Stay Awhile Magazine

Introducing the cover of Volume 06: Wildly Human. Shot by Renee Thurston at Picnic Island — a private island slow stay off the coast of Tasmania Lutruwita.

Volume 06 is our most personal volume yet. We explore the places and experiences that slowly rearrange you, the boutique stays built by people with a point of view and a stubborn refusal to cut corners, the local encounters you didn’t plan for, and the conversations that follow you home.

With 180 pages, Stay Awhile is a magazine that feels like a book. Inside Volume 06, you’ll find stories about off-grid cabins, coastal retreats, treehouses, farm stays, and design-led escapes across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand — alongside essays on why we confess our deepest truths to strangers when we travel, how a staycation twenty kilometres from home can rewire your attention as effectively as a long-haul flight, a field guide to the unspoken rules of romantic getaways, and what slow stays understand about the human nervous system that big resorts have completely forgotten.

Pre-orders open this Thursday. Make sure you’re Subscribed to the Slow Stays Newsletter in our bio for first access. 🤌🏼

Cheers to slow travel and being wildly, authentically human. 🥂

This is what we mean when we say quintessential outback experience.

Not performative outback. Not boots-by-the-door cosplay. The real thing: wide skies, weathered beauty, red dirt, working-station character, and the kind of silence that makes the rest of the world feel very far away.

Set in regional Australia, this is a rustic cottage for travellers craving space, simplicity, and a deeper connection to the land. Set on a working sheep and cattle station in Queensland’s Southern Downs, the property offers three unique cottages, including romantic retreats for two and a family cottage, all shaped by heritage, privacy, and quiet country luxury.

It’s rugged, yes — but in the best possible way. Thoughtful, grounded, and deeply Australian. The sort of place that reminds you travel doesn’t always need a packed itinerary. Sometimes, it just needs a big horizon, a good chair, and absolutely nowhere else to be.

Find inside Stay Awhile Volume 05 as part of our Beautiful Stays Collection — a curated edit of boutique slow stays across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Save this for your next regional Australia escape.

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Not every stay needs a check-in desk, a cocktail menu, or someone dragging a suitcase down the hallway at 11:47pm.

Some of the best boutique stays are found in the forest, beside the hills, in cosy cabins, off-grid retreats, and design-led escapes where the fire actually crackles and the silence does half the work.

Our next print volume is for lovers of slow travel, unique stays, nature escapes, and wildly good places across Australia and Aotearoa / New Zealand.

Stay Awhile Volume 06 “Wildly Human” coming soon.

Photographers in this series:
rewilding

The problem with “hidden gems” is that everyone appears to have found them. The problem isn’t popularity. The problem is lazy travel language — and the way it can make us chase secrecy instead of substance.

Because the best travel experiences don’t need to be hidden to be meaningful. They need care, character, context, and a real relationship to where they are.

Learn how to find the signs in our May newsletter. Dropping tomorrow. Subscribe at the link in our bio.

Image 1: .secret.sauna.nz 📸 Jess Byrne
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Image 4: .ground 📸

Staying on a vineyard does something mildly dangerous to a person. Suddenly you’re swirling Sauvignon Blanc at 11am and discussing “notes” like you own land. Either way, this luxury slow stay has understood the assignment perfectly.

Set on a working vineyard in the heart of Marlborough wine country, the architecturally designed two-bedroom retreat was made for slow mornings and long afternoons that somehow disappear into evening wine on the deck.

Highlights:
▪️Coffees overlooking the vines
▪️Oversized bedrooms with private ensuites
▪️Vineyard bike rides
▪️Sunset bubble baths
▪️Expansive outdoor space

There are private walking tracks winding through the property, mountain bikes for guest use, and Marlborough Golf Course just down the hill for anyone inclined to swap wine tasting for a few holes. Though, given the region is home to some of New Zealand’s best cellar doors — plus the wild beauty of the Marlborough Sounds nearby — the real challenge is deciding where to start.

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Sydney can be loud about luxury, but The Darling, thankfully, is not. It’s a rare luxury Sydney stay in Rushcutters Bay that feels completely tucked away.

Set opposite the Sailing Club, this art-filled designer home keeps its best secret quietly out the back: a lush courtyard with a heated magnesium pool, fresh flowers throughout, and the rare inner-city feeling of being gloriously out of reach.

Inside, it’s layered in detail. A velvet lounge and a designer kitchen with absolutely everything a budding chef could ask for. It also has a yoga room, private office, outdoor pizza oven, alfresco dining and basically enough considered corners for everyone to disappear beautifully.

Perfect for long lunches, group weekends, quiet mornings in the yoga room, or wandering across the road to the park and harbour.

The Darling is the perfect Rushcutters Bay holiday home you’ll want to keep to yourself.