Jarabin<\/a>. Perched high on a hill sit two secluded, luxury eco-tents overlooking a 1000-acre working farm run by fourth-generation cattle farmer Ben and his partner Joseph.<\/p>\nWhat hits you first isn\u2019t just the scenery; it\u2019s the care. Travel spots can easily feel transactional, but Jarabin feels deeply loved. <\/p>\n
Ben and Joseph\u2019s attention to detail is everywhere, making the space feel intentionally crafted rather than just rented out. We were welcomed with a local grazing platter, fresh farm eggs, and a bottle of chilled local bubbles waiting inside.<\/p>\n
The main event, though, is on the private balcony. Sitting right out on the deck is a deep, outdoor clawfoot bath positioned over the river and the rolling paddocks of grazing Black Angus cattle.<\/p>\n
Sinking into steamy water with a freezing rural chill in the air and cows wandering below is an instant reset button. There\u2019s a fire pit right next to it, fully stacked with wood and ready to go for dark.<\/p>\n
As a journalist, I\u2019m conditioned to stay plugged in. Finding spotty mobile coverage gave me an initial flash of news-brain anxiety. But while I ended up logging into the tent\u2019s Wi-Fi, the slight effort it took made me think twice before opening my email. It forces you to just sit still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people to slow down. That\u2019s really the whole point. You can arrive here and realise you don\u2019t actually have to do anything,\u201d says Joseph.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re giving people permission to do less. We wanted to create somewhere that we ourselves would want to escape to \u2014 somewhere beautiful and comfortable, but still completely connected to the farm and the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re only about three hours from Sydney and an hour from Canberra, but when you\u2019re sitting beside the Murrumbidgee River it feels like you\u2019re a million miles away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a genuine working farm. You\u2019re not staying at a resort that\u2019s been built to look like the country \u2014 you\u2019re actually staying on a working property, surrounded by cattle, sheep, the river and the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
When night settles, the cold sets in hard, but the tent turns into a fortress of comfort. Heated floors, internal heating, a log fire, and heavy plush blankets make the freezing country night feel like a luxury. We cooked local farm-raised beef on the deck\u2019s Weber BBQ, eating under a sky totally clear of city light pollution.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m used to processing heavy realities, but Jarabin proved that even a brief, two-day break in the right place offers a total mental reset. For a weekend, the only headline that mattered was the view over the river.<\/p>\n
This writer was a guest of Jarabin<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writing a travel story is about as foreign to me as taking time off. My day job is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[117478,132221,132212,69437,132166,132156,38705,98255,132165,132217,132173,132216,114113,60000,51915,132149,132192,106760,132187,132196,132215,132219,132191,132186,132180,132178,132220,71684,132162,132205,132214,40430,132164,132223,132201,132157,2184,32663,132222,132177,52314,312,132200,132194,132159,56917,132184,132209,10124,132218,132202,132189,31569,132170,132197,132204,132190,132193,132171,132179,132151,90967,132169,132174,132168,132208,132172,132158,132160,132210,132182,132154,36518,99726,132203,7350,48920,132161,16209,132163,247,132152,38017,132213,37024,42438,74293,132224,132176,38187,132155,120235,132183,132198,132181,132175,87815,132153,132199,132195,132206,53012,86318,49501,61422,132150,132188,36894,132211,132167,132185,3438,30552,132207],"class_list":["post-82701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-s-attention","tag-s-weber-bbq","tag-s-wi-fi","tag-high-alert","tag-a-1000-acre-working-farm-run","tag-a-bath","tag-a-bottle","tag-a-deep","tag-a-fire-pit","tag-a-fortress","tag-a-freezing-rural-chill","tag-a-genuine-working-farm","tag-a-guest","tag-a-hill","tag-a-journalist","tag-a-local-grazing-platter","tag-a-log-fire","tag-a-luxury","tag-a-mental-reset","tag-a-million-miles","tag-a-physical-circuit-breaker","tag-a-relentless-news-cycle","tag-a-resort","tag-a-sky","tag-a-three-hour-drive","tag-a-total-mental-reset","tag-a-travel-story","tag-a-weekend","tag-a-winding-track","tag-a-working-property","tag-about-10km","tag-an-hour","tag-an-initial-flash","tag-an-instant-reset-button","tag-ben-and-joseph","tag-bookham-acts","tag-canberra","tag-cattle","tag-chilled-local-bubbles","tag-city-light-pollution-i","tag-comfort","tag-crime","tag-crime-and-crisis-stories","tag-crisis-stories","tag-dark-as","tag-detail","tag-even-a-brief","tag-even-a-journalist","tag-farmer","tag-finding-spotty-mobile-coverage","tag-fourth-generation-cattle-farmer-ben","tag-fresh-farm-eggs","tag-goforit","tag-grazing-black-angus-cattle-go","tag-heated-floors","tag-heavy-plush-blankets","tag-heavy-realities","tag-his-partner-joseph-what","tag-inside-the-main-event","tag-internal-heating","tag-jarabin","tag-joseph","tag-local-farm-raised-beef","tag-luxe-retreat","tag-luxury-eco-tents","tag-meaning-decompressing","tag-mental-health-and-suicide","tag-my-day-job","tag-my-email","tag-my-vocabulary","tag-my-weeks","tag-news-brain-anxiety","tag-night","tag-only-about-three-hours","tag-outdoor-clawfoot-bath","tag-people","tag-permission","tag-processing","tag-sheep","tag-steamy-water","tag-sydney","tag-the-air-and-cows","tag-the-care","tag-the-cold","tag-the-country","tag-the-deck","tag-the-farm","tag-the-freezing-country","tag-the-hume-highway","tag-the-landscape","tag-the-murrumbidgee-river","tag-the-newsroom","tag-the-nsw-southern-tablelands","tag-the-only-headline","tag-the-private-balcony","tag-the-right-place","tag-the-river","tag-the-river-this-writer","tag-the-rolling-paddocks","tag-the-scenery","tag-the-slight-effort","tag-the-space","tag-the-tent","tag-the-view","tag-the-weight","tag-the-whole-point","tag-this-secluded-southern-tablelands-farm-retreat","tag-time","tag-travel-spots","tag-two-secluded","tag-two-day-break","tag-wollongong","tag-wood","tag-your-brain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}