The ‘Dubya Dubya Dubya’

The What, Who and Why at Wangat every Season!

“Simply, how life should be”

It has been 7 months since I Dubya’d last. Winter has come and gone. Spring has sprung, celebrated by the most prolific hatching of fireflies I have seen so far at Wangat. This was one of the many highlights of nature encounters with our beloved guests. As we strolled along the tree-lined Wangat Driveway just after dusk, one of our guests described the experience - being surrounded by hundreds of fireflies - as, “like walking through star constellations”. It was so magical. 

It got me thinking about what is important in life, and how simple it can…should…be. I will explore this in the “Why” section below. 

So, on with the What’s coming up, the Who’s inspired us and the Why we do what we do - the existential bit!

WHAT’S ON!

Shakespeare! Outdoors!

The 3rd Annual Dungog Shakespearience. December 5-7 2025. TICKETS ARE SELLING FAST!

After sell-out shows in ‘22 and ‘23 this is now a MUCH BELOVED and popular event in the calendar!

This year’s play is crowd favourite Romeo and Juliet and we can’t wait to see director Timothy Weston’s unique and, no-doubt brilliant, interpretation. Wangat Lodge transforms into a spectacular venue with the play conducted over 3 outdoor stages.

With a festival bar and lounge serving local beers and wines, snacks and catered meals! Come for the play and the option to dine and stay!

BOOK NOW

Camps for Teens

Our Currawong Camps for Teens are changing lives. 

Next (AUTUMN) camp still has places for students who will be in Years 7&8 in 2025!

Our Camps are for ANY high school-aged student - created because young people asked for a place where they could just be themselves with like-minded peers - so we created it!

Watch this amazing presentation given by two young people - Currawong Campers Layla and Violet - at our recent fundraiser. They talk about their experiences with Wangat's camp for teens, and shows just how they are meeting young people's needs, whilst infusing great values!

Our 3 core values - KINDNESS, DIVERSITY, PARTICIPATION.

Next camps: 

• Autumn Camp - April 12-18 2025

**Only spaces for young people in Yrs 7+8 available for Autumn Camp

**You can contact us to put your “Year 9+” child on a waiting list or book for Spring….

• Spring Camp September 27-Oct 3 2025

Don’t miss out. Book now and more info HERE 

Lodge Vacancies (dates below!)

Our Homely Lodge, with 10 rooms, is the perfect place for a group, event, retreat, etc. 

Only a limited number of weekends are available over the next 12 months. Get in quick for your group stay! CONTACT US

Midweek? We can offer special rates for a midweek lodge stay. Reach out to see if there is a time that suits….

WEEKENDS or SCHOOL HOLIDAYS availability: (N.B. These will be correct at time of Newsletter publication, but will be snapped up pretty quickly!)

Summers are for forever-swims in one of our many swimming holes, the cacophony of the frog-choir at night and the dawn bird-chorus in the morning!

• December 13-15 AT DISCOUNTED RATE. We are offering our own Last minute.com :) Your Staff Xmas party?

• December 27-January 2 WANGAT for NYE still available!

• January 31-February 2

Autumns are the Golden Days!

• April 18-22 EASTER WEEKEND still available!

• May 9-11 

Winters are for fireside chats, crisp blue-skied walks, and invigorating plunges into swimming holes! 

• May 30 - June 1

• June 13-15, 20-22, 27-29

• July 7-11 SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

• July 4-6, 18-20

• August 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29-31

Spring is the smells of nectar and watching birds making their nests and refreshing swims with warm sun on the skin. (Only one weekend is available at this stage!) 

• September 5-7

Cottages

Authentic Eco Accommodation for singles, couples, and your family! Melia and Clancy Cottages on 50 acres of pristine forest and river with deep swimming holes! 

Book in advance to secure your preferred dates - CONTACT US NOW

OUR LATEST ACCOMMODATION OFFERING! Gumnut Artist Retreat 

We have totally refurbished the classic little hut at Wangat with artists in mind! Open for residencies of 1 or 2 weeks.

Need time, space and tranquillity to create?

Have a stickybeak here - GUMNUT ARTIST RETREAT 

Other Events, Camps and Retreats! Opportunities for FAMILIES, TEENS and ADULTS

Family Camps 2025

Every Summer and Winter School Holidays - Our Friends of Wangat Family Camps are an incredible opportunity for a very meaningful, uplifting and fun holiday for your family and more popular than ever! 

Summer Camp in January 2025 is  SOLD OUT! (contact us to go on the waiting list).

Winter Camp - July 14th-18th 2025

On sale NOW. Don’t miss out - as it always sells out! For info and Bookings - BOOK NOW

Weekend Retreats for Adults:

“Back to Nature” Retreat at Wangat Feb 28 - March 2 2025 Join Wangat Dan and Newcastle Yoga Teacher, passionate bushwalker, and long-time friend of Wangat, Fran Davey. Check out the booking page HERE.

Singing, Bushwalking, Yoga Retreat with Jacki Stuart 28-30 March and 23-25 May 2025. For information and to book, go HERE.  

THE WHO!

One of the most wonderful aspects of running Wangat Lodge is the guests. We have guests who have been coming here with the same group on the same weekend, for 25 or more years! Each has their own story, and each time they visit Wangat, I have the privilege of getting to hear just a little bit more of their lives well lived. I have the most beautiful Kaleidoscope of stories in my heart thanks to you all! 

In this edition of DDD, I want to introduce one, Marty McClaren.

I have such enormous gratitude for the kindness he has shown to me over the past 7 years, as well as the generosity he and his wonderful wife, Michelle, have shown in constantly rolling up their sleeves to help make Wangat the place it is today.

Recently Marty wrote a magnificent, quirky and deeply knowledgeable show called Le Voyage Planetaire (LVP), which he offered to Wangat to headline our recent Gala Night which we held to fundraise for a scholarship to support young people, to attend our unique Currawong Camp for Teens.

The amount of thought, energy and of course time that Marty put into the show and the night overall, was typically above and beyond!! The show told the story, of humankind’s quest to physically reach each of the Planets of our Solar System, since the 1960s. Finishing with a hilarious “court case” with audience participation, to determine whether Pluto, “was in fact, your honour, a planet or not?!”

LVP was funny, poignant, exuberant, quirky, passionate, wise and full of admiration for humanity. All of these qualities I associate with Marty!

The Show and Gala Night saw almost 70 people attend (another of Marty’s special qualities - bringing people together) for a beautiful night of dress-ups, fine food and connection (thanks so much to Bruce Read and Tim Stock who donated their incredible chefing to create the immense and scrumptious banquet), and with a solid dose of larrikinism and great fun. 

Thanks to Marty, our team of Wangat volunteers, and a big-hearted guest list, we raised $6500 in scholarship funds that night!

Marty first came to Wangat about 30 years ago, using the Lodge as a launch pad, for his diligent and ongoing quest to find the (still) missing plane, VH-MDX, in the Barrington Tops. This initiated a relationship with Wangat Lodge, its owners past and present and the township and surrounds of Dungog, which continues getting stronger. 

Since our first year running Wangat in 2018, Marty has helped on countless occasions in countless ways! Always willing to answer my phone calls to talk things through, and the first of many to volunteer on one of the many events and projects going on including the Dungog Shakespearience, Run Dungog and more! Amazingly, Marty and Michelle have given me the rare opportunity to go on extended holidays, happily taking on the reins at Wangat, endearing himself as always to the guests at the time, and contently staying in his beloved Clancy Cottage!  

I would like to finish this “WHO of Wangat” section with a story that captures the spirit of Marty. 

When planning one of the hike-expedition aspects of a recent Currawong Camp for teens, I told Marty we were planning on staying one night near the iconic bushwalking refuge, Munro Hut, on the Barrington Tops plateau. “That’s pretty close to where the missing plane would be, I reckon”, said Marty. And a wonderful interactive story-telling plan was hatched! As the teen group sat in the old stone and corrugated-roofed hut, finishing their dinner, and listening to the raindrops, they heard a knocking on the door! “Who could this be, in the middle of the bush, in pitch dark and rain, knocking on the hut door?!” they would have thought. A second knock and the door cracks open and a friendly looking, albeit dishevelled and soaking, fella (Marty!) courteously enters the hut, to a wide-eyed group of teens. “Mind if I get a bit of warmth by your fire, I’ve been out all day and into the night searching for a long-missing plane”, Marty says to the group. Being the fine Currawong Campers they are, they made room for the fellow bushwalker, who broke the tension, by revealing it was a planned surprise, and he is a friend of Dan and Wangat! He then went on to tell the group the engaging and mysterious story of the missing plane, and the wild Barrington Tops that he has spent the past 30 years exploring…and that they would be exploring over the next two more days. 

These examples of Marty’s support of Wangat and his enthusiasm to share his passion of the bush and a great yarn, are just the tip of the iceberg of the incredible human that Marty McClaren is!

THE WHY!

We recently launched our latest short—and long-sleeve shirts, which now have new messaging on the back! Check out our new online store HERE!

Here’s the story (you know I love a story!)

At a recent Yoga-Bushwalking retreat here, I asked the group of 26 participants to introduce themselves, and finish this sentence, “I feel most happy when…..”. 

Not a single one of the responses was materialistic! Every response included either time with other humans important to them, intentional time-alone, time with the arts (mainly literature), or time in Nature (including with pets). And most were a combination of 2 or more of these.

Ironically, for many of us, we spent huge volumes of our time, not doing these things! I believe that we are approaching our lives - essentially a limited amount of time to live - engaged in things that distract us from really what makes us content and connected. We are prompted that we are not enough or do not have enough. The false quest. So, as a reminder to myself, and as a core value of Wangat Lodge, I came upon a mantra which sits on my back each day as I pull on my very comfy and worn Wangat T, to [Live] Simply, [just] how life should be!”. 

Living simply is something I am so proud Wangat Lodge provides the opportunity to do. Each week I observe our guests, talking and laughing together, going on bushwalks and river swims, playing board games and doing puzzles, cooking communal feasts and repeat! We purposefully have no screens, no wifi, simple furnishings that are comfy and built to last, and spaces that allow people to languidly just be! We are human BEings not DOings after all!

Simply, meeting our core needs, also leaves more resources for the estimated 8.7 million other species on Earth, who deserve their fair share too!

From a degraded paddock, Wangat Lodge’s property has become a biodiverse sanctuary, based on offering SIMPLE accommodation with a focus on resources shared amongst ALL species. Recently we were able to release a recovered Koala (Tommy) back into the peaceful safety of our forest (Thanks Port Stephens Koala Hospital!).

Go well! Dan

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