Regenerative tourism
by design
Regenerative tourism
by design
OUR TEAM
OUR TEAM
Up The Creek CoLab
Ecological Leadership Course
in Nature's Classroom ~ Bung Yarnda
23-28 March 2026
A unique collaboration between the living breathing landscape of Bung Yarnda, Up the Creek, Place Ecologies/Tourism CoLab and FLOAT
- Far East Gippsland -
UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP THROUGH NATURE
Up The Creek CoLab
Join us on a journey where time slows, breath deepens, and discovery unfolds at nature's pace. This is an invitation to step away from the noise of everyday life and into the best classroom in the world, the living, breathing landscape of Bung Yarnda.
Here, on the water and under open skies, you'll learn not from books or screens, but from the patterns of creek lines, the wisdom of country, and the quiet intelligence of the more-than-human world.
This is a space to pause, to listen, and to remember what it means to be fully present.
Over five transformative days, you'll paddle through ancient waterways, gather around campfires, and engage in embodied practice that connects head, heart, and hands. You'll explore what it means to be a good guest, to place, to community, and to the earth itself. And you'll discover how personal transformation and systemic change are inseparable.
Nature's Classroom
Our learning journey weaves together regenerative thinking, ecological leadership, and the art of showing up with intention. We leave behind rushing to solutions or ticking boxes. It's about sitting in the questions, breathing into the uncertainty, and trusting the emergent wisdom that arises when we slow down enough to truly see. This is leadership.
Nature provides our classroom, embodying a commitment to flexibility, flow, emergence, and adaptation.
Come with curiosity. Come with an open heart. Come ready to be changed by the land, the water, and the community that gathers here to reflect on what ecological leadership is when we are not seperate to but part of nature.
Sometimes, the most profound learning happens when we stop trying to get somewhere, and simply allow ourselves to arrive.
Ecological Leadership in Action - FLOAT
FLOAT demonstrates regenerative leadership through its role as a living laboratory for place-based, community-led transformation in East Gippsland. FLOAT embodies flexible, emergent and adaptive responses to community undergoing deep economic and social transition. It serves as tangible proof that regenerative business development works in practice, providing soft infrastructure whilst fostering self-organising networks and distributed leadership.
FLOAT will be our classroom for the last part of our journey, when we come together to consider what's next in our leadership journey.
Ecological Leadership Course Content
What is resilience in a changing world ?
Discover regenerative thinking and practice guided by living systems principles, not a fixed destination. Build connections between nature and our floating learning community. Explore the need for a new relationship between nature, place, and you. Practical grounding and presencing exercises that shift thinking from technical solutions to adaptive, holistic strategies. Explore how this can be applied in your work, life, and being in the world.
Ecological leadership
Examine how regenerative "pollinators" initiate change, create and nurture conditions for transformation. Understand why context-dependent approaches work better than universal roadmaps and why we should never talk about 'best practice'. Explore practical answers to "Where do I start?" and "What does this all mean for my place, community or organisation?"
The language of living systems
Understand the fundamental distinction between sustainability and regeneration. Learn how regeneration focuses on repair, restoration, and regeneration rather than minimising harm in the existing extractive system. Explore living systems as a proven theoretical framework and discover how to build 'community as the soil' for the transition ahead. This is where ecological leadership takes form.
Practical steps for the journey ahead
Identify actionable strategies for individuals, organisations, and communities. This is a pause and reflection point in your leadership journey, not an endpoint or box to tick. In our final workshop hosted by FLOAT, you will receive access to frameworks for continued learning, peer support, and progression within our community of practice.
Regenerative storytelling
Unlock the power of an authentic, head, heart, and gut approach to regenerative storytelling, resilience and transformation. Learn how a unique narrative emerges for you, your community, and your place from genuinely connecting to local living systems. Practice techniques for developing evolving stories that move beyond generic marketing stories to narratives of place and community that allow leadership to emerge.
Certificate of Completion
To receive a certificate of completion in Ecological Leadership, you will show up with nature everyday, participant in discussion and reflection exercises and complete a post-trip activity (to be discussed on the journey).
Time equivalent = 30 hours
Our Facilitators
Bung Yarnda
Bung Yarnda, is the ultimate classroom. Also known as Lake Tyers, this is a spectacular waterway is located on Gunai/Kurnai Country in East Gippsland, Victoria. This ancient lake system offers pristine waters perfect for canoeing and deep connection with nature. The area features stunning views where late afternoon sun bounces off creek lines, bringing the landscape alive. Bung Yarnda provides an ideal setting for transformative learning, reflection, and deep listening. Bung Yarnda combines the tranquility of water-based journeys with opportunities for embodied practice and ecological leadership. It holds ncredible power as a space of transformative learning.
Dianne Dredge
Dianne Dredge, PhD is Founder and Director of The Tourism CoLab and Place Ecologies. As a systems thinker, she brings three decades of experience as an environmental planner, professor, researcher, and regenerative practitioner. After stepping away from academia in 2019, Dianne founded The Tourism CoLab to reimagine tourism education through a regenerative lens. She currently works globally with communities exploring place-based potential, having led transformative projects including the Islander Way regenerative living lab on Flinders Island. Until early 2025 she also worked as the Local 2030 Islands Network's global Community of Practice coordinator in Regenerative Tourism.
Derek Cook
Derek Cook is the founder of Up the Creek, an outdoor education and experience business based in Melbourne and East Gippsland, Victoria. Derek is passionate about creating authentic connections between people and nature, particularly through canoeing journeys on Bung Yarnda (Lake Tyers). His approach is grounded in the belief that creek systems are inherently regenerative, and he works to help participants experience deep connection with waterways and the more-than-human world. He is committed to building community and for people to develop roots that stabilise their personal and professional growth in service of regeneration.
Testimonials
What previous participants have said about some of our courses:
Dianne's live presentations (Learning Circles), clear and inspiring. I love her passion and you really feel the depth and breadth of knowledge that she has. I also liked the tools that were shared.
Regenerative Development x Design 2022
This journey has been extraordinary, Dianne. You bring such incredible wealth of knowledge and your generosity in sharing with us has been a real highlight. I am so grateful.
F.C.S, Intro to Regen Development & Tourism | July 2023
I feel I have built such an understanding of community and how to work by sharing our journeys and learning together. This community is really very special to me.
P.B. Regen Development and Tourism | August 2024
The most important thing I have learned is that I am not alone. We are all trying to build the path and we are stronger working together. This course has given me the confidence I need to take this conversation to my community.
S.K. Regen Journey | December 2023
Both the Regenerative Tourism Intro and Deep Dive courses have helped me undertake the inner work required to even take the first step on this journey.
Thank you and I look forward to sharing so much more with the Tourism CoLab!
S.C. Regenerative Business Development 2024
The whole experience gave me a lot of motivation and inspiration to keep following my goal of establishing my own business and thanks to this course, I have better knowledge on how to apply RT principles into practice. Thank you so so much.
L.W. Regenerative Development X Design 2024
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this different from sustainability training? Yes. While sustainability focuses on "doing less harm," regenerative tourism aims to not only create systemic positive change but to regenerate what we have lost. We have to be honest with ourselves: tourism is currently dependent on fossil fuels; it is designed to exploit people, labour and places; and the general goal is to generate profit which is rarely reinvested back in the place. Sustainability criteria help businesses reduce harm, but with five years let to achieve the SDGs, only 17% of the targets are on track. Put bluntly, insufficient progress has been made by adopting sustainability. What we need is to shift our thinking.
A regenerative approach requires that we are honest with ourselves and that we open up our thinking to the flaws in our current thinking. The difference between this bootcamp and sustainability training is that we are open and honest about the need for systems change and highlight how, through our own arc of change, we can shift the system. Sustainability training is usually selling a product or upselling a service. It might be good for business but it hasn't done anything to relieve our impact on this planet. Isn't it time to give a regenerative approach a chance rather than clinging to a promise?
Who should attend? Tourism professionals, destination managers, experience designers, accommodation owners, tour operators, and anyone committed to genuine, positive change in the sector.
What if I miss a session? All sessions are recorded for makeup viewing, ensuring you don't miss crucial content. Recordings will be available on our CoLab platform.
Will I get practical tools? Absolutely. Each session includes a worksheet. This may be a framework, checklist, or template you can use immediately. These tools are to assist you and we will explain their value during the live sessions.
I've done a CoLab course before, is this the same? No, definitely not. We are practitioners, and we are learning every day from our own practice, case studies, research, and our clients' journeys. Our understanding and thought leadership emerges into new understandings every single day, so our courses are never the same!