There were 10 in my class, all self-confessed cheese-aholics.
Ms Mowbray was a lively and interesting teacher. She simplified the process of making cheese for what she called the "kindergarten of cheese-making".
I discovered it would be relatively easy to make my own cheese - as long as I had all the equipment and was incredibly hygienic in my kitchen.
The secret to making cheese is to have only the bacteria you want in your kitchen.
Our teacher explained about what kind of milk to use, adding a starter culture full of lactic bacteria and rennet.
That's all you need to make cheese, as well as a healthy dose of patience.
"Cheese-making is doing a little bit then wait, doing another little bit then letting it do its own thing. It's a great lesson in patience," she said.
Every cheese has the same ingredients and involves the same processes.
Ms Mowbray compared making cheese to magic.
"It's alchemy. Some people call it science, I call it magical," she said.
Born in Zimbabwe and raised in the United Kingdom, Ms Mowbray came to New Zealand on holiday in 1986 and decided she wanted to live here.
"I didn't think I'd get my residency for milking cows so I decided to go back to the UK and come back to New Zealand as a born-again cheese-maker," she said.
She learnt the art on a farm in Sussex through experimentation with the milk of 200 sheep.
"I want to teach people how to avoid the pitfalls I fell into," she said.
Based in Auckland, she now travels all over New Zealand teaching people how to make cheese and has written a book, Cutting the Curd.
In the five-hour class at Gibbston Valley Cheesery, we learnt how to make cheddar, feta, ricotta and mascarpone cheeses.
It takes six weeks before the cheddar and feta can be eaten but the ricotta and mascarpone can be eaten instantly.
I am now full of good intentions to begin making my own cheese at home - I just have to get all the equipment and ingredients.
Ms Mowbray helpfully gave hints on cheap alternatives to improvise with, for example how to make a cheese mould and press out of stormwater pipe.
Making cheese at home is not always the economical option: it takes 10 litres of milk to make 1kg of cheddar. However, the satisfaction of producing your own block of "magic" would surely be worth the time and money.
