Treasured Memories just around the corner Treasured memories just around the corner By: Barry Dick    Barry Dick has a whole new outlook on travelling the Pacific Motorway after tasting the high life at Ruffles IT IS rare to find one hidden gem just a short drive from home. It is rarer still to find two in a day. We were heading for an overnight stay at Ruffles Lodge at Willow Vale, south of Brisbane, and had arrived in the area an hour before the preferred check-in time of 2pm, thinking we could have some lunch nearby before going to the lodge. Lunch was easier said than done and a fruitless 15-minute drive around the district had us contemplating, unhappily, a service station fast-food ``meal'' until we decided to venture just a little further to Jacobs Well. ``There has to be a pub or club or even a fish-and-chip joint there,'' I said to my wife, more in hope than confidence. Then we stumbled on the Jacobs Well Tavern, although ``stumbling on'' is hardly an apt description because it's smack on the main drag at the ``Well'' and you can hardly miss it. The tavern's main bar and beer garden are well-equipped but rudimentary, which is why the attached restaurant, JW's, is such a pleasant surprise. It's airconditioned, the tables are set with tablecloths, wine glasses and detailed menus and the food is at least the equivalent of a Brisbane suburban restaurant, and not far behind some of the better CBD establishments -- at half the price. Hunger pangs eased, we headed the 20 minutes back to Ruffles where the only way to enter the 60-hectare site is by pressing a buzzer and someone at the lodge opens the security gate. A 700-metre steep and winding drive later we arrived at the lodge for one of life's great experiences. Guests are met at the door by host John Nicholls or wife, Jan, who both have a lifetime in the hospitality industry and are obviously and justifiably proud of Ruffles. John invites you into the lodge and through to an outdoor area for your first gobsmacking look at an uninterrupted panorama stretching from the gap-toothed skyscrapers of Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach to Jumpinpin. Standing out in the terracotta patchwork of housing estates in the Coomera area are the roller-coasters and frightening -- even at this distance -- Tower of Terror at Dreamworld, directly to the east of Ruffles. There is a faint hum of traffic from the motorway and while you can't hear the screams at Dreamworld you can, with the powerful binoculars John has considerately left around, see the carriage climb to the top of the Tower, then plunge at startling pace back to ground level. You don't go to Ruffles for full-on activity. There is a swimming pool (which takes full advantage of the view), a spa, a 1km bushwalking track and an 83m par-three golf hole. Dreamworld, Movie World and Wet 'n' Wild are close by, 16 golf courses are within easy driving distance and the Gold Coast is only 40 minutes away. There are only three villas and one executive suite at Ruffles and all are set up for couples -- meaning that while kids aren't exactly banned, there are no facilities for them. The rooms are almost as spectacular as the views with the highest-quality furniture, designer bathrooms (twin basins), TV, DVD player (plenty of titles available at the office), CD player (half-a-dozen discs in the room), bar fridge, coffee/tea-making etc and a neat veranda overlooking the stunning gardens, taking in the full panorama. But it's the little touches that are memorable in places like this, and John and Jan have put all their considerable knowledge to full use here. From the umbrellas neatly left outside the door to the welcoming fruit, bottle of bubbly and cheese platter, to the books and magazines and the shaving mirror and even a can of air freshener beside the eco-flush toilet, it's all been done with the guests in mind. Dinnertime is the highlight. Guests -- and remember there are only ever eight at once -- meet the Nicholls for pre-dinner drinks before sitting down to a dinner party overlooking the lights of Coomera and the Gold Coast. Any reticence we felt about sitting down to dinner with six people we had never met disappeared in minutes. What an eclectic group . . . a young couple from Forest Lake, another from the Ipswich suburb of Collingwood Park and another from ``out Tambo way'' where they have 12,000 sheep. One of the women was four weeks off having twins and another had eight weeks to go before her first baby, and both were treating the Ruffles visit as their last hit-out before their whole world changed. The Collingwood Park couple had splashed out on the $650-a-night executive suite and it was their third visit to Ruffles. Repeat business is important to Ruffles. One Melbourne IT businessman is returning for his second visit after Christmas, booking the executive suite for himself and the other three villas for friends to spend Christmas-New Year together. Dinner is a set three-course meal which costs $50 per head on top of the room rate and, under the direction of dedicated ``foodies'' John and Jan, it is of the highest quality. The lodge is fully licensed and prices range from $22 for a Goundrey chardonnay to $47 for a 1999 Petaluma riesling in the whites and $24 for the ``house red'' (a 2002 McLaren Vale shiraz) to $82 for a 1990 cabernet merlot and on to $92 for a Veuve Cliquot Brut . . . all within reason for a five-star resort. The final nice touch of the evening is to arrive back at the villa to find a small bottle of port and glasses with a couple of chocolates waiting and the bed turned down. Breakfast is included in the tariff. There are fruits, cereals and juices to start with, then a choice of six cooked breakfasts -- all done by John -- ranging from full country (sausages, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon) to French bread with mushrooms and crispy bacon. As we drive back to Brisbane on the Sunday, I think of the number of times I have whizzed down the M1 to the Coast without a thought of turning seaward to Jacobs Well or inland to Willow Vale and Ruffles. Now I'll never be able to drive that way again without thinking of a wonderful night spent in an area I had always overlooked. Getting there The writer was a guest of Ruffles Lodge, 423 Ruffles Rd, Willow Vale. Tel: 5546 7411. www.ruffleslodge.com.au From Brisbane, the drive is about 45 minutes. Take the M1 and, once past Yatala, look for exit number 49 (Pimpama and Jacobs Well). Cross the motorway following the signs for Willow Vale then use the map from Rifle Range Rd to Hotham Creek Rd. The Lodge is at the end of Ruffles Rd. Use the phone at the gate to obtain access. Rates are $360 per night for the one-bedroom villas and $650 per night for the executive suite, breakfast is included. Set three-course dinner costs $60 per head and the property is fully licensed.