🌿 PlayFest Retreat ~ INSPIRE | 2026 edition
Northern Rivers, NSW
An intimate, nature-led, movement arts retreat for curious souls to connect and play ✨🤸
Returning for its fifth edition, PlayFest continues to evolve as a grounded, community-led retreat experience.
Across four days in the Northern Rivers we gather on the lands of the Bundjalung Nation, immersed in a lush natural forest, to explore embodied practice through movement, art, breathwork, ritual, and shared experience.
PlayFest is designed as a held wellness network where learning happens through the body, connection, and lived experience — not just ideas.
It is a place where movement becomes medicine, where nature leads, where play evolves us, and where a culture of regenerative wellbeing is created collectively.
You are invited to slow down, become curious, move, experiment, and reconnect with yourself and others in a supportive, grounded environment.
🔥 The Experience
PlayFest is grounded in embodied experiencing — playfully exploring skills through movement, sensation, and participation rather than theory alone.
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What to expect:
- a curious space for movement arts and creative expression, spanning fire dancing, music, poetry, aerial and flow arts
- guided embodiment workshops and somatic practices exploring martial arts, contact improvisation dance, ecstatic dance, sexology (conversation-based, reflective, non-touch), animal flow, and mandala art
- breathwork and nervous system support
- hot and cold immersion experiences (sauna & ice baths)
- a nature-led setting and rhythm, with intentional time to rest, swim, and wander
- an intimate group size designed for depth, connection, and meaningful interaction
- shared catered meals and relaxed community connection
- ritual, reflection, and integration
- playful, not performative — come as you are. No prior experience required
🌀 The program is curated and facilitated by experienced practitioners and held with care for safety, consent, and inclusivity.
🏡 Location & Accommodation
We’ve moved. No longer in Sydney, PlayFest Retreat is now held at the beautiful Sēlah Valley Estate on Bundjalung Country in Northern NSW. Just 40 minutes from Gold Coast airport and 50 minutes from Byron Bay.
Set within a gorgeous natural basin, there are now three accommodation options to choose from:
🏡 Creekside Luxury Lodges (Shared)
Enjoy the tranquil sounds of the flowing water and stay in comfortable, self-contained, shared lodge accommodation with fully equipped kitchens and private bathrooms.
King single beds or twin share configurations are available. If you’re booking with someone you’d like to share with, simply let us know at checkout.
⚠️ Lodge beds are limited — only 18 available.
All lodge beds are ticketed per person, including children.
👤 Private Lodge Room Upgrade (Limited)
For those seeking additional privacy, a very limited number of private lodge rooms are available, offering exclusive use of your own private room within one of our creekside lodges.
⚠️ Extremely limited — only 2 currently released.
⛺ Camping
Bring your own tent, campervan, or vehicle setup and enjoy the freedom of camping in nature.
Shared amenities are provided, including hot showers and flushing toilets.
Children may camp with a parent or guardian at no additional cost.
✈️ Airport Shuttle Add-On
For guests flying in or not driving, an optional return airport shuttle service is available between Gold Coast Airport (OOL) and Sēlah Valley Estate.
Shuttle schedule:
• Friday 2 October — 12:00pm pickup from Gold Coast Airport to the retreat
• Monday 5 October — 12:00pm departure from the retreat returning to Gold Coast Airport
Please organise your flights accordingly to align with these shuttle times.
This is a return shuttle service and includes both transfers to and from the retreat.
Limited seats are available and can be added during checkout.
Please note: the shuttle service will run subject to minimum bookings. If minimum numbers are not reached, shuttle tickets will be refunded (retreat tickets remain non-refundable). In this case, we will do our best to help coordinate an alternative shared transport option for guests where possible.
💚 Who this is for
PlayFest is for curious souls who want to play — movers, creatives, practitioners, facilitators, and humans drawn to embodied experiences, personal growth, co-creation, and meaningful connection.
It’s for people who sometimes wake up at night wondering where all the time has gone, what they’re waking up to each day, and where the fun, passion, and aliveness went. Many are seeking meaningful community, regenerative connections, and a network of people who value collaboration, mutual support, and shared growth.
Above all, PlayFest is for people looking to build a life around what matters — one that feels more connected, creative, purposeful, and aligned with who they truly are.
Children and families are welcome at PlayFest, and we love seeing multiple generations gather in nature together. Parents remain fully responsible for their children at all times. While families are part of the wider community experience, PlayFest’s workshops, programming, facilitation, and visual storytelling are centred on adult embodiment and play, and there are no dedicated children’s activities.
🎟 What Your Ticket Includes:
- four days / three nights accommodation of your choice
- full access to the retreat program
- use of shared spaces and amenities — dance floor, workshop spaces, swimming holes, sauna, fire pits, and hiking tracks
- nourishing catered lunches & dinners are included
- complimentary hot beverages (tea & coffee)
Breakfast is not included and can be self-catered.
✨ Why Inspire?
This Inspire edition marks the evolutionary return of PlayFest — shaped by time, place, and the people who gather within it.
It invites both new and returning participants into a living, breathing experience that honours the body, the land, and the collective wisdom — alongside the quiet inspiration that emerges when we come together with curious, playful intention.
After taking a year to welcome our twins and relocate from Sydney to the Northern Rivers, this return feels especially meaningful. We are deeply inspired to come together again with community, to play, reconnect, and grow what has always lived at the heart of PlayFest.
