Thanks to Carla Bloem for the translation -
Olivia Newton-John could easily retire with so much money she has earned with her acting and singing. But she likes to stay busy, that’s in her character. So when she and a friend, during a car ride saw an abandoned retreat, Olivia didn’t hesitate for a moment. Together with some friends the turned this beautiful surrounded building into a luxury and successfully beauty farm Gaia retreat and Spa.
A peace of paradise on earth, that’s how Olivia Newton John calls her beauty farm . And that’s not saying too much. Gaia retreat and Spa is in the beautiful Australian New South Wales, surrounded by slanting hills, fields with grapes and fruit trees. It’s got on one side mountain views and on the other side sea views. Olivia discovered this abandoned resort, which was for sale quite a while, by accident. At her mother’s funeral Olivia and a friend were driving to her modernised farm in Byron Bay. As this friend, former actor Gregg Cave, was considering buying a peace of land near Olivia’s farm, they decided to take the short cut instead of the highway. And so they saw this beautiful, surrounded by nature, resort. Olivia. “We were enthusiastic straight away. We first called some friends to ask if they were interested. They agreed instantly. Before we knew it our bid was accepted and were we the owners. The singer and her friends decided to turn the resort into a hotel including a beauty farm and called it Gaia Retreat and Spa. Olivia tells: ‘We kept it luxurious but at the same time simple. It’s not too much glamour. Peace is most important. There are no televisions and phones. You’ll be woken by the sounds of birds, the best way to wake up’. The treatments and therapies do exist, amongst others, of yoga, reiki, steam baths, massages and facial treatments. The resort decoration is overwhelming, tasteful and original. Everything is planned in detail. The furniture is very comfortable, also the garden with swimming pool and terraces, are completely designed to come to rest. Everything is in balance, yin-yang. Olivia says “We’re living in a far too busy society and don’t take enough time for ourselves. When you have spoiled yourself here for three days it’s like you’ve been away for three months. Everything here is about you”.
If someone knows how to handle stress it’s Olivia. She knew in her life big successes. She got famous by her part of Sandy Olssen in the movie Grease and was in many countries highly rated with her hit single Physical. But her life also knows tragedies. Fourteen years ago she discovered a lump in her breast. It turned out to be cancer. Of course her world collapsed. Olivia underwent surgery and chemotherapy. She combined this successfully with acupuncture, homeopathy, massages and a lot of positive thinking, as she says herself. Right after this difficult time in her life her marriage with Matt Lattanzi, her twenty year old daughter Chloe’s father, ended. And if that’s not enough, her boyfriend Patrick McDermott, with whom she had a relationship of nine years, disappeared on June 30th last year during a fishing trip along the Californian Coast. There was a no results search for months. They assumed he was fallen overboard, because his identification papers and other belongings were still in his cabin. Recently he was supposed to be seen alive on an unknown island. He was supposed to have fled because of alimony obligation for a daughter from an earlier relationship. This rumour was never confirmed.
Olivia finds it difficult to talk about this, but admits that not knowing what happened is hardest to live with. ‘I miss Patrick every day’ she says. Fortunately, Olivia is not the type to feel sorry for herself. ‘Everybody’s life has it’s ups and downs. I’ve had big successes and have great memories about that. And yes, I’ve known sad things. Still, you have to move on, it makes you stronger’. Because of this positive attitude Olivia has found the strength to carry on as a singer. Besides this she is involved in making the lives of people with cancer more pleasant. Through her own foundation, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre, she has already collected twenty million dollars and has build a big wellness centre near the Austin Health Hospital.
Olivia spent the last few years most of her time in California to be near her daughter Chloe. But this upcoming musical star and singer is living on her own these days. That’s why Olivia is planning to be on her farm in Byron Bay for most of the year. And that’s only a twenty minute drive to Gaia Retreat and Spa, that by now is successfully run by Gregg Cave and their mutual friends and business partners. Olivia: ‘When I feel like having a nice beauty treatment or want to join my friends, I’m there in a quarter of an hour. It’s so nice there. I’ve made an appointment with my friends, that in twenty years time we turn the resort into a retirement home for ourselves….