Write Your Story & Let Nature Help You Get Unstuck

3 Day Writers Retreat

Have you secretly dreamed about writing stories or a book?

What if it’s as simple as choosing the next step of taking your desire seriously and investing in your creativity?

Embrace this unique opportunity to be inspired by magnificent world heritage rainforest, and experience your writing as an easy, enjoyable, and achievable process.

Over this three-day writing retreat in Binna Burra, you will receive intensive group and individual input from acclaimed writing tutor and author of over fifty nationally and internationally published books – Melaina Faranda. Nature will also be a teacher, with a variety of creative exercises designed to help you detox from digital chatter, and free you to discover your own original thinking.

Expect to be creatively energised as well as nourished on many levels by connecting with pristine nature. You will take away a boosted word count, grab bag of fun and effective writing and self-editing tools and techniques, plus a bespoke plan, process, structure, and timeline for completion of your story or book!

Suitable for all backgrounds and levels of experience, from an unwritten idea to a partly completed project.

ACCOMMODATION AND TICKET BUNDLES

Single Participant Bundle – $1449

  • Includes 2 nights in a Tiny Wild House
  • Includes dinner and breakfast daily for one adult
  • Includes tickets for one participant

Twin Participant Bundle – $2149

  • Includes 2 nights in a Tiny Wild House
  • Includes dinner and breakfast daily for two adults
  • Includes tickets for two participants

Single Participant Bundle – $1399

  • Includes 2 nights in a Sky Lodge Studio
  • Includes dinner and breakfast daily for one adult
  • Includes tickets for one participant

Twin Participant Bundle – $2250

  • Includes 2 nights in a Sky Lodge studio
  • Includes dinner and breakfast daily for two adults
  • Includes tickets for two participants

Twin Participant Bundle – $2499

  • Includes 2 nights in a Sky Lodge 2 Bedroom Apartment
  • Includes dinner and breakfast daily for two adults
  • Includes tickets for two participants

EXTEND YOUR RETREAT!

If you’d like to enhance your retreat experience, you can book an additional night before and/or after the retreat at a set rate. This extended stay includes dinner and breakfast for one adult each day.

Bringing a guest with you?

Reach out to our welcoming front desk team for a personalised accommodation and ticket bundle that includes a plus one who won’t be joining the writers’ retreat.

Retreat only ticket:

Objectives of this workshop

Opportunities will be provided to explore and plan for your unique needs, conditions, approaches, structures, and routines – to get unstuck and see your writing through to completion. You’ll discover playful ways to wrangle your inner critic, work through writers’ block, and techniques to overcome procrastination. You will also learn how to self-edit your work, saving you both time and resources, and empowering you to create work closer to publication standard. This will all be done while making new writer friends and experiencing ways in which the natural environment can support you to create!

Supplies to bring

Whatever you best prefer to write on or with. Please make sure you have a notebook suitable for times we will be writing outside.

Your Facilitator

Melaina Faranda is the author of over fifty books and a manuscript appraisal consultant. A passionate, energetic, and enthusiastic writing tutor, she receives rave feedback and repeat invitations to inspire and empower word loving kin through the many workshops, courses, masterclasses and retreats she delivers at writers’ centres, schools, organisations, private groups, and literature festivals throughout Australia.

How this fits into our Art. Nature. Science. Program

This three-day writing retreat, experienced within Lamington National Park, creatively engages with the natural environment through writing. A guided approach of focussed attention, appreciation, and applying imagination to the rainforest, can offer nourishment, inspiration, and a deepened reverence for the connection between nature and bringing creative processes to fruition.

Occupants:

  • Minimum 8 participants for this event to go ahead
  • Maximum 20 participants
Past retreat participant testimonials:

‘What an incredible ride! Never have I learnt and understood and been able to apply so much in such a short period of time. Melaina is an engaging, exciting facilitator deftly alternating between leading and encouraging, showing and enquiring. My bag of tricks, my confidence in my writing has multiplied so much in just 3 days. Wow (again!) Thoroughly recommend you stop procrastinating, or deliberating – just do it, you won’t be sorry.’ Bron

Past retreat participant testimonials:

‘Brilliant, sparkling, enthusiastic and generous.’ Course ‘caters for a diverse range of people and is inspiring and liberating.’ Erica

Past retreat participant testimonials:

‘Melaina is the ‘real deal!’ Her energy creates a presence which is infectious. The program flowed to meet the diverse expectations of the audience. Though provoking; entertaining and tiggering for my imagination.’ Pam

Past retreat participant testimonials:

‘Melaina is very energising and engaging. I currently feel ‘excited and ready to finish my book and would recommend this course especially for anyone wanting to get started! Or be inspired!’ Steph

Past retreat participant testimonials:

‘How I currently feel about my book is pumped and have a good understanding of next steps for me… Great for rediscovering your spark for writing.’ Rachel

Past retreat participant testimonials:

‘The retreat/workshop was much better than expected. (I have been to many workshops in another discipline). ‘The location was superb (Lamington National Park), the content I thought appropriate to all skill levels. The writing exercises were not threatening and felt effective. The delivery was engaging enjoyable heartfelt and interactive’ Damien Nevin

Past retreat participant testimonials:

‘Melaina’s course opened up my mind with different strategies that allowed an outpouring of pent-up creativity.’ Jacqueline.

Past retreat participant testimonials:

‘I have really enjoyed everything about the retreat it has been such a fantastic experience. Your stories and teaching opened my mind and I feel I will be able to find my start now.’ Ally

Past retreat participant testimonials:

‘I experienced Melaina as a facilitator / teacher A+ Character A+ and I feel ‘excited’ about my writing project. I would recommend this course to others as it touches on so many different phases of writing and is always entertaining and encouraging.’ Ellen