There are around 15 of us participating in the program, yet all we can talk about is dinner. Most nights are a la carte, but Mondays are buffet-style and we've been told that there will be sushi, fried and grilled fish, plenty of salads, five or six desserts … we've agreed that we want to try at least one of everything.

I quickly realise that the definition of wellness is flexible at Pinetrees. Everyone participating has booked because they are interested in health, but everyone is also interested in food, wine and afternoon naps. "We take a relaxed approach to wellness," Luke Hanson, who manages Pinetrees with his wife Dani Rourke, explains. "We offer yoga, fitness activities and wholefood menu options, but it's up to guests how they decide to spend their holiday."

Wellness weeks are just one of the many event weeks the couple launched in 2011 to change things up. Pinetrees is the oldest accommodation on the island (it has been held in the same family since 1848) and each generation has added their touch. Rourke (a sixth generation islander) and Hanson choose to focus on activities that would showcase the island – with a dose of "something else" added in. Food and wine weeks, adventure weeks, photography weeks and ocean swim weeks are just some of the other options.

I'm chuffed with my wellness week choice. Lord Howe is an absolute stunner (I'm planning a photography week with my husband next) and I figure yoga will be enjoyable given the epically beautiful vistas – preposterously turquoise water and soaring mountains shaped by volcanic eruptions.

I have a trying relationship with yoga though. I want to love it. I want to be good at it. I own so many Dharma Bums yoga pants you'd assume that I practice at least sometimes (truth is I wear them to spin class). But I've recently come to the realisation that so far I've only ever found yoga … monotonous. So here I am trying to change my own mind.

Classes are conducted in the great outdoors, beside Pinetrees' beachfront boatshed, so even if nothing else peaks my interest at least the view will. But it's our yoga guru who changes my mind. Charlotte Dodson, yoga teacher to the stars (Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom are former students), is patient, kind and funny and has me doing my first headstand (ever!) by the end of the week. Apparently she was a little surprised when she led her first wellness week in 2011 – because guests would go straight from afternoon tea to yoga. But now it doesn't faze her. Sure, she wouldn't do it, but she's a serious yogini and usually guests are … well, not yoginis.

"I came last year," Bill, a charismatic fellow in his 80s who is back for round two, tells the group. "I didn't think yoga was for blokes, but I've changed my mind."

"It's like quiche," Jim, a chap in his 70s, chimes in. "Designed for women."

There's no pressure to attend all the activities, but I attend morning yoga each day (I skip the afternoon sessions … baby steps) and participate in most of the post-breakfast fitness activities headed up by Hanson. Interestingly, both Bill and Jim attend yoga every morning too; Bill even manages a headstand towards the end of the week.

A few of us hike up Malabar Hill one stormy day and reach the summit just as the sky turns the colour of a baby eggplant. Powerful rain cloaks us, but we don't care because the view is entrancing. Jagged cliffs plunge into the wild ocean and seabirds screech loudly, as if trying to outdo the angry slosh of the sea.

On a clear day we kayak to North Bay for our morning fitness activity. Slate-coloured clouds drift across the sky; seabirds flap about; reef fish dart around in the crystalline water. I'm so entranced by the sealife I sign up for a snorkelling tour the next day.

The highlight of the week is the afternoon yoga session at Little Island, a special class usually arranged towards the end of wellness week (I skip morning yoga to stick to my one-yoga-class-per-day limit). We walk through a lush forest of palm and banyan trees until we reach a patch of emerald green grass by the sea, where we spread out our yoga mats and Om our way through the next hour.

When the class concludes a few of us linger, watching the sky transform into a kaleidoscope of pinks and oranges as the sun stoops below the horizon. Most of the group, however, dashes back to the van. Dinnertime is less than an hour away, and although the yoga was magical … the food at Pinetrees is a different kind of magical.

If only I could stay for a few days longer to indulge in fish fry Monday again.

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION

traveller.com.au/lord-howe-island

lordhoweisland.info

GETTING THERE

QantasLink flies to Lord Howe Island year-round from Sydney and Brisbane. See qantas.com.au

STAYING THERE

Pinetrees is the oldest accommodation on the island, with stylish en suite rooms and cottages. There are three wellness weeks with Charlotte Dodson scheduled for 2017; prices start at $2130 per person (twin share). Alternatively, there are plenty of other packages available; food inclusive. See pinetrees.com.au

Tatyana Leonov was a guest of Pinetrees.