Tara's South Coast Journal

Cove x Bangalay

Tara Davy, Graphic Designer

Over the last 20 years I’ve had the pleasure of discovering the South Coast, mostly by way of bi-annual girls trips to my friend’s holiday house in Jervis Bay.

Then there were weddings, the move of my dear friend Kathryn Green to Culburra beach and then Berry, and finally with my family in our renovated caravan which has enjoyed several weekends now in Gerringong and The Farm.

But this past weekend spent with my cohorts from Cove Creatives at Bangalay Luxury villas has really flagged for me another part of life that is satisfied by this unique part of the world. Purposefully setting aside time for business strategy, both as a collective and for each of our individual businesses, was only going to happen by physically removing ourselves from the hustle and bustle of Sydney. Even though our beautiful studio is a stones through from the beach, time flies and it’s been 8 months since we’ve stopped for a good chat about where we are up to…what our businesses challenges are….what’s working in the studio and what isn’t.

And so it played out that this finally happened in the bush, by the sea, in a luxury villa, with a fire, good wine, and sprinkled in between intervals for shopping, yoga, horseriding, golf, bike riding, surfing- you name it, we did it!

We had two really productive strategy sessions, the first one focusing on the group, the second one back in the villa, where Michelle Bishop, owner of Bangalay, dropped in to provide sustenance in the form of good cheese and wine and the loan of a white board and markers.

Fresh air was needed, so we grabbed donuts in Berry, and stopped by Far Meadow Table to chase Kath and Ian’s chickens around (such city slickers!).

I had organised beforehand to have a consult with a new client, Kate Mitrevski/ The Elopement Stylist over coffee at Bangalay. What a great place for meetings!

It was also the first time I’ve done any public speaking in a while, so our panel even hosted at Bangalay Dining was a chance to dust of nerves about all that, and I was so thrilled at the participation of all the attendees who felt relaxed and at home enough to give their input and share the way they did.

This trip simply confirmed that winter is a great time to stop and make sure that business gets mixed with pleasure, it really did help us all to reset our compasses for the Financial Year ahead. Do it!