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8 Jul 2025
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Description
Shout Out !
To motivated, curious and community-minded WorkAway travellers looking for a meaningful travel experience where you can contribute, create, connect AND still have time to explore the majestic Blue Mountains? Join us in transforming a unique urban farm into a dense food forest and a community space brimming with edible gardens, creative energy and big dreams.
Co-Creating a Creative Space for Community to Connect. A social enterprise and philanthropic endeavour aimed at building, supporting and connecting Community. It's primary purpose is to teach Permaculture and build Community through workshops and performances. The Pond Performance Space will host Musicians, Singers, Actors, DJs, Stand-Up Comics, Poets and Story-tellers. It home to a densely planted Organic Food Forest which will help contribute and support Community. It will be a place to connect with the earth, feel nurtured and nourished. A place to take a breath and be still. If you see yourself drawn to this wonderful project, I would love to hear from you.
Workawayers:
Whether you're flying solo, coming with a friend or partner or rolling in as a small team, we welcome you to leave your mark.
Volunteers need to be proactive, work autonomously when needed and who are committed to fair exchange.
Who This Is For:
Those interested in permaculture, sustainability, arts and community living.
Availability:
From Tuesday 29 July 2025
From Tuesday 5 August 2025
How many days can I stay:
My initial offer of accommodation is 7-10 days, longer if we are resonant. Please factor in one to two weekends to work with me when you offer dates if staying more than 7 days.
Workawayers Options:
5 hours/day with 2 meals (max 25 hrs in 7 day period)
4 hours/day with 1 meal (you purchase food for other meals)
Please let me know your preference when applying:
Flexible scheduling: early starts = more free time. We work hard, rest deeply & celebrate balance.
Ad-hoc visits:
I can sometimes offer sporadic days if you're looking for a change of scenery and you live in Australia or are travelling through. Contact me and let’s see if it works for both our schedules. Volunteers need to be proactive and sometimes work autonomously.
Why You’ll Love It Here:
You’ll be staying in a cosy home backing to the forest, filled with good vibes, creativity & care. This is more than a volunteer gig, it’s a chance to co-create a regenerative space with deep roots in permaculture, arts and building community. With the help of some very enthusiastic volunteers, this site has and is continuing to transform into a beautiful and welcoming space.
You'll have free time to:
- Take a scenic 35minute train to Katoomba
- Explore trails, waterfalls and mountain villages
- Chill with a book, journal or siesta in a hammock
- Create music, art and friendships
What's next:
- Build wildlife barriers around fruit trees / protected cropping around vegetable gardens - unfortunately the wildlife (possums, bush turkeys, wallaby, antechinus, mice, etc) do not subscribe to third permaculture ethic 'fair share'
- Plant fruit trees
- Tidy and beautify the garden spaces
- Integrate more permaculture magic into the existing design
- Prepare site for a small scale market garden
- Reactivate hot compost
- Pond-Performance space/amphitheatre
- Help sort, clean and organise attic and garage
- Plant fruit trees (Ellen White Method), establish new garden beds
- Prepare pads for water tanks and improve / install water harvesting options including drip irrigation
- Dismantling the children's cubby to create a large meeting space
- Build compost toilets
Admin Help:
- Capture the journey through video, photography & storytelling
- Help with online research, IT, social media, marketing, business planning
- Organise photos, help with writing and launching workshops, typing, etc
- Support admin, marketing, social media, workshop planning.
Artistic Help:
Paint collection buckets, create garden art.
External Workawayers help:
I spend some of my volunteer hours on the campus of Western Sydney University Richmond. Past volunteers have really enjoyed helping out at this site with maintenance, collecting raw materials, finishing off the mandala garden, design, etc.
Future plans:
Workawayers with skills to help with the bigger projects..
Designing and building the men's space
Landscaping and construction
Create stone spiral in Zen space
Complete the eco-pond
Finishing off the Pond Performance Space / Ampitheatre
Trenches to run electrical conjute for the future cabin, men's space and pond performance area.
Creating a Women's space
Earth Pizza Oven in belly of a dragon
Create the Pink Room (outdoor bathroom)
Much much more.
Cooking & Cleaning:
Cooking your meals and keeping the house clean are part of living together lovingly and respectfully in a shared space. Cooking and Cleaning are NOT part of your exchange hours. I work off-site and am not available to cook meals every day.
Allergy:
NO chemicals (personal care products, hairspray, incense, perfume, etc) - I am extremely ALLERGIC. I have alternatives on hand if I react to your personal care products. NO smoking. NO vaping. NO drugs. Social alcohol permitted. If you want to apply deodorant, please do this outside of the house, on your way out to wherever you are going.
About the Project:
* 25-26 October 2025 - this emerging community space will be part of Blue Mountains Edible Garden Trail and you can help shape it. We welcomed 150 attendees in 2022 and 200 attendees in 2024. This year we’re going BIG with food forest tours, performances, interactive workshops and integrating more educational experiences throughout the site.
*17 August 2025 - we are hosting Pruning for Beginners, so it would be great to present the property as best we can.
The setting:
You will be staying in a really cruisy home which is cosy and welcoming, set in a serene location backing to forest. Previous volunteer feedback is testament to how comfortable you will feel. In your downtime, be prepared to wind down, sleep in, read, relax, play music or explore; whatever it is that lights you up.
Living together:
I enjoy and promote a happy healthy and respectful home. Food hygiene is paramount. Toilet hygiene is imperative.
I’m also an Air BnB super host, so we need to keep the house tidy and clean at all times (including your room).
Ready to Dive In:
This is a working urban farm, creative hub, and social enterprise that offers the chance to dig deep, laugh loud and leave your mark on something beautiful and meaningful. If your heart says yes, let’s connect. Message me with dates, availability and how you’d love to contribute.
I AM absolutely thrilled to have already hosted hundreds of people from the WorkAway community. These volunteers have been wonderful to share space with; respectful and happy to contribute.
I look forward to welcoming you.
Amanda
p.s. Costa from Gardening Australia, has offered to officially launch this space at some future point, so there is lots to do.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Charity Work
Art Projects
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Teaching
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Interests
Technology
Events & social
Sustainability
Self development
Charity work
Plant care
Gardening
Nature
Camping
Dancing
Beach
Water sports
Outdoor activities
Hiking
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Enjoy delicious organic fruit, vegetables, herbs and free range eggs. Learn permaculture. Loads of time to chill. Explore the beautiful Blue Mountains to your hearts content. Very relaxed cozy home. Host has an incredible group of fascinating friends who will welcome you into our lives.
Public transport is available. Location close enough to explore Sydney with a relaxing train ride.
The Blue Mountains is host to such incredible beauty.
If you love Nature .. She will welcome You.
Help
Help in the garden. Planting fruit trees. Enhancing the Permaculture design. Creative Design. Lots of yard help. Building / Landscaping - Communal circle, Build a pizza oven in belly of dragon, Retaining walls, Block work for breakout space, Create a Fairy Walk (bush track for the children), Bush Tucker Trail, Fairy Garden, Gazebo. Cabin. Levelling out the Pond performance space. Lots of gardening in the food forest. Creation and building of a 'Men's Space'. By the time you come, some of this may be complete. If so, we can focus on some other things.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
I am happy to help you polish your english :)
Accommodation
Green Room - queen bed.
Rainbow Room - double bed & a single bed.
Parking Area - campervans & caravans welcome.
Property backs to bush, allowing your experience here to be deeply immersed in the serenity of the surrounding nature.
NOTE:
No spray deodorants. No chemicals, No perfume. No hairspray. No aerosols. No smoking. No vaping. No drugs.
What else ...
Breathtaking bushwalks in the Blue Mountains. Glorious towns and villages to explore. Enjoy a day trip to Jenolan Caves. Loads of cafes and quirky shops to visit. If you fancy going further afield, you might like to take in Dubbo Zoo over a 2-3 day period or include it in a 1-2 week visit and explore the villages and towns west of the Blue Mountains. You might also enjoy our stunning beaches in Sydney region.
Bus stop is 3 minutes walk and Train is 25-30 minute walk. When I'm available, I would be happy to run you up to the railway station.
How to get here:
Catch a Blue Mountains Train to Springwood
Catch a 693 Burns Road bus to the top of Edna Avenue Springwood OR Catch a taxi (approx $11).
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
WiFi available - unlimited download
Space for parking camper vans
You can use the driveway to park your camper van or caravan OR depending on its size, you may be able to drive it down further into the yard.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
not named
Feedback (33)
I was able to rely on Sterre to organise other volunteers which she happily took on in a kind and considerate way, helping the other volunteers feel welcome and at home. Sterre work… read more
Amanda is a kindhearted… read more
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Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(4.7)
I was able to rely on Sterre to organise other volunteers which she happily took on in a kind and considerate way, helping the other volunteers feel welcome and at home. Sterre work… read more
Amanda is a kindhearted… read more
You will be so thankful when you invite her to stay. I miss her presence already.
This pair are 'Pocket Rockets'. Give them a job and they will tackle it with enthusiasm. They are not phased with early start times. Daniel in the kitchen is a treat. Their maturity is way beyond their birth-ages. Their capability and sensitivity to the household and its occupants is respectful and engaging. One's house is 'safe'… read more
The train station is… read more
she always made sure that we have everything we need and more, and we felt loves and appreciated all of the time, going to hear place and walk together in the beautiful blue mountains was the best way to get to know Australia, and we are blessed to be part of the creation of the community space and the heaven that… read more
Amanda is a friend, full of energy who is looking forward to welcoming you in her projects. I had the pleasure to learn new skills with her.
If I come back nearby Blue Mountains for sure I will pass another time with Amanda
Good luck Amanda and thanks for our time together
Karolina and Tom cooked delicious food, we all prepared and… read more
Outi is patient, kind, loving and nurturing. Testament to the care of others, Outi brought a couple of other volunteers to my… read more
I stayed at Amanda's place only for one week because I had agreed to go somewhere else. It would have been my pleasure… read more
I helped gardening, weeding, composting, cleaning etc. Also we went to the earth care center and tidied up.
She’s a energetic, lovely, beautiful woman. She taught me a lot of things even mindset of life. We had meaningful conversations a lot. She cooked healthy and tasty… read more
Helping her out with tasks… read more
Amanda is welcoming, openminded, understanding and helping!
Thank you for having me :)
Thank you Amanda, I learnt alot and I am grateful.
When Marley first contacted me, my initial delight in hosting this incredibly loving and empathetic Being, was her background in teaching permaculture based workshops with children. Marley's brain is wired exquisitely and her ability to understand the areas I needed help with, were followed up by her expertise on the computer.… read more
You know you will have struck gold when you invite Thais, Uli and their daughter Sam into your home or project.
This family are dynamos and work cohesively across a wide range of tasks. I would come home from a long day at work, be surprised and delighted with all the creativity in the garden that was done in my… read more
Amanda has the biggest heart and a glorious mission! It was a pleasure to work on her project and give my part in bringing the community centre a… read more
Julia is exceptional. From the time of her arrival we chatted, connected and laughed. Julia is one of those rare gems that makes ones life easy. Julia is thoughtful, capable and proactive. Julia never ceased to amaze me with her willingness to cook, to clean, share friendship. The transformation around the property was… read more
Her home is very cozy and beautiful. I felt welcomed all the time. Amanda is a very generous, friendly and lovely person. She has a beautiful veggie garden from which we would pick fresh leaves and veggies for the yummiest salads. The chickens are also fun to have around… read more
From the first day i felt very welcomed and appreciated. Plently of interesting and varied things to do around the place and found Amanda to be a wonderful host. Her energy and intentions are infectious and with any project id get involved in felt a really good back and forth with her where we could work out a… read more
Christopher Bilski. I think an Angel dropped from the sky.
I stalked WorkAway and noticed Chris' profile and contacted him with "Oh WoW, you are the dream". As serendipity would have it, Chris had already pegged the Community Space I Am Co-Creating in the Blue Mountains.
Chris worked tirelessly on multiple projects.… read more
It is an ambitious project that Amanda want to build, but it worth it. There is a lot to do so every skills will be useful.
Amanda was such a great host! She cook very well, have a lot of interesting subject to talk about and made me feel like home rightaway. She also… read more
