The Mouses House Review: A Rainforest Retreat in Springbrook

A popular piece of relationship advice for couples with children is to make time for yourselves with ‘date nights’. We definitely agree, although, to be honest, date night for us is often staying at home with a favorite meal that the kids don’t normally like and simply enjoying the peace and quiet!

Once a year, though, we like to splurge and have a romantic, child-free retreat for a couple of nights out of town. If we were Sydneysiders, we would be looking in the Shoalhaven area and know some fantastic luxury accommodation in Berry, NSW. However, living in SEQ, our favourite spot in recent years has been The Mouses House Rainforest Retreat. In fact, we are so enchanted with this romantic retreat in the lush rainforest of Springbrook, we can’t imagine heading anywhere else for our annual bit of couple-time! Disclosure: children are perfectly welcome to stay at The Mouses House and we absolutely know that ours would love it. It’s just that we’ve ‘reserved’ it as a special place for us for couple time.

Where is The Mouses House Rainforest Retreat?

The Mouses House Rainforest Retreat is nestled in a secluded spot in the Gold Coast hinterland. It’s about 90 minutes drive from Brisbane, or roughly half that from Surfers Paradise. Even the drive there is a romantic outing (perhaps the lack of “are we there yet?”), with some beautiful views out towards the Gold Coast as you climb up towards Springbrook. By the end of your trip, the surroundings are lush rainforest and the air is a bit cooler – quite a welcome change in summer!

The Mouses House Retreat – Chalets

There is a beautiful mountain stream cascading through the Mouses House site and the whole area is lush rainforest that has been minimally disturbed to build the retreat. The accommodation consists of eco-friendly cedar-wood chalets nestled in amongst the trees, most of which are built next to the stream. In fact, when I say ‘nestled’ amongst the trees, the chalets really have been built to not only accommodate but feature the native trees, with organically shaped decks sometimes having holes in the roof to let trees continue to grow there. It gives a lovely, calming, ‘at-one-with-nature’ feeling to the place.

Whether you book a ‘standard’ chalet or a luxury one, everything seems very luxurious to us! All that beautiful exposed cedar inside feels very ‘homely’ and the chalets are furnished very tastefully. The luxury chalets have outdoor spas, so you can relax and soak in the rainforest and view the stream. But, even if you don’t book the luxury option, all the chalets have indoor spa baths with huge windows with private outlooks into the rainforest. The Luxury Spa and Sky-loft chalets have higher-level views into the canopy, although we haven’t stayed in those ones.

Each of the chalets is different in design and character and they are playfully named after Disney characters, eg. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. There are all the mod cons you’d expect, such as large screen TVs and an iPad mini with handy guest information. I have to admit that we aren’t big on TV at the best of times and our idea of a romantic couple retreat is to getaway from electronic devices! So, these have stayed off during our visits, but they are certainly there as options. OK, not all electronic devices… there is Wi-Fi in the chalets and it is just too tempting to make family and friends jealous with fireplace snapshots and photos from the day’s bushwalk! 🙂

Facilities at the Mouses House Retreat

Guests at The Mouses House Retreat get free access to a half-sized Tennis Court, Swedish Hot Tub and Finnish sauna. There’s also mountain, tandem and even electric bikes freely available for use. We have a guilty admission though – we haven’t availed ourselves of any of these! Our child-free getaway is all about relaxation and enjoying the serenity. Plus, there are so many great bushwalks nearby, that we tend to do some bushwalking during the day and then snuggle up around a fire with wine and cheese in the chalet of an evening.

Things to do in Springbrook

There are so many great lookouts, waterfalls and rainforest walks in and around Springbrook! Bushwalks range from a couple hundred metres to a lookout, to multi-day hikes for the truly adventurous. We normally do one or two in the 2-4 km range. Depending on fitness level, they can be challenging, since there’s often steep sections, but they are well signed and give ample warning for would-be hikers.

Highlights are:

• Goomoolahra Falls (200m return) – literally at the end of the road that the Mouses House is on (Springbrook Rd), this is one of the easiest walks – just a flat 100m on asphalt – and the view is spectacular, including the falls and right out across the canyon to Surfers Paradise.
• Twin Falls Circuit (4km) – it’s a big call, but some believe this to be the best short walk in south Queensland! It’s right on the doorstep of The Mouses House. In fact, you can walk from the Retreat to Tallanbana picnic area to start the bushwalk.
• Purling Brook Falls Circuit (4km) – this walk has several vantage points of the falls, as you descend to the base of the falls and back up again. For a little extra challenge, there’s an optional 2km detour to Warringa Pool. Last time we did this walk, we saw two carpet pythons, one of which was directly on the track in front of us. We were happy to wait for it to move…
• Best of All Lookout (600m return) – every time we see the sign, we giggle at the name of this lookout! It’s certainly spectacular. The drive to the lookout walk ascends quite some way. I think it’s about 1,000 m elevation. A highlight is the 2,000-year-old Antarctic Beech trees and a spectacular view (if there’s no cloud) of Mt Warning and out to Brunswick Heads. It’s a short, relatively easy and quite popular walk, so you can expect some tour buses on weekends and busier times of year.
• Natural Bridge (1km return) – this is the furthest walk to get to from The Mouses House, taking about 30 minutes or so by car. Ironically, as the crow flies, The Mouses House is only a few kilometres from the Natural Bridge, however, the rugged geography means you need to go back north to Nerang-Murwillumbah Rd and then back down south to reach the walk. Natural Bridge is certainly spectacular, and a very easy walk, but be prepared to share the path with a few more people than the other bushwalks, above – Natural Bridge is quite popular. If you go at night, you can see glow-worms in the cave, although the lure of a child-free night in front of the fire back at the Chalet has always been too strong for us!

Places to Eat

Fine dining options are not the attraction of Springbrook – we normally spend dinnertimes enjoying our chalet! Honestly, wine and cheese around a crackling fire has become our staple. The luxury level chalet packages include a breakfast hamper, which can also be purchased as an option for the standard level packages. It’s pretty big and reasonably priced, so we’ve opted for this convenience in the past. Apart from a great kitchen, there are also Weber Q barbeques outside, which makes it easy to cook a hearty breakfast while taking in the scenery.

There are some lovely cafes and even a fudge shop nearby. Not much by way of restaurants, unless you’re willing to drive towards Surfers’. But, we like it that way. It’s our chance to indulge and without a designated driver, it wouldn’t be possible to both indulge safely. Plus, did we mention sitting around a fire? 😉

The Mouses House Retreat – A Magical Place for a Special Occasion

If you’re looking to get away for a special occasion or just have some much-needed couples time, we highly recommend The Mouses House Rainforest Retreat as a romantic retreat!

Leave a comment below – have you been to The Mouses House Retreat? Or, do you have another favourite retreat for child-free time?