Upcoming Events?
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?
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Please do come along! Details and Tickets Here
- What to Bring
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- 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
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- At the Warra Gnan Coastal Camp in Warrnambool, Victoria.
- Christchurch, New Zealand, October 2023
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- At the Mt Cheeseman Ski Lodge, near Christchurch, New Zealand.
- O’ahu Hawaii, USA, September 2023
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- On the North Shore of O’ahu, Hawaii.
- Adelaide, Australia, February 2022
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- At the Woodhouse Activity Centre, in the Adelaide Hills, just outside Adelaide, South Australia.
- North Cascades National Park, Washington, USA, September 2020
- Melbourne, Australia, November 2019
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- At delightful PGL Campaspe Downs, amongst the Macedon Ranges, just outside Melbourne, Victoria.
- Montana, USA, August 2019
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- At Camp Mimanagish in McLeod, Montana.
- Perth, Australia, May 2019
-
- Returning to the Woodman Point Recreation Camp in Western Australia.
- Texas, USA, April 2019
-
- At the Twin Elms Dude Ranch in Bandera, Texas.
- Hobart, Australia, November 2018
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- At Camp Woodfield, close to Hobart in Tasmania.
- California, USA, August 2018
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- At Shaffer's High Sierra Summer Camp in Tahoe National Forest, California USA
- Brisbane, Australia, May 2018
-
- At Camp North Pine, near Brisbane in Queensland.
- Georgia, USA, May 2018
-
- At the Wahsega 4-H Center in Dahlonega, Georgia.
- Melbourne, Australia, November 2017
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- At Camp Toolangi, near Melbourne in Victoria.
- Colorado, USA, September 2017
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- At Camp Granite Lake, close to Boulder in Colorado.
- Darwin, Australia, May 2017
-
- At the Mount Bundy Station, close to Darwin in the Northern Territory.
- Christchurch, New Zealand, February 2017
-
- At the Mt Cheeseman Ski Lodge, near Christchurch, New Zealand.
- Gold Coast, Australia, December 2016
-
- At the Koonjewarre Accommodation & Activity Centre, in the Gold Coast Hinterlands!
- Comrie Croft, Scotland, Autumn 2016
-
- At Comrie Croft
- USA, Alturas Lake, Stanley, Idaho, August 2016
- Adelaide, Australia, July 2016
-
- At the Mylor Adventure Camp, in the stunning Adelaide Hills.
- USA, The Catskills, NY, April 2016
-
- At The Ashokan Center, two hours north of New York City, in the heart of the Catskills.
- Wellington, New Zealand, March 2016
-
- At the YMCA Camp Kaitoke 55 minutes drive from Wellington CBD.
- Canberra, ACT, Australia, December 2015
-
- At Camp Cottermouth, just outside Canberra by the Murrumbidgee River.
- 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
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- At the enormous Broken Bay Sport and Recreation Center, with a great beach.
- Auckland, NZ, Jan 2015
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- At YMCA Shakespear Lodge, on the edge of Auckland's amazing Hauraki Gulf.
- Perth, Australia, Nov 2014
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- At Woodman Point Recreation Camp, beside the sunny beaches of Perth, Western Australia.
- Brisbane, Australia, May 2014
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- At Kindilan Outdoor Education & Conference Centre, about an hour out of Brisbane, Australia.
- Mt. Cheeseman, New Zealand, 2014
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- At Mt Cheeseman, a couple hours from Christchurch, New Zealand.
- Yarramundi, NSW, Australia 2013
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- At Camp Yarramundi, 1hr drive from Sydney.
- Bryant Pond, ME, USA, 2013
- Cologne, Germany, 2013
- Melbourne, AU, Jun 2013
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- At Lord Somers camp, 1.5hrs drive from Melbourne.
- Wellington, New Zealand 2013
-
- At Camp Kaitoke, 30 minutes drive from Wellington
- Port Sorell, Tasmania, Australia 2012
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- At Camp Banksia, 20 minutes drive from Devonport or 1 hour drive from Launceston.
- Bryant Pond, ME USA, June 2012
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- At The Maine Mountain View Houses, Bryant Pond, ME USA.
- Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia, June 2012
-
- At Koonjewarre, Springbrook, 40 minutes drive from the Gold Coast, Queensland.
- 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
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- At Las Dehesas, Youth Hostel, Cercedilla, Madrid
- Hamburg, Germany, Oct 2011
-
- At WERKHEIM Hamburg, Germany.
- 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
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- 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
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- 60 people from the all over Europe
- A Hostel all to ourselves
- sessions on Gems, Gemcutter & Jeweler, Cucumber, CouchDB and Sphinx
- Coding Dojo
- A plethora of Tims
- Epic Settlers
- Long walks along the beach
- Bryant Pond, ME, USA, Jul 2009
-
- 30 people
- Shared holiday house in Maine
- sessions on gems and Gemcutter, localisation, CouchDB, rdoc.info, Ruby in the enterprise, Radiant and more
- Verandah Hacking
- Smores
- Frisbee
- Werewolf by firelight
- Twitter game discussions and hacking
- Gold Coast QLD, AU, May 2009
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- 80 people
- sessions on Cucumber, agile development and BDD, charity projects, and more
- The birth of Bananajour
- The continued evolution of Twetter and Duke
- Multiplayer Rubystein
- Wanderings, waterfalls and werewolf
- 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
-
- A dozen people from around Europe
- morning runs
- beautiful countryside
- Downe, Kent, UK, Aug 2008
-
- 30 people from the UK, Europe and Australia
- sessions on CouchDB, RSpec, Ext JS, Sphinx and more.
- Outdoor hacking
- Late night werewolf
- William Shatner
- Kariong NSW, AU, Jun 2008
-
- 55 people
- *jour gems coming into their own
- twetter for local-network twitter
- an unexpected arrival
- Bacchus Marsh VIC, AU, Nov 2007
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- 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
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- 33 bunkers
- 2 days of rain
- 2 crazy campers
- picturesque backdrop