BOLD VISIONARY

A PLACE TO HEAL

AIDAN LEONARD AND his late wife Fiona shared the kind of deep soul connection that transcends lifetimes. The minute they met at a workshop in 1991, there was an instant recognition. From the day they met to the day she passed away from ovarian cancer in 2018, there was never a cross word spoken between them. Aidan says he still feels her smiling presence around him in his new home, a wellness retreat in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, a place Aidan and Fiona dreamt up together many years ago.

Set on 26 acres of idyllic bushland in Reesville, just outside Maleny, Heaven in the Hills is a peaceful haven, a place to get away from it all, relax and rejuvenate. It’s quiet, close to nature and fulfi ls a promise made by a husband to his wife that after a busy life working in business and management around the world, raising three children and relocating from Ireland to Australia, they would grow old together in a beautiful place in the country.

“The three words we use are: relax, reconnect, revitalise. It’s important people find time to reconnect with each other. ”

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Aidan Leonard with his children Eoghan, Caelum and Alanna

“I walked in and as soon as I set foot on the place, I said, ‘I’m home’,” says Aidan. “I could see everything work. I knew what I wanted to do with the accommodation and the grounds. I loved the feel of the place. The drive in is like an Irish country road for me. The light is similar as you drive in down the narrow road and there are trees on each side.”

Both Aidan and Fiona grew up in the country in Ireland and shared an exciting and cosmopolitan life together. Aidan began a business career from a young age, but while on a visit to Australia in 1990, he felt drawn to do a short massage course – a decision that would change the course of his life. He enjoyed it so much, he decided to complete a two-year course in polarity therapy and other bodywork techniques when he returned to Ireland. It was during a chakra balance workshop in Dublin that he met Fiona.

“We just saw each other and there was an instant recognition,” he says. “I was fi rst up on the table that afternoon. I had a lot of unresolved grief and I ended up in the foetal position. I thought, whatever chance you had with that beautiful girl Fiona, you’ve completely blown it now. Fiona later told me when I was on the table that very fi rst day, she had a voice in her head saying, ‘this is the man you’re going to marry’.

“I was aware from very early on in the piece I was in the presence of someone very special. She graced me with her presence. I saw how she was around people and how people responded in her space. When she was with you, you were the only person in the world.”

They were married in August 1995 in a charming little country church in County Clare and had their reception in Dromoland Castle. They then moved to London and worked in a telecommunications business owned by Fiona’s brothers. Fiona followed Aidan around the world on business contracts, fi rst in Cairo then Kuwait. They shared many adventures together before moving to Brisbane in 2005, raising their three children, Eoghan, 25, Caelum, 23 and Alanna, 20, there.

It seemed like a charmed life, with Aidan working in high-level management and the family taking regular overseas holidays. But then Fiona was diagnosed with ovarian cancer on November 21, 2011 and everything changed. Strangely, the diagnosis came 20 years to the day they had met. They were told Fiona had two years to live, but through a combination of chemotherapy and natural therapies, she lived another six years.

She was doing well when Aidan decided to launch his

business, Orbus3, a company that provides training for civil construction courses, in 2013. He built it up to be a multimillion-dollar business, but when Fiona began to deteriorate in 2017, he sold the business so he could focus on the time they had left. Sadly, Aidan’s brother died of cancer in June that year. Almost unbelievably, both Fiona’s parents died of cancer and she was one of eight siblings, fi ve of whom had cancer.

“She was really good after the business sold, and we had a lovely time for that seven or eight months,” Aidan says. “Her brothers were able to travel over and we got a lovely few weeks where she wasn’t in any pain, where we’d sit together, have a couple of drinks or eat together.

“She wrote letters to each of the kids and wanted to write me one. I said, ‘Save your energy. What are you going to say that we haven’t already said to each other?’ We did everything we wanted to. The only wish we didn’t fulfi l was that we were going to grow old together.

“We’d had the conversation a number of times about buying a retreat, but it was never the right timing. After she died, I started looking. About July last year, I saw this place and bought it in October with my sister Clare [Leonard] and her husband Brendan [Tuck].”

Aidan, Clare and Brendan have spent the past nine months renovating the property to give it a new lease on life. Bookings have been rolling in without Aidan doing any promotion, which he says is an indication he has made the right choice.

Heaven in the Hills is indeed heavenly – with undulating pathways winding through tall forest and no sound other than birdsong to be heard. It features a number of accommodation options, including Ariel’s Cottage, which accommodates a group of up to 10, two cabins called Gabriel’s Rest and Raphael’s Retreat and a 1912 train carriage split into two separate apartments.

There are also conference facilities, a pool and a state-of-the-art wellness centre. Here, guests or outside visitors can recharge their batteries with a massage treatment or take advantage of high-tech facilities like a mild hyperbaric oxygen hydrogen therapy chamber, a spacious Dreampod Max fl oat tank, an infrared sauna or a crystal light bed. It’s undoubtedly one of the best-equipped wellness centres on the Sunshine Coast.

“I’m feeling the people coming here are needing time out,” he says. “They’re needing respite from their life – the busyness that’s out there. We’ve deliberately not put internet into the accommodation spaces. The three words we use are: relax, reconnect, revitalise. It’s important people fi nd time to reconnect with each other.

“One of the things I’m looking for is people who’ve had family in hospital or a hospice and are dealing with the diffi culties cancer brings. If they need a place to go for respite, I want to be able to offer them that kind of space.

“Being here has been part of the healing journey for me,” Aidan says. “It’s lovely to be in this space. It’s lovely to have Clare and Brendan alongside me. I’m not doing this to make money. I’ve never been motivated by money. I’m motivated by doing something that makes a difference. Rather than a mind or a commercial journey, this is a heart journey.”