Heard of Yoga Cucina? The Sydney-based outfit is an unrivalled blend of yoga and food. To use their own words, it’s a “hot-lipped love child of our two great passions – body rocking movement and seriously good food.”
I was fortunate enough to enjoy an overnight visit to their four-day Tasmanian retreat at one of my faves, Ratho Farm. Yoga Cucina’s country-wide escapes are more adventure than retreat, Ratho the ideal playground for the bliss to unfold.

Yoga Cucina is the creation of an eclectic bunch. The Yogis include Claire Blackwood, Aly Clarke and Rebecca Lockyer (BodyMindLife, Flow Athletic, Power Living). The Chefs are Marco Gobbo and Luca Faccin (Catalina, Icebergs Dining Room, Apollo). Clearly, good yoga and good food a certainty for these epic moveable feasts of movement and local fare.
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The crew honed their skills in Sydney’s finest restaurants and studios. They believe that through shared experience, a higher state of consciousness can be realised. They serve up a delectable degustation and a dynamic flow class with equal passion. They love that “both have the power to bring people together, hands in the air or wrapped around a glass of wine.”

I arrive just in time for a pre-dinner yoga session. Although clearly the most inept yoga-goer on a mat, the team immediately make me feel comfortable. Hidden at the back, a gentle hand of assistance is never far away.

The team are right. Yoga is followed by the most delightful feast of local produce, spread down a jovial long table in Ratho’s atrium. Tasmanian wine flows as does the chatter while Marco and Luca busy themselves in the historic homestead’s kitchen. It’s a place where many high-end chefs have worked their craft including Gourmet Farmer’s Matthew Evans as part of his SBS television series.

With full tummies we all retreat to comfy convict-built, thoughtfully restored quarters. The following day, early risers can revisit their mats for a morning session. Naturally, this is followed by a breakfast banquet, bursting with fresh fruits and all manner of healthful options.

Although my time is short with Yoga Cucina, the team travelled far and wide. From their Ratho base, the crew visited vineyards, got sand between their toes and met local makers. They dropped into the subversive adult Disneyland that is Mona and were welcome to swing a club on Australia’s latest 18-hole golf course back at Ratho. During their downtime, the natural beauty, clear light and crisp Tasmanian air was theirs to enjoy.

Why do the team love Ratho?
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Ratho Farm has a colourful history. Home to Australia's oldest golf course and chook shed, it's a working sheep and cattle farm, and a base for fly-fishing expeditions. Established in the highland wilderness by Scottish settlers Alexander and Mary Reid and a band of convict workers in 1822, the farm has been ransacked by bushrangers, housed exiled Irish nationalists, produced Melbourne Cup winners and golfing royalty. The old farm buildings including the bakery, verandah, stables and tack room have been lovingly restored into boutique rooms with original masonry and carpentry but modern features.
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If you think this type of escape is for you, join their next adventure in the New South Wales Southern Highlands this September.
For more information visit: www.yogacucina.com

Images: Leeroy Te Hira (unless otherwise stated) Words: Alice Hansen
 
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​David and Ea are the duo behind the Yukon. They found her sunken just out of Copenhagen and bought the traditional Danish sailing ketch for a carton of beer. Locals quipped they paid too much. The following seven years were dedicated to restoring her. They then sailed out to Australia where they now reside in Franklin offering Huon River Day Sails, Bruny Island Cruises, a Port Davey Cruise and more.

Before we share the four days we spent on the Yukon, we have an exclusive offer. If you go on a Calm Water Cruise, just mention Tailored Tasmania when booking and you’ll get 4 tickets for the price of 3 for the 90-minute cruise, departing Franklin at 10.30 am. Offer goes from today until the end of Beanie Season, August 31.
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​Day 1 – Dover to Recherche Bay

I joined the Yukon voyage partway through the trip. Arriving by bus into Dover, I soon find out from the service station-come-hardware store that the jetty is quite a way from the bus drop off. I look down at my two oversized bags and wonder how I’ll get down there. Next, a man pops his head up behind the hammer section and says, “I’m headin’ down there now. I’ll take ya.”
 
Next minute I’m climbing into Smudge’s truck. It’s not something I’d typically do. I find out on our short commute that Smudge processes crays, lots and lots of crays. He doesn’t just take me to the jetty, he drives right along the jetty, up to the Yukon. I leave money on his passenger chair. It’s not every day you get a lift in a town where there’s no taxis.
 
I arrive to a flurry of on-deck activity. I shake hands with the eight I’ll be spending the next four days with, as ropes are pulled and instructions bellowed around me. Soon we are ready to set sail. Our destination is Recherche Bay under perfect blue skies. This is where we’ll spend our first night. We leave the islands of Hope, Faith and Charity in our wake at Dover. I learn that the first licensed hotel was on Hope and the splitters and whalers were known to swim across from Stringers Creek, clutching dry wattle branches, to get to the pub.
 
At Recherche Bay we are invited to head ashore by tender to explore the former whaling region before settling in for our first dinner together onboard. It isn’t long before the Yukon’s gentle rock has its way and I’m fast asleep.
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Rounding South West Cape, the island’s southern-most tip is something to behold. It’s gloriously rugged. The waves slam against it even though today’s conditions are tame. It is at this point we turn right and head into Port Davey past Big Caroline. I do wonder who Caroline was back in the day, and if she’s happy to have a ‘big rock’ named after her.
 
Dropping anchor at Bond Bay in Port Davey, it is one of the Sydney-siders who says it perfectly. He breathes deeply as I stand beside him. “The quiet,” he begins. “It almost shouts at you.” He’s right and for a long moment we stand in the silence and remoteness of our locale.
 
We chatter late into the evening up on deck over Weber-seared chicken.
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Day 3 – Port Davey
Early on day three those familiar legs appear from the top bunk - that dedicated photographer keen not to miss a sunrise. Shortly after, Ea brings freshly baked bread out of the oven. We’re soon drawn together up on the deck for a Danish style alfresco brekkie with cheese and salami.
 
Our morning mission is a trip up the Davey River in the tender. None of the group including the skipper has ventured up there. We rug up and climb down into the little vessel, scooting along just centimeters from the inky black tannin-rich waters. It’s not until we get part way up that this group of explorers has to turn back due to a sand bar making small waves right across the width of the river. I was excited to see the likes of Razerback Point and Gunfight Creek but alas, it wasn’t to be. We head back to the warmth of the saloon for Plan B, an early departure for Bathurst River past the Breaksea Islands.
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​Tonight’s menu features kebabs up on deck, followed by a night cap of sailor’s rum and that feeling a very special voyage is nearing its end. Thank goodness the stars put on such a spectacular display that we each forget it’s the final eve.
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It doesn’t take long before Bathurst Harbour opens up before us, some three times the size of Sydney Harbour. Mount Rugby reveals itself in sunshine as if on cue. We spend a little time, mouths open at the mountain ranges and sparkling waters before we are ferried to the landing strip. Less than an hour later we are back in Hobart….the golden silence of Tasmania’s south west still ringing in our ears.
 
Words and images: Alice Hansen (unless otherwise stated)
 
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Don't forget to take up the special offer when booking you trip with www.yukon-tours.com.au.