Mens Retreat March 2020 - Our first mens wellbeing retreat goes well!
We still have a buzz on following our first very successful Men’s Retreat last week.
I thought I’d reflect here on what we accomplished, it’s a pretty fitting time to do so as the whole country goes into an enforced chill out for 4 weeks!
For a long time I’ve felt a calling to go beyond your typical fishing charter and offer a retreat experience which sends guys back home refreshed, revived and with some new knowledge on male wellbeing.
Tia and I have been planning these retreats for 5 months. In November I planted a big kumara patch and that was essentially sowing the seed of a new direction for Provider. On the first morning of the retreat, after digging deep and sharing our own backgrounds and journeys in life, and where we’d like to grow personally, we grounded ourselves by digging the kumara patch up with our bare hands, and these were used in several dishes over the next three days. We had a hearty paleo style lunch, free range chickens on the Weber with a healthy salad and Be Nourished Kimchi.
Our first afternoon on the water was spent on our beautiful coastline, putting our feet in the sand at Boat Harbour, slow trolling for kingfish in flat calm out of the wind, and some epic battles saw the boys bring back 4 nice kingfish to base which we all processed and it was very timely for the boys to stock their fridges and freezers for the next few weeks ahead.
Dishes that night included sashimi Tairua style, Ika Mata and a smoked marlin fish pie w kumara topping and a nice salad.
Breakfast that morning was courtesy of Cathedral Cove Naturals their healthy nut and seed based cereals and their ‘banging’ coconut yoghurt.
The next day we took in the stunning land and sea scapes of the Jurassic Aldermen Islands. Listened to the waves lapping at the cliffs and boulders, snorkelled for paua and Kina, and caught a bin full of kingfish and snapper. We got the head wet, and took in the amazing visibility and motion of the ocean below, snorkelling and free diving in the pristine marine environment of the Aldies! We took some kumara mash out and turned it into paua/Kina/kingfish/kimchi fish cakes - sooooo goooood!!!!! Dinner back at base that night was a hearty slow cooked duck curry on cauliflower fried rice. A novel part of the retreat was no alcohol - and we all felt better at the end for it!
The next morning we were greeted with glorious sunshine and we processed a bin full of fish, ate a hearty paleo brekkie again care of our mates at @cathedral cove naturals and paleo bacon and egg muffins. We reflected on what we’d got out of the two and a half days, cut a bit short by the boys having to get back to their whanau (and I’ve been seeing some epic dishes they’ve been cooking back home!). We all got a lot out of it, I feel super grateful to have had such a cool crew of guys on this first retreat and would like to thank Darryn, Michael and James for really getting into it, connecting with the wairua of Tairua.
We’ll reconvene with broga, sailing and another day on the water once we’re allowed back out. In these times we realise what is really important and I feel and pray the world will emerge from this next month a better, kinder more compassionate place. Now more than ever we need to think about looking after our minds, bodies, spirit and our planet. That includes really thinking about what you are here on this planet to do.
If you’d like to take part in something like this once we are all allowed back out....register your interest here and we’ll be in touch