The ‘Dubya Dubya Dubya’

The What, Who and Why at Wangat every Season!

Ed.4 Autumn Summary

Penned Early June 2026

“Simply, how life should be”

As I sit and ponder the opening of this newsletter, I am finding it really tricky to sum up the season in a pithy paragraph. Now, I am remembering a conversation I had with a friend - how time seems to be gobbled up in huge gulps, barely chewed and swallowed with genuine possibility of suffocation! In rendering the passing of a decade, a year, a month, we often do so into a single vibe - “now that was a bad/good decade”, or event - “last year we went to Japan”, or a white-wash wish - “bring on 2027 already”. No wonder life seems short and fast! As I love to say, we, humans, are nothing if not a container to store stories. And a single day, let alone a year or decade(s), contain too many stories to even voice (but their accumulation does shine brightly out your eyes!) but we must try! And when we speak our stories and listen to others, we realise life is LONG, and every day, week and year has infinite potential.

So I thought I ‘d pay homage to the little things that have filled Autumn, here at Lodge land. In no specific order,…a giant pie baked of home-grown kale; the passing through of 100s of palm sized swift-moths; the first glow of the indoor fire; a harvest of pink-skinned, white-fleshed sweet potatoes; a trail running camp with a run up the Corker to Carey’s Peak (one of the highest in the Barrington Tops) and back; the purchase of a new bush hat; a bush-furniture coffee table made; a platypus discovered and named (more of that later); an adventure to Dungog’s best kept secret - the cavern of Pilcher’s Mountain, a festoon lit lodge deck roof; rock-hopping and yabbying adventure up Hauler Gully with Dungog High students; a paradise rifle-bird just outside the front door; a koala spotted; more rock-hopping; harvesting azola off the dam for mulch; and countless nourishing conversations with my beloved guests young and old! Each of these emanates like the concentric circles of a pebble in a pool. Life is LONG and made by the little things remembered and told. I can’t wait for the next 60 minutes!

The WHAT(‘s on):

Bookables & Stays:

The Fantastical Galactical Fundraiser!

Creating a scholarship/subsidy so any teen can attend Wangat’s amazing teen camps. AND a bloody good night for our local community and visitors!!

Save the Date! Saturday August 22! At the Bandon Grove School of Arts

What to expect? - An Extravagant Variety Night in TWO PARTS!

w/ FANCY DRESS in the theme of “Fantastical Galactical” - think futuristic boot scooting bush dance (yes, will will be UV lights!).

1ST HALF: Hearty sit down Dinner, interspersed with short, quirky variety acts (prepare to be amazed!), and poignant speeches from the teens of Wangat. 2ND HALF: Live Music - free range “bush dance” (bring ya dancing shoes).

Keep and eye on SOCIALS (Insta & FB), plus we will send another email when tix go on sale!

Friends of Wangat - Winter Family Camp

July 13 - 17 2026. Almost sold out - only tent spots available. Book through website.

Imagine a wonderland where each morning you gather around our communal fire to listen to a menu of nature based options for you and your family of experiences and adventures in nature, bush crafts, story telling, guided walks, art projects and more! 5 Wangat mentors will guide the way and take your children under their inspiring wings. Dinners are catered! 5 days, 4 nights every Winter and Summer School Holidays!

Currawong Camp our camp for TEENS!

Our Currawong Camps for Teens are changing lives. Our Camps are for ANY high school-aged student - created because young people asked for a place in nature where they could just be themselves with like-minded peers - so we created it! Mentoring and rites-of-passage practices are core. Twice a year - during every Autumn and Spring school holiday.

Book now for Spring (almost sold out). Reserve via email for Autumn 2027!

Our Retreats:

BIRD LANGUAGE 2026

7th Workshop Reatreat at Wangat Lodge (80% already sold!). October 15-18 2026. BOOK HERE

Choir and Yoga Retreats 2026

Our wonderful friend of Wangat Jacki Stuart runs two incredible weekends every year. Info and bookings HERE

Back to Nature YOGA and HIKING RETREATS with Fran. Info and Bookings HERE

Lodge Vacancies

Next 12 months:

2026: September 11-13; December 11-13, 18 - 29 (school holidays and over Xmas!).

2027: March 19-21; April 30-May 2; May 7-9, 21-23,

PLUS a few gaps during Spring, Summer and Autumn holidays…get in touch if interested. CONTACT US Midweek? We can offer special rates for a midweek lodge stay. Reach out to see if there is a time that suits….

Our Cottages :

Spend time Simply…. Melia , Clancy , & Gumnut Cottages share 50 acres of pristine forest, river, and many walking trails.

The WHO:

Special beings at Wangat

Kat and Platsue:

We have not one, but TWO, “the one-and-onlys” this newsletter!…I had the privilege of meeting Katherine Warwick (Kat) when the marvellous folks of “Mid Coast 2 Tops Landcare Connection” (shout out to Isabelle Strachan!) contacted me to organise for Kat to do a presentation at the Lodge about her research into PFAS in rivers/creeks by surveying and sampling platypus. What stood out most about Kat, apart from her brilliant and earnest research, was her passion for nature, conservation, taking it to the big guys/polluters and what an amazingly engaging science educator she is! I invited her to come to our family camp, to do a presentation, and Kat and her mum, Merrianne, stayed for the whole 5 days! We learnt so much about water bugs!! Then, Kat returned on our last teen camp, with all the licences in pocket, to be able to live-catch a platypus in our river to continue her research into prevalence of PFAS (and other pollutants), and of course into the adorable and unique lives of platypus. She and her colleague Maddie, camped by the side of the river carefully monitoring their net, and suddenly Lodge HQ got a call on the walkie-talkie - “Dan, you have a beautiful little girl!'“. I gathered the teens and we went down to see the most amazing thing most of us had ever seen - Kat gently handling a healthy adult female platypus and demonstating to the captivating teens how she does her research sampling and regailing amazing plat facts - e.g. the fur floresces wildly under UV light. INTERESTING! The standard is the property owner gets to name the platypus which then gets scribed into the scientific literature from there on after. I put it to the teens and mentors, and having just eaten Chef Justin’s lovingly made Katsu Curry, their stomachs spoke (the gut-brain - it’s a thing!) and our little girl is named “Platsue”.

And the results? Firstly, real-time testing showed Platsue to be of top health - judged by her tail fat which registered the highest possible score. Also her fur was thick and lusterious (just like me). These both indicate an abundance and diversity of macro-invertabrates AKA water bugs, which make up platypus diets, and a strong evidence for overall river health. Kat texted me as soon as the results came through from the lab. No PFAS in our river. This is sadly a big (and good) surprise as Kat has been finding PFAS very widespread. So wonderful news, for the river inhabitants of Wangat’s section of the Chichester River!

The WHY:

The reason we exist, simply.

Because Gen Z deserves it!

I recently read an article entitled “Why is everyone so obsessed with gen Z” (Jessica Murray, The Guardian Australia, March 7 2026). Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, were the “first to be fully immersed in the technology from infancy” setting them apart from generations that came before them. It also writes, “some had social media profiles even before they were born.”

I listen to a podcast by Trevor Noah, called “What Now”. I love the angles and curiosity he looks at the world from. He made a great point about our beliefs (S3 E39 Brene Brown: The Rage Bucket Theory). To paraphrase, he says, Beliefs are the outcome of the parameters and context of the environment we are exposed to. We hold such identity in “our” beliefs, but they truley are determined and very much limited by, our surrounds.

So, instead of bagging “youth of these days” we love to add diversity into their lives, with the simplicity and natural rhythms of a place like Wangat. With it’s healthy & thriving forest ecosystem, adventures-to-be-had and sensible risk-taking. We celebrate scrapes, burns, bruises as Wangat Souvenirs. We talk of washing dishes as an act of love, and that “9 out of 10 best friends are made whilst washing dishes together” (source: the evidence based, peer reviewed, and double blind tested research of Mentor Milo the Meanderer). Wangat strives to be the juxtaposition of the digital, always-growth, competitive world. There are no screen-based activities, no marketing (based on your digital fingerprint since before birth!) and time is based on the sun, the moon, the fruit and vegetable seasons, and the appearances of cicadas, goanas, the first flowering of the native hibiscus and the arrival of the rufus fantail. A place where young people can experience the profoundly more powerful and life-affirming aspect of collaboration, rather than the culture of competition.

With this new context in the mix, just watch the beautiful beliefs of gen Z go wild!

Go well! Dan

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