had found ourselves in. I would love to come back when there is a new moon and really get a proper view of those stars! Sunday started with a simple breakfast of toast and juice and a walk up the entrance of the property. There is such an amazing amount of flora on this property and I hope to in the future explore it more thoroughly. The firepit had enough residual warmth in it for us to start it up again to keep the kids entertained for a while. We had another spa bath and then started to clean up and pack up, ready to return to home. There is a large amount of lovely artwork in the house. The paintings of the cockatoos in the kid’s bedroom area are so beautiful. All of the...