Five ways to upskill on your next Byron holiday
Ride a wave, throw some clay, cook up a storm. These workshops get top marks for engaging vacation diversions.
Ride a wave, throw some clay, cook up a storm. These workshops get top marks for engaging vacation diversions.
1 SURF’S UP
There’s much to learn about what former Californian surf champion Rusty Miller calls “the art of dancing on water”. There’s the history and culture of surfing and its manners (Miller’s wife, Tricia Shantz, is the author of Neverland: American and Australian surfers in Byron Bay 1960s & 1970s, available at The Book Room at Byron). While staying upright is invaluable, standing up on the board is not the holy grail, Miller says. There’s knowing how to read the break, the wind and the waves, how to paddle, and why you never turn your back on the ocean. Byron Bay’s beaches are the perfect classroom thanks to the variety and the consistency of the waves, and the fact they are mostly gentle, safe and sandy. Miller’s lessons at The Pass or Wategos Beach are one-on-one or for small family groups, from beginners to re-starters to proficient surfers. Duration is tailored to the individual; boards and wetsuits provided. From $150 a person.
2 PLAY WITH CLAY
I arrive at the Red Door Studio at Fernleigh in the lush Byron hinterland with ambition but little talent. The potter’s wheel takes up a neat corner of a studio otherwise cluttered with creativity. Brooke Clunie places her warm, clay-sticky fingers over mine and shows my hands how to firmly centre a ball of clay on the spinning wheel and then cajole it, using some pretty bizarre fingerwork, into rising to the occasion of an espresso coffee cup. The result confronts the words straight and smooth. My instructor gets as much fun out of my clumsy attempt as I do. She declares it “cute”. Inspired by “an internal quest for stillness”, Clunie has been making wheel-thrown ceramic tableware and customised pots, bowls, cups and sculptures since she was 16. She notes down my preference for a mint glaze. In due course my cup will arrive in the mail. From $98 for a Two Pot Session (two pieces, fired and glazed) plus postage.
3 WELLNESS ON A PLATE
Clinical nutritionist Samantha Gowing brings her two-hour wellness workshop to your holiday villa. She runs masterclasses suitable for both beginners and the home pro. Come away knowing how to prepare and plate up several dishes. Among the possibilities are Glacier 51 toothfish (certified sustainable) with a miso butter gloss, luscious beet carpaccio, plant-based feta and dishes that star aduki beans, which aid optimal digestion. With a credo of “food as medicine”, Gowing, who recently wed former Australian pop idol Normie Rowe, creates culinary programs for luxury hotels, spas and health retreats. $295 a person for eight.
4 FROM CROP TO CUP
Zentveld’s Coffee Farm & Roastery in Newrybar is a family business. June Zentveld and her late husband, John, bought the property in the 1970s and replaced avocado trees with coffee crops in the ’80s, and now daughter-in-law Rebecca Zentveld is in charge of roasting. The 16ha farm has 38,000 trees (bursting with red berries), wallabies, pythons, echidnas and dozens of native beehives. Zentveld’s Arabica coffee is pesticide-free and lower in caffeine than most. A one-hour tour provides a unique insight into cool-climate coffee farming. Learn about the role of nutrients, the value of compost and cover crops (sunflowers, Ethiopian mustard and buckwheat), and strategic pruning. There is little waste here; crop trimmings, harvested fruit skins, hulled parchment, roaster sweepings and spent coffee all go back into the ground. Taste a piccolo of single origin Zero Mile, and stock up on a dozen coffee-bean blends and barista basics. The operation’s compostable coffee pods, compatible with Nespresso machines, are popular with visitors and the 100-odd places Zentveld’s supplies. Tours are $150 for up to 10.
5 UNDERWATER WORLDS
Award-winning photographer Craig Parry captures wildlife and sealife in some of the most picturesque oceans and landscapes, including Tonga, Antarctica, Lady Eliott Island and Botswana. Byron Bay is his hometown, so he is well placed to impart tips in a one-day intensive workshop during which, depending on the weather, season and tides, subject matters might include turtles, wobbegong sharks, manta rays and octopus. Landscapes, too, are worth a shot in this part of the world. Parry, whose gallery is online these days, advises on cameras, lenses, housings, settings and composition. When you’ve nailed your shot, he will instruct you on how to edit it. Parry’s next Byron workshop is scheduled for November. $650 a person.
