In the third installment of our Homecamp Dads series, we speak to Paul Tansley, Head of Sales & Marketing at Stone & Wood and co-Founder of The Bucha of Byron.
You’re chief brand storyteller (Head of Sales & Marketing) at Stone & Wood and you’ve set up the Bucha of Byron, tell us about the Stone & Wood story? What are the core brand values that you communicate to your audience? And what about the Bucha of Byron?
Stone & Wood is a proudly independent company, we focus on making beer that’s simply good to drink. By that I mean we try not not to over-complicate things and keep it simple, and for us ‘good’ means the attention we pay to both the quality of our handcrafted beer as well as trying to be a conscious business. We are big on supporting the community that support us and we like to contribute by giving back, but also within the business context we like to treat things like our Drinkers, Suppliers, Customers and the Environment all as communities to work together with, rather than traditional business models.
For us our people are really what make the difference – we have passionate people all wanting to make a difference in their jobs and living the life that we stand for, so that’s largely what creates the Stone & Wood story. Real people telling real stories. Coming from the area we do, things like the surf and beach lifestyle, music, the arts, good food and good times and also escaping the grind are all important to us.
We’re also very big on celebrating the amazing part of the world we’re fortunate to be from. The coast and hinterland are pretty special so being actively part of it, playing our role in protecting it, as well as paying tribute to it is important for us.
Then separately, the Bucha of Byron came about as I’d been working in a busy global job prior to Stone & Wood, my two friends (Cam MacFarlane and James Mackinnon) and I had been setting up our kombucha business so we could escape the corporate world and do our own thing. We were really keen to make an accessible kombucha that benefits people for health reasons, but also to help suit our lifestyles as we’re all dads and wanted to set up a different way of life. Before that happened, Stone & Wood asked me to join their team so I was lucky enough to make that change from the corporate world, but they were also happy to support my venture in the Bucha of Byron and help us brew it.
What are your earliest memories of the outdoors, and what was your childhood like?
I’ve been pretty fortunate that the outdoors (and the ocean especially) have always been part of my life. I was born in the Cook Islands so grew up on a tropical island, my earliest memories all involve the beach and constantly being outdoors with my brothers. Our parents used to take us out in a little sailing boat around the lagoon before we could even walk.
From there I moved to Byron Bay when I was 4, living on an old farm on 100 acres and my uncle taught us to surf not long after. Growing up in Byron back in the day was a pretty idyllic childhood, it was all outdoors and we played every sport and did everything possible, as long as we could ride our bike home by dark that was our only main rule. It was pretty much exactly the free range childhood I’m hoping I can provide for my kids…
What is your favourite travel memory?
That’s always tough to narrow down as I’ve spent a big chunk of my life travelling. So in a broad sense I’d say every travel memory as it’s been a really important part of my life. But that’s a pretty lame, general response so I’d have to say I have special fond memories of my times in South and Central America.
Hard to single out a single memory but I spent time living in Bolivia with two friends setting up a charity organisation called 3 Cycle, that was a pretty weird and awesome experience at the same time.
From there we travelled a lot: everything from amazing snowboarding in Argentina; trekking the Lost City in Colombia; riding the Death Road in Bolivia and canoeing through the Pampas (an Amazon tributary); surfing from Peru to Ecuador then sailing from Colombia through the San Blas islands to keep surfing right through Bocas del Toro islands and into Costa Rica, up to Nicaragua and El Salvador. Definitely good memories…
Is travel and camping a big part of the way you’re choosing to raise your children?
Definitely. I think if you’re fortunate enough to be able to take your kids travelling there’s so much for them to learn about life and the world that you can’t experience from books or schools. Travel will always be a big part of our lives, I’m fortunate my partner Lani has also spent a lot of her life travelling so she shares the same values. But she’s more of a jungle and mountain person where I’m more about the sea, so hopefully our kids get a good, well rounded mix.
We just recently spent some time back in the Cook Islands and seeing how they react to it and how much they appreciate it is really special. Taking them out kayaking over the reef, spending all day swimming, bush walks, parking up at beach bars (well maybe that was more our thing), but they talk about it and remember it forever.
If you could pass any of your own qualities down to your kids, what would they be?
Before becoming a father I asked people with kids for advice and I think the best advice I had was to trust your instincts. I think that’s really important so hopefully if you are living your life in the way you want and being true to your values it should rub off.
As far as qualities, I think if anything I’ve tried to instill empathy in my kids so they think about how others feel and how that would make them feel. That was probably the most important thing our mum taught us and for me coming from a family of four boys that was certainly something that we kept each other in check for. Also having a positive attitude and thinking anything is possible – I love hearing my girl before she jumps in the pool doing her ‘half swim half drown’ style strokes saying ‘I can do it Dad’.
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What has being a father taught you so far
Definitely patience! I’m still working on that one. I think we’ve been fortunate that we have great kids and they love doing things, and they love life in general, but it’s still full on.
I think it’s also taught me to appreciate and use any moments of spare time – before having kids you don’t realise what a big deal a quiet moment to yourself is, so you really value the time you get spare to surf or go for a run or see your mates, or even just something as simple as reading the paper.
But that’s the boring stuff, really it’s taught me to remember how fun life was as a kid and to really make the most of it and keep living your life that way. There’s nothing like taking my little 2 year-old boy Harlan out for a surf and hear him hooting and yelling ‘more Dad’ as he drops down the wave, or taking my girl Malia riding when we first took the training wheels off her bike and just seeing that buzz.
What are some adventures you’re looking forward to going on together as a family?
We’re all really looking forward to going sailing with my mum next month. She’s lived on her 39 foot yacht for years, that’s the family home, she sails north to the Whitsundays each winter and then back around the Gold Coast for the cyclone season over summer. She’s a bit of an inspiration to a lot of people, solo sailing when she’s over 70 (she’ll hate that reference to age!), so it’s awesome to get to share that experience with the kids.
We’re going to join her and sail through the islands, my brother and his kids will join as he actually raised his kids on his boat, so I’m hoping our kids take to it also. They’ve been practicing in the hammock at home playing pirates so hopefully they’ll be all prepared for life at sea…
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