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Experience an idyllic haven for birds and wildlife, and help out with gardening in Upper Hutt, New Zealand

Availability

  2024 

 Min stay requested: at least a week

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    My name is Laureen and my partner's name is Peter. We have lived on our 5 acre lifestyle property for over 20 years. Peter & I have always been interested in sustainable approaches to life, which lead us to complete a permaculture course in the 1990's. When we bought our property we started out with a blank canvas and over the years we have planted hundreds of trees. Now we have an idyllic haven for birds, wildlife and people. We have two houses on our property, one is a small studio made from straw bales, which we can offer as accommodation to workaway guests. It is a lovely space, fully self contained with shower, toilet, kitchen & queen bed. We do rent the studio out, so sometimes a workaway guest may have to stay with us in our house. The studio and our house are situated on a hillside, overlooking a mix of mature trees, both exotic and New Zealand native species. We do have a fair amount of garden maintenance to do and in summer we usually have a painting project on the go. We love to share our little piece of paradise with others, so if you feel like an outside based workaway experience where you can also relax and enjoy your free time on our property, then please get in touch.
    I like to host workawayers during my school holidays so that I can work with you.
    Here are the dates of the New Zealand school holidays for 2024.
    Winter Holidays: 6th July to 21st July
    Spring Holidays: 28th September to 13th October
    Summer Holidays: 21st December to 30th January 2025

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    General Maintenance
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    I am a teacher and am keen to host workaway guests during my school holiday breaks. This means that most of the time I will be able to work with you. I am very happy to share my gardening knowledge and provide opportunities for discussion while we work on projects together. I can also help with practising english if that is a focus for you.

    Here are the dates of the New Zealand school holidays for 2024.
    Winter Holidays: 6th July to 21st July
    Spring Holidays: 28th September to 13th October
    Summer Holidays: 21st December to 30th January 2025

  • Help

    Help

    General weeding, garden maintenance, staining & painting.

  • Languages

    Languages spoken
    English: Fluent

    This host offers a language exchange
    I'm interested in learning Spanish.

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    The straw bale studio is fully contained. It has one bedroom with a queen bed. There are sliding doors separating the bedroom from the living area. The kitchen has a small bench oven, microwave, gas hob and a small espresso coffee machine for those who love a coffee in the morning. There is a separate laundry area containing a washing machine and the fridge is located in this room too. The bathroom consists of a toilet and shower. It is an ideal space for a single person or a couple, but we can also put a futon bed in the living area if you are travelling with a friend. There is Wifi, a bluetooth speaker and a TV screen set up for streaming.

    We are happy to provide some shared dinners and lunches, as that's a great way for us all to get to know each other. However, we also provide guests with grocery money so that you can take full advantage of the cooking facilities in the studio and prepare food of your choice.

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    A car is necessary. We are 10 minutes drive from our local city and there's no public transport where we live. There are great places to cycle in our area and good local walks.

  • A little more information

    A little more information

    • Internet access

    • Limited internet access

      Limited internet access

    • We have pets

    • We are smokers

    • Can host families

  • Can possibly accept pets

    Can possibly accept pets

    You are welcome to bring a dog if staying in the studio, but not if you are staying with us in our house, as we have a cat that is scared of dogs.

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    Two

  • ...

    Hours expected

    Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

Host ref number: 435718312749

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