Kookookookahkahkah!!! Do you hear the call, wild ones?

The kookaburras are singing us home - back to country, back to community and back to connection.

Our volunteer-led community model is thriving, dear friends, and we’re so excited to be blowing on the embers of our fourth rekindled Village Camp!

This spring from the 29th September to the 3rd October we will return once again to beautiful bushy Wurundjeri Country in Riddells Creek to reconnect with nature, ourselves, family and community.

*********************

Camp is sold out!! Wahoo!!! If you missed out this time we hope to see you next time 😊

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heed the call and rediscover your inner wild.

Come alive with a vibrant community of humans.

Immerse yourself in the wonder and wisdom of nature.

Gather by the campfire and learn earth-based skills.

Watch your kids thrive in the wild.

And most importantly – help us rekindle the village fire!

As always, this is a family friendly, drug and alcohol-free event, and everyone is welcome – from the freshest joeys to the wisest elders – diversity in the forest and the village is what we’re all about.

Weaving our village ~ What to expect…

Our 2026 Spring Village Camp is an opportunity to gather once again, sink our roots deep into nature connection and allow the earth to support all aspects of our collective lives. Each camp is lovingly brought to life by the voluntary efforts of an organisational Nest and a mycelial network of volunteers who are passionate about continuing to weave connections to ourselves, each other and our magnificent wild world. This is our offering.

Let us welcome you to the village

You’ll arrive with your tent and camping gear to a warm bush welcome and settle into our beautiful surroundings as village life awakens around you. Over our time together, we will explore the natural world around us, share earth-based skills, play games, listen to stories around the campfire, laugh and sing, and take a much-needed breath of fresh air.

Adults, kids, teens, parents, elders and littlies will all find magic to discover in the village. In the past, villagers have shared all sorts of skills and adventures! They’ve woven baskets from grass fibres, made fire without matches, practised listening to the language of birds, slept out in bush shelters, engaged their senses to follow tracks and signs of life in the wild, played wild games for hours, eco-dyed garments in a bubbling pot over the campfire and shared adventurous stories and song circles under the stars. Anything is possible in the village! What will we create together this spring?

Morning program:

Each morning, awaken to the gentle, melodic tunes of our morning singers (or earlier to the morning chorus of local birds). After breakfast, you’ll gather with the whole village for a check-in and a couple of community games before the kids and teens go their separate ways for a morning of play and adventure.

Kids venture into the wild with our experienced nature connection mentors to experience a free-flowing exploration of the surrounding bush. Together the mentors and kids immerse themselves in story and song, play games, follow their curiosity and creativity as they wander and explore, find animal tracks and practice wild skills and crafts. Over the days, they will open into a deep awareness of the wild world as they connect with plants, earth, animals and each other. This spring the kids program will run for ages 4-12 - with an exciting Rites of Passage program offered for teens aged 13+ and our joeys program for the little ones.

Adults will have the opportunity to create their own personal journey of adventure and discovery here in our village. Held by the fabric of our interconnected threads, amongst new friends and old, there’ll be plenty of time and space for sit spots and solo bush adventures, to share and practice earth-based skills and deepen their nature observation and ecological literacy. The archetypal ‘wild child’ will come alive through games, nature play and other spontaneous connective activities. Some folks might opt for deeply connective adult-sharing circles, a safer space to share how folks are really travelling.

Teens this Spring we are especially excited about the returning Rite of Passage journey for our teenagers (ages 13+). Adolescence is one of life's great thresholds yet in our culture it is so often left unmarked. Across time and cultures, communities have gathered to witness young people as they step towards adulthood with courage, responsibility and belonging. This year our teens will be guided by 2 inspiring and experienced mentors through a dedicated rite of passage experience with a ceremonial village send-off, an overnight hike on Country and a warm welcome home to the village.

Little ones who are still ‘in the pouch’ (0-3) will gather together with their parents and other villagers to play and have adventures a little closer to camp. There will be some support available to provide activities for the little ones and assist parents who would like to participate in the adult program.

Afternoon:

With our village reunited after adventurous mornings, the afternoons are free-flowing. Villagers play with new friends, practice new skills, share their talents or just chill out. Some might wish to head off for a wander or take some quiet time to rest and relax.

The afternoons also provide an opportunity for us all to contribute to the smooth running of our village through village service, a practice in reciprocity that is at the heart of village life. Adults and kids alike will spend some of time contributing to the smooth running of our village - from serving dinner to tidying up camp, lighting the evening fire to washing the communal dinner pots. We'll sing, chat and work together to keep the village humming.

Evening:

As the sun sets, the village is called by heartful song and delicious smells wafting from the communal kitchen, where our fabulous village volunteer chefs and assistants serve up a scrumptious and wholesome feast. Hungry villagers gather to share dinner around the fire and a natural storytelling space opens as the day’s tales of adventure and discovery and laughter bubble up to be shared. When the fire dies down and the stars come out tuckered-out little ones are sung off as they wander off to their tents. Some nights might lend themselves to after-dark bush adventures too, before sleeping close to the earth and waking to the morning chorus again.

Ticket pricing

All tickets for program participants (adults, teens and children) are the same price, with a lower price for joeys (children who are too young to participate in the kids' program).

Prices for this camp are:

Adult: $330

Teen rite of passage (13+): $330

Child 4-12: $330

Joey 3: $125

Joey 0-2: $50

All tickets - including volunteer tickets and joey tickets - include a contribution towards the Village Fund. The Village Fund celebrates the diversity of our community by acknowledging that not all of us have equally abundant access to funds. While some of us are able to support the village, others - including many of the essential volunteers and mentors who make camp possible - need the village's support to be able to gather with us and share their gifts.

If this is you, and you need the support of the village, you can enter the code ‘fundme’ at checkout to have the Village Fund discount of $50 per ticket applied.

For those finding themselves in a place of abundance, you can also make an additional contribution to the Village Fund at the checkout 🌱

Bookings will close when sold out or a week before Village Camp begins.

Food

Communal self-catering

After its great success at the last 2 camps, this camp we will again be offering optional communal-self catering for dinner. Villagers wishing to participate will bring ingredients to contribute according to the theme for each night. Dinner will be prepared by our beautiful village volunteer cooks for each night of camp, supported by a chop and service crew announced at the beginning of each day. Communal evening meals will cater for vegan, gluten free and dairy free dietary requirements if notified on booking. Unfortunately we are not able to accommodate other dietary requirements at this time.

Villagers who do not wish to participate in communal self-catering for dinner are welcome to prepare their own meals and join us under the Willum to eat.

Villagers will need to bring all their food for breakfast lunch and snacks.

Communal kitchen

To support the new communal self-catering model, we have also created a rustic welcoming communal camp kitchen space where villagers come together to share the joys and gifts of food. Close to the heart of the village the communal kitchen is a space with some tables, gas burners, a small portable BBQ, some pots and pans, crockery, cutlery and tea making facilities (hot water, milk, tea bags). It will have a cool box but only for milk and any items to be donated for communal consumption.

You are welcome to contribute burners and cooking equipment to share; however, it is not a space for storing your own cool box/pantry or kitchen setup. Everything in the communal kitchen will be available for everyone to use on a first come first served basis.

Drinking water and ice

There is drinking water on site. Bring your own cool box if required (or organise to share one). Ice is available from Riddells Creek nearby, and an ice run will likely happen at some point mid-camp.

Camping facilities

Tickets include four nights of forest camping accommodation (with flushing toilets and hot showers!). Participants need to bring their own tent and camping gear (get in touch if you need some help here) - a suggested packing list is available here.

Please be sure to bring tubs or bags to take your rubbish home with you as there are no facilities on site to manage rubbish.

Calling Mentors!

Do you love stepping in to share your skills and lend a hand? Do you feel called to mentor our village youngsters in deepening their connection to the more-than-human-world? More than ever, we need your passion and presence to bring camp to life!

If you are excited to jump aboard as a mentor ~ or perhaps you feel a spark of curiousity stirring and would like to have a chat about it ~ please fill out an expression of interest form and we'll be in touch 😊

I am interested in mentoring at a Firekeepers Village Camp.

We’re all so excited to be rekindling this fire with you, dear village!

In wild love and connection,

The Nest - Ettie, Peter, Marisa, Amaya, Beth, Dave, River, Sam

For more details on how camp operates, prices, practicalities and the rekindled approach to a community-led camp, head to our website below.

https://www.firekeepers.com.au/

Firekeepers Spring Village Camp 2026

Choose your tickets

Adult ticket

Teen - rite of passage ticket

Child Age 4+ ticket

Joey age 3+ ticket

Joey under 3 ticket

Donations

Donations welcomed with gratitude