Upcoming Events?

  1. Auckland, New Zealand, May 9th-12th 2025

Ruby Retreats (the events formerly known as Rails Camps) are regular fixtures in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, and have also occurred at times in the UK, Denmark and Poland. It would be awesome to see more happen elsewhere. Ruby Retreats happen because people make them happen. People like you.

Auckland, New Zealand, May 2025

When

Friday 9th May - Monday 12th May 2025

Where

At the Y Shakespear Lodge, inside Shakespear Regional Park near Auckland, New Zealand.

Can Haz?

Please do come along! Details and Tickets Here

What to Bring
  • Bedding (sleeping bag and pillow)
  • Laptop
  • Camera
  • Chargers
  • Toothbrush & Toiletries
  • Earplugs
  • Powerboard
  • Any medications you take regularly
  • Snacks that you can’t live without
  • Togs
  • Torch
  • Some warm clothing for the night
  • Any data, files etc that you’d normally rely on getting from the Internet - we expect there to be Wifi & mobile reception available for people to hotspot off their own devices, but better safe than sorry!
More Information

There is a dedicated website for the camp which includes details around buses and other transport options, and join in the discussions in the #ruby-retreat-2025 channel on the Ruby New Zealand Slack workspace.

Previous Events

Warrnambool, Australia, October 18th-21st 2024
Christchurch, New Zealand, October 2023
O’ahu Hawaii, USA, September 2023
  • On the North Shore of O’ahu, Hawaii.
Adelaide, Australia, February 2022
North Cascades National Park, Washington, USA, September 2020
Melbourne, Australia, November 2019
  • At delightful PGL Campaspe Downs, amongst the Macedon Ranges, just outside Melbourne, Victoria.
Montana, USA, August 2019
Perth, Australia, May 2019
Texas, USA, April 2019
Hobart, Australia, November 2018
California, USA, August 2018
Brisbane, Australia, May 2018
Georgia, USA, May 2018
Melbourne, Australia, November 2017
Colorado, USA, September 2017
Darwin, Australia, May 2017
Christchurch, New Zealand, February 2017
Gold Coast, Australia, December 2016
Comrie Croft, Scotland, Autumn 2016
USA, Alturas Lake, Stanley, Idaho, August 2016
Adelaide, Australia, July 2016
USA, The Catskills, NY, April 2016
Wellington, New Zealand, March 2016
Canberra, ACT, Australia, December 2015
Northern California, USA, September 2015
  • At Camp Jack Hazard, just three hours east of Sacramento in the beautiful Stanislaus National Forest.
Sydney, Australia, June 2015
Auckland, NZ, Jan 2015
Perth, Australia, Nov 2014
Brisbane, Australia, May 2014
Mt. Cheeseman, New Zealand, 2014
  • At Mt Cheeseman, a couple hours from Christchurch, New Zealand.
Yarramundi, NSW, Australia 2013
Bryant Pond, ME, USA, 2013
Cologne, Germany, 2013
Melbourne, AU, Jun 2013
Wellington, New Zealand 2013
Port Sorell, Tasmania, Australia 2012
  • At Camp Banksia, 20 minutes drive from Devonport or 1 hour drive from Launceston.
Bryant Pond, ME USA, June 2012
Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia, June 2012
Mt Cheeseman, New Zealand, February 2012
  • At Mt Cheeseman, a couple hours from Christchurch, New Zealand.
Adelaide, Australia, January 2012
  • At Woodhouse, Piccadilly, just outside of Adelaide, Australia.
Cercedilla, Madrid, Spain, Nov 2011
Hamburg, Germany, Oct 2011
Bryant Pond, ME, USA, Aug 2011
Lake Ainsworth, AU, Jun 2011
  • 130 people
  • cabins between Lake Ainsworth and the Pacific Ocean
  • presentations on git, gems, APIs and more
  • excellent coffee at Snapper's Corner
Wisła, PL, Apr 2011
  • At Przedwiośnie, 2 hours out of Kraków.
  • Approximately 60 people from Poland, Germany, England
  • Wrote daily 4000 lines of code (including 2600 while drinking), which test coverage is at 100%.
  • Drank 40 liters of Club Mate.
  • Eaten 50 kilograms of pizzas.
  • Eaten 120 sausages.
  • Drank 20 liters of vodka.
  • Got 250 euro from a deposit for returned beer bottles.
Wellington, NZ, Mar 2011
  • Approximately 44 people from all over Australia and New Zealand
  • An average of over 10 cups of coffee per person.
  • sessions on coffeescript, engines, web servers, Vim and more.
  • fireside chats and peaceful surrounds
  • Lots of hacking on Refinery, Rails Quest and others.
Perth, AU, Nov 2010
  • Approximately 120 people from all over Australia
  • 15 minutes drive from Perth's CBD
  • kegs of beer
  • sessions on freelancing, mental health for developers, rvm, git, iPhone dev and more
  • fireside chats
  • many excellent hacking projects
Stowe Vermont, USA, Sep 2010
  • Approximately 34 people from all over New England
  • session on Agile Development headed by Dan Pickett
  • The Seer managed to wipe out the entire village.
Canberra, AU, Apr 2010
  • Approximately 120 people from all over Australia
  • 10 minutes drive from Canberra's CBD
  • kegs of beer
  • sessions on vim, Carpets for Communities, CoffeeScript and more
  • Andrew Grimm vs. Michael Jackson
  • heated debate on the future of Railscamp
West Greenwich, RI, USA, Mar 2010
  • Approximately 40 people from all over New England
Melbourne, AU, Nov 2009
  • 130 people from all over Australia
  • Down by the beach
  • sessions on MacRuby, being a better Rails coder, testing with Cucumber, Shell Show & Tell, Vim, Warden, Kanban and more
  • Brains Hacking
  • Mob-driven Refactoring of Gistory
  • An Amphitheatre
Margate, Kent, UK, Oct 2009
Bryant Pond, ME, USA, Jul 2009
Gold Coast QLD, AU, May 2009
Piccadilly SA, AU, Nov 2008
Naumburg, DE, Nov 2008
  • 20 people from Germany and Finland
  • sessions about Cucumber, CouchDB, Agile Development, Factory Girl and more
Svendborg, DK, Oct 2008
Downe, Kent, UK, Aug 2008
Kariong NSW, AU, Jun 2008
Bacchus Marsh VIC, AU, Nov 2007
  • 40 people
  • 15 bottles of wine
  • 15 cases of beer
  • picturesque backdrop
  • hungover hiking
  • sessions on Ruby Cocoa, Git, Rspec, SCRUM and more
  • half a dozen Ruby projects
  • 1 leather man-kilt
Somersby NSW, AU, Jun 2007