Help around our beautiful home and farm in regional Victoria, Australia

Informationen

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  Beschreibung

  We are seeking COUPLES / TWO WORKAWAYERS to come and help us. Please only apply if you are travelling with a friend or partner. The reason for this is that we cannot always be available to work with our guests and feel it is a more enjoyable experience for Workawayers if you have a companion.
  
  We are a very easy going and happy couple and our home is about 15 minutes each way from the townships of Mortlake and Lake Bolac, about 2.5 hours west of Melbourne and an hour from the southern coast.
  
  We live on a very beautiful 6000 acre property in Victoria, with lots of sheep and plenty of kangaroos. Our home is a magnificent 1870's, bluestone homestead that my Great Grandfather bought in 1905.
  
  My name is Sally and I am a 55 year old Australian. Having lived away for many years, I am now back where I grew up. My husband Toby is 61, an Englishman and was a commercial film producer for 30 years, prior to us moving back to my childhood home. We have two daughters, Claudia (23) and Ava (22) who are both at University in Melbourne. Claudia is studying a double degree in Engineering Sustainable Systems and Industrial Design, and Ava is studying Psychology with Honours. Both girls come home from time to time, sometimes with friends or with their boyfriends, and they are a lot of fun, very outgoing and easy to get along with.
  
  We also have a gorgeous Golden Retriever dog, Honey, who is 7 years old and who would love any attention you would like to give her.
  
  We are a fun, easy going family, who love good food, wine and conversation, and meeting people. We are, all four, fully vaccinated for Covid-19 including our boosters.

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  Arten von Hilfe und Lernmöglichkeiten

  Gartenarbeiten

  Heimwerker- und Bauarbeiten

  Betreuung von Tieren

  Mithilfe auf einem Bauernhof

  Hausarbeiten

  Handwerkliche Arbeiten
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  Kultureller Austausch und Lernmöglichkeiten

  We are a happy family and welcome your stay with us. We offer the opportunity to experience country Victorian life in beautiful surrounds and if you're hoping to improve your English skills we're happy to help. If you don't have your own transport we are able to assist with getting you to the local train station. If you are coming to us from Melbourne or the airport by public transport, you would need to make your own way to the towns of (either) Terang or Hamilton by train, for us to collect you (about 40 minutes from home). There is also a VLine bus available from Melbourne to Lake Bolac, which is only 15 minutes away.

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  Arbeit

  Workaway travellers coming here would need to enjoy the peace and quiet of country life. We are happy to pick you up from the local bus stop (15 minutes away) or train station (about 40 minutes away), however I anticipate you will be best placed with your own vehicle, if you'd like to explore the area in your own time. We are about an hour from the beautiful Grampians mountain range and Halls Gap, which are both well worth a visit, and approximately an hour from the pretty coastal town of Port Fairy and the southern Shipwreck coast.
  
  In addition to running the farm, we have a large garden and 9 bedroom home and need help with day-to-day, simple chores to keep on top of everything, and to have it all looking neat, tidy and clean.
  
  The Workaway tasks we have for our guests are predominantly outside, restoring the large garden surrounding the homestead and no tasks are difficult. Jobs might include weeding, watering, sweeping, raking gravel, cleaning the swimming pool, mulching, stacking wood, collecting wood for the house stores, mowing, trimming hedges and helping my gardener, Cory. Whilst we have a cleaner who comes once a week, there may be some household tasks from time to time (or on rainy days) such as vacuuming, cleaning fireplaces and bringing in wood to re-set fires, cleaning out cupboards, dusting, mopping, washing windows, stacking and emptying the dishwasher, setting the table for meals, polishing silver and interior painting, etc. Anyone with painting experience would be very welcome!
  
  We also have chickens to be fed, let out in the morning, locked away at night and eggs collected daily, and in June / July / August we may need assistance with orphaned lambs that need to be bottle fed. And we would love our beautiful dog, Honey, to be given lots of attention and you'd be very welcome to take her for a walk to look for rabbits and kangaroos!
  
  Around the farm we have many plantations of trees that constantly need tidying up and wood collected for home fires, with the messier bits stacked in bonfires and burnt on the spot - my idea of fun, burning stuff, and then returning that evening to check on it, preferably with a glass of wine in hand! :)
  
  In the back yard and work area, there is always plenty of weeding, painting and general tidying up needed. We'd have lots of small jobs around the property for someone with carpentry or building skills, or for someone with a chainsaw operators certificate.
  
  In addition to this farm, we also have a smaller, 1600 acre property half an hour from where we live. I still maintain the garden and vegetable garden there.
  
  So as you can see - there is always a lot to be done, but none of the work that we would ask you to do is difficult. Ultimately, we want you to leave having thoroughly enjoyed your time with us.

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  Sprachen

  Gesprochene Sprachen
  Englisch: Fließend
  Italienisch: Fließend
  Deutsch: Grundkenntnisse
  Spanisch: Grundkenntnisse
  Französisch: Grundkenntnisse
  Indonesian: Grundkenntnisse

  Dieser Gastgeber bietet Sprachaustausch an
  Sally (me) is crazy about languages and speaks very good Italian (I lived in Italy for 3 years and have worked using Italian during my working career), scholastic German and French, I've recently started learning a bit of Spanish and I'm studying Indonesian every day on DuoLingo. I'm fascinated by all languages and will also happily help you improve your English grammar and pronunciation. Toby only speaks English :)
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  Unterkunft

  In exchange for your help around our home, we provide full board - all meals, snacks, beer, wine and accommodation. We really want you to feel like you're at home, be comfortable and have everything you need to enjoy your stay with us, including unlimited wifi, Netflix, Optus Sports and Stan. We also have a swimming pool and if you can play the piano, we'd love you to play for us :). Toby is a fantastic cook and if you enjoy cooking, he'd be happy to teach you some of his favorite recipes or learn some of yours. We usually all help ourselves to breakfasts, lunches and snacks and then come together every evening and have dinner together. If you have any dietary requirements, please let us know about these when you first get in contact with us.
  
  We have 9 bedrooms, all in various stages of being renovated. Most beds are queen size, though we also have a bedroom with a king size bed, a bedroom with a double bed and a couple of rooms with single beds. We have one guest bedroom with an ensuite, but if this is not available you would be sharing the main two communal bathrooms. The house is very big and comfortable, there are several living areas where we can come together, and equally many places to get away and have time by yourself.
  
  Whilst we don't mind if you smoke, we ask that you don't smoke inside the house. We welcome all travellers, from all countries and of all religious denominations :)

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  Was noch ...

  During your own time, we would recommend a day trip to the Grampians, which is very close by. We don't, however, have a car available for travellers to use, so it would be beneficial for you to have your own car. The southern Shipwreck coast and Great Ocean Road is also just over an hour away. A visit to the town of Port Fairy is also highly recommended.

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  Etwas mehr Information

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    Internet Zugang

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    Eingeschränkter Internet Zugang

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    Wir besitzen Tiere

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    Wir sind Raucher

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    Familien möglich

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  Kapazität - wie viele Workawayer maximal

  mehr als zwei

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  Arbeitszeiten

  4 hours a day, for each night of accommodation with us. We can be very flexible with how you work your hours: eg, you might choose to work two 8 hr days during the week and take 2 days off, while still enjoying all the benefits of living with us.

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