Improving native biodiversity in Coastal North Canterbury, New Zealand
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: 30 Apr. 2025
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Feedback (15)
Having Elise join us was an absolute joy! Elise is enthusiastic, energetic (and amazingly strong -e.g. lifting deerposts!) always keen to help, cheerful , and wanting to learn new skills along the way - e.g. tractor driving, using an impact drill, beekeeping.
She shared her knowledge and practical experience of trapping, forging a new track
… read more through the bush including building bridges, working to improve engagement with community groups and using TrapNZ to monitor our progress in improving biodiversity (and encouraging us to record 5-minute bird-counts). She is a gentle-mannered person, very organised and always considerate of others and generous e.g. baking a pie for our neighbour who was unwell.
We had lots of other visitors during Elise's stay and she made friends with all of them, as well as our neighbours and others in our community. She was keen to explore and learn about our local area and headed away to go tramping on some of her days off.
Indeed, very quickly it felt that Elise became a part of our family, and we miss her already (no-one else goes and picks strawberries and blueberries for breakfast!) We look forward to seeing where her passion for nature and the outdoors takes her to; we know she will have a fantastic positive impact wherever you goes, and I can highly recommend her to any other host.
What an incredible month at Nicki and Richard’s! From the start, I was welcomed like family and shared in their everyday life—track building, beekeeping, tōtara potting with bellbirds, making sourdough and cider, pest control, plant ID, and exploring the area together. The work was interesting and varied—never a dull moment in the Blythe! Such a
… read more beautiful community and region.
I’ve learned so much and shared many great memories and laughs with you and your friends. Ending on the biodiversity fielday was the perfect ending —a celebration of all the passion and hard work.
While my biological family is in Auckland, I now have a Canterbury family too. I look forward to crossing paths again in future endeavours. Wishing you all the best, and thanks again for everything!
Sorry for the delay, the return to France was intense...
Everything was great with Nicky and Richard, the moments of work (always with a smile!), the moments of sharing (superb meals, long live the venison), the times free from interesting discussions. Very comfortable welcome in their pretty cottage. Nicky and Richard are caring people, with
… read more their hearts on their sleeves, always ready to help. We and our children are not ready to forget them. Plus, their farmer neighbors Tim and Jane are adorable. A big thank you for these precious moments in life. Hoping to see you again....
Sophie and Nans and their lovely daughter Lou and son Valentin stayed with us for a month and were a delightful family to host. Unfortunately their motorhome needed repairs which meant that they stayed with us for longer than originally intended, nonetheless they were always cheerful and positive and they worked with great enthusiasm and energy
… read more whatever the task. They were delighted to be able to make our cottage their family base for a while, they treated it as they would their own home in France and and left it perfectly clean and tidy when they left.
We really enjoyed their company and had lots of laughs, jokes and fun! They also cooked us some delicious meals, enjoyed caring for our poultry and helped our neighbours with feeding their baby lambs!
We would highly recommend Sophie, Lou, Nans and Valentin to any other host.
Vom Workawayer (Elisa & Aurélien) für Host
We have spent about one month in Nicki and Richard’s place. Our stay was absolutely awesome.
Right away we have been really well received. We stayed throughout the stay at the cottage, this one was totally isolated, and out off the grid. This gave us some independence and privacy. It was a good balance for us.
Nicki and Richard are simple, kind
… read more and clever. They are attentive and benevolent.
What have we done ? So many interesting things, we have learned a lot of new skills.
Vegetable garden maintenance (weeding, harvesting, compost spreading, …), making cider (apple harvesting, press), animal caring (hens and ducks), firewood chopping (harvesting, splitting), animals killing (thank you Richard for teaching us this special skill), sourdough bread making, replanting the young trees of the nursery, weeding around the replanted native trees, checking the traps.
During all our stay we worked a lot, taking few free time, we have followed Nicki and Richard to learn a maximum.
Nicki and Richard work hard, they are very demanding, and we have done all our best to live up to it. Quickly Nicki and Richard trusted us and they checked always if we were "happy with the job", wich was very nice.
Nicki and Richard were very generous to us, we have eaten so well (fresh vegetables from the garden and meat from the farm), they cooked really well and they offered us also two wonderful fishing moments, we are deeply grateful to them for that.
Nicki and Richard, thank you for all, that was really wonderful and so enriching for us to meet you, to meet your place and to help you in your daily life. You have given us a lot, we hope to have brought you just as much.
Elisa and Aurélien
PS : sorry for the huge bed linen machine but we have worked until the last minute and it was impossible to use the washing machine during certain hours of the day (because of the solar panels). It was simply impossible to us to do it, otherwise and obviously we would have done it. It was not a lack of respect but a logistical impossibility.Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Elisa & Aurélien)
Eliza and Aurelien stayed with us for ~ 3 weeks in April (sorry for the delay in writing this!) and were very easy company, they were hardworking and really enjoyed most of the tasks - a favourite was using the log splitter and stacking firewood, and hunting for old-man's beard in our native forest. Aurelien was happy to deal with checking and
… read more re-baiting traps when we went away for a long weekend.
They stayed at our off-grid cottage and were happy to weed the native plantings when we were busy elsewhere. They also cooked at our house and produced some lovely meals, deserts were a speciality!
We took them fishing off the beach early on a beautiful morning and caught several kahawai, Eliza's first fish catch! We also took them out in our fishing boat in some pretty wild weather and pulled in the craypots, they handled it all with aplomb.
The left the cottage spotlessly clean (but unexpectedly left me with a HUGE pile of laundry of sheets and towels just before they caught the bus, which was a bit infuriating when they had their own off-grid washing machine at the cottage).....
I can certainly recommend Eliza and Aurelien to other Workaway hosts.Feedback
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Kultureller Austausch:
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Having Elise join us was an absolute joy! Elise is enthusiastic, energetic (and amazingly strong -e.g. lifting deerposts!) always keen to help, cheerful , and wanting to learn new skills along the way - e.g. tractor driving, using an impact drill, beekeeping.
She shared her knowledge and practical experience of trapping, forging a new track
… read more through the bush including building bridges, working to improve engagement with community groups and using TrapNZ to monitor our progress in improving biodiversity (and encouraging us to record 5-minute bird-counts). She is a gentle-mannered person, very organised and always considerate of others and generous e.g. baking a pie for our neighbour who was unwell.
We had lots of other visitors during Elise's stay and she made friends with all of them, as well as our neighbours and others in our community. She was keen to explore and learn about our local area and headed away to go tramping on some of her days off.
Indeed, very quickly it felt that Elise became a part of our family, and we miss her already (no-one else goes and picks strawberries and blueberries for breakfast!) We look forward to seeing where her passion for nature and the outdoors takes her to; we know she will have a fantastic positive impact wherever you goes, and I can highly recommend her to any other host.
What an incredible month at Nicki and Richard’s! From the start, I was welcomed like family and shared in their everyday life—track building, beekeeping, tōtara potting with bellbirds, making sourdough and cider, pest control, plant ID, and exploring the area together. The work was interesting and varied—never a dull moment in the Blythe! Such a
… read more beautiful community and region.
I’ve learned so much and shared many great memories and laughs with you and your friends. Ending on the biodiversity fielday was the perfect ending —a celebration of all the passion and hard work.
While my biological family is in Auckland, I now have a Canterbury family too. I look forward to crossing paths again in future endeavours. Wishing you all the best, and thanks again for everything!
Sorry for the delay, the return to France was intense...
Everything was great with Nicky and Richard, the moments of work (always with a smile!), the moments of sharing (superb meals, long live the venison), the times free from interesting discussions. Very comfortable welcome in their pretty cottage. Nicky and Richard are caring people, with
… read more their hearts on their sleeves, always ready to help. We and our children are not ready to forget them. Plus, their farmer neighbors Tim and Jane are adorable. A big thank you for these precious moments in life. Hoping to see you again....
Sophie and Nans and their lovely daughter Lou and son Valentin stayed with us for a month and were a delightful family to host. Unfortunately their motorhome needed repairs which meant that they stayed with us for longer than originally intended, nonetheless they were always cheerful and positive and they worked with great enthusiasm and energy
… read more whatever the task. They were delighted to be able to make our cottage their family base for a while, they treated it as they would their own home in France and and left it perfectly clean and tidy when they left.
We really enjoyed their company and had lots of laughs, jokes and fun! They also cooked us some delicious meals, enjoyed caring for our poultry and helped our neighbours with feeding their baby lambs!
We would highly recommend Sophie, Lou, Nans and Valentin to any other host.
Vom Workawayer (Elisa & Aurélien) für Host
We have spent about one month in Nicki and Richard’s place. Our stay was absolutely awesome.
Right away we have been really well received. We stayed throughout the stay at the cottage, this one was totally isolated, and out off the grid. This gave us some independence and privacy. It was a good balance for us.
Nicki and Richard are simple, kind
… read more and clever. They are attentive and benevolent.
What have we done ? So many interesting things, we have learned a lot of new skills.
Vegetable garden maintenance (weeding, harvesting, compost spreading, …), making cider (apple harvesting, press), animal caring (hens and ducks), firewood chopping (harvesting, splitting), animals killing (thank you Richard for teaching us this special skill), sourdough bread making, replanting the young trees of the nursery, weeding around the replanted native trees, checking the traps.
During all our stay we worked a lot, taking few free time, we have followed Nicki and Richard to learn a maximum.
Nicki and Richard work hard, they are very demanding, and we have done all our best to live up to it. Quickly Nicki and Richard trusted us and they checked always if we were "happy with the job", wich was very nice.
Nicki and Richard were very generous to us, we have eaten so well (fresh vegetables from the garden and meat from the farm), they cooked really well and they offered us also two wonderful fishing moments, we are deeply grateful to them for that.
Nicki and Richard, thank you for all, that was really wonderful and so enriching for us to meet you, to meet your place and to help you in your daily life. You have given us a lot, we hope to have brought you just as much.
Elisa and Aurélien
PS : sorry for the huge bed linen machine but we have worked until the last minute and it was impossible to use the washing machine during certain hours of the day (because of the solar panels). It was simply impossible to us to do it, otherwise and obviously we would have done it. It was not a lack of respect but a logistical impossibility.Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Elisa & Aurélien)
Eliza and Aurelien stayed with us for ~ 3 weeks in April (sorry for the delay in writing this!) and were very easy company, they were hardworking and really enjoyed most of the tasks - a favourite was using the log splitter and stacking firewood, and hunting for old-man's beard in our native forest. Aurelien was happy to deal with checking and
… read more re-baiting traps when we went away for a long weekend.
They stayed at our off-grid cottage and were happy to weed the native plantings when we were busy elsewhere. They also cooked at our house and produced some lovely meals, deserts were a speciality!
We took them fishing off the beach early on a beautiful morning and caught several kahawai, Eliza's first fish catch! We also took them out in our fishing boat in some pretty wild weather and pulled in the craypots, they handled it all with aplomb.
The left the cottage spotlessly clean (but unexpectedly left me with a HUGE pile of laundry of sheets and towels just before they caught the bus, which was a bit infuriating when they had their own off-grid washing machine at the cottage).....
I can certainly recommend Eliza and Aurelien to other Workaway hosts.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Greer & Tara)
Oops! I have only now realised that I failed to give any feedback, sorry. Tara and Greer were fantastic - I have spoken very highly of them both to friends and neighbours, and would highly recommend them to any other Workaway host.
Special highlights include Greer developing a 'planting plan' / map for our vegetable garden for the next 2 years -
… read more which would ensure correct crop rotation and support effective companion planting to reduce pests/ diseases. This was very easy to follow and has produced a great crop of vegetables!
Vom Workawayer (Greer & Tara) für Host
Nicki and Richard were very welcoming and generous hosts and we had a great time staying on their beautiful property! In the two weeks that we stayed with them, they were very willing to let us get stuck in with any and all projects that we were interested in including looking after all the newly hatched ducklings! It was a treat to be able to
… read more cook and eat their home grown veggies, and sample their homemade cider. It truly felt like we were invited into the community in the beautiful Blythe Valley, especially after we were invited to their wonderful cider party.
Both Nicki and Richard consistently went out of their way to make sure that we were comfortable and having fun, but also giving us good practical work to do. This is a great place to go for anyone who enjoys spending time working with and getting to know their hosts!Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Diana & JuanLu)
Diana, Juanlu, Marino and Luken arrived at our place after a very long journey from Chile, and were very pleased indeed to settle into our cottage and get some much-needed sleep!
All 4 of them worked placing wool around the native plantings near the cottage to help combat weeds, planting young native trees and putting protectors around them,
… read more splitting and stacking firewood, working in the vegetable garden and weeding in the fruit cage. They learned about compost including shovelling lots of it! A trip to the beach included loading seaweed into the trailer to act as a natural fertiliser for vegetables and fruit trees.
Diana and Juanlu were keen to cook and share some of their favourite Spanish meals, they made a delicious seafood paella for us one evening and an apple pie; they soon became quite adept at using whatever ingredients we had available from the garden or freezer! I hope that you do persevere with making your own sourdough bread. Diana was keen to learn more about bees and inspected a beehive with me one sunny day.
We were disappointed at the level of engagement we had with Marino and Luken, perhaps due to language or jet-lag - although both boys enjoyed feeding our ducks and chickens and collecting eggs. Perhaps our expectations of the children were too high, nonetheless based on this experience we will not be looking to host other families here in future.
Nonetheless, we had lots of fun together and enjoyed learning about them, their lives and work in Spain, and their hopes and dreams for the future. Good luck becoming football stars Marino and Luken! We hope our paths cross again some day - perhaps you will come back here to see how the native trees are growing!
Vom Workawayer (Diana & JuanLu) für Host
We just have left from Nicki´s and Richard´s house two days ago and we must say that they have been absolutely wonderful for us. Traveling in family might be challenging sometimes but they have achieved to make our stay pleasant at every moment. We all four (both adults and kids) have learnt a lot during this days about native trees, about
… read more gardening, chopping wood and many other things. And, beneath all, we feel ourselves home. We enjoyed a lot all the works and all the meals the conversations. So, Nicki and Richard, thanks again for your kindness and for sharing with us your amazing project.Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Hannah)
We were delighted to have Hannah stay with us for 10 days, she was enthusiastic to learn lots while she was here, and so has lots of firsts - planting her first NZ native tree, laying and lighting the fire, baking bread using the bread maker, planting lettuces and sowing pea seeds etc.... and also went out in the boat to collect the cray-pots.
… read more
Hannah was good fun and enjoyed the company of our other Workawayer helpers. She did a great help of cleaning the house and leaving her room immaculate before she left. I am sure she will make a positive contribution wherever her travels take her too. Good luck for your time in NZ!
Vom Workawayer (Jessica & Siggi) für Host
We had a wonderful fortnight with Richard and Nicki on their farm in North Cantebury. It was everything we were looking for. They are warm, approachable and inclusive hosts. They made us feel right at home both in their space and in their wee cotrage where we stayed. Their energy and passion for improving their corner of Aoteroa through
… read more responsible trapping and land management is (and continues to be) pretty inspiring.
We mucked in with all sorts on the land: planting natives, clearing invasive species, weeding, watering and more. We also learned a bunch at the home block: we picked fruit, pressed apples, made jam, dried produce and even got a sneaky peak at the beehives. It wasn't all learning on the (figurative) job however - we had a jaunt on the quadbikes, and in our time off went to Christchurch and the local vineyards.
In all, although (I hope!) we worked hard, I feel like we came away with more than we arrived with in knowledge and new connections. I would thoroughly recommend this as a Workaway. Thank you so much and see you both soon. :)Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Jessica & Siggi)
Jess and Siggi were great fun, hard workers, super energetic, positive people who quickly settled in with us and soon became part of our family - we look forward to seeing them again and having more fun together before they depart NZ. And we enjoyed Jess's singing too!
They were really flexible in doing everything which we asked of them, and more
… read more - and were really keen to helping with our trapping program, cooking, fixing things and dealt with our power outages at the cottage with aplomb ("we have head-torches!") They also applied their specialist medical skills to sorting out our first aid kit.
We can highly recommend Jess and Siggi as we are sure they will be a great help anywhere, and have lots of fun along the way!
Vom Workawayer (Laura ) für Host
I am very grateful to have been so generously welcomed into Nicki and Richard’s home. They made me feel right at home from the minute I arrived. The work felt very meaningful if you have an interest in conservation and they never hesitated to share their knowledge and let me help out in any activity that I was interested in. In addition to helping
… read more with the native trees and invasive weed control, I was able to get involved with predator trapping, beekeeping, honey extraction, taking care of their chickens and ducklings, gardening, and was welcomed on trips to the local dairy farm and to help with sheep sheering at a neighbouring farm. I learnt so much in the 3 weeks I spent there and felt very welcomed into the community.
I really enjoyed all of the wonderful food (and homemade apple cider) that was shared with me and I was able to get creative and cook meals/desserts using foods harvested straight from their garden. Nicki and Richard are also very flexible with time off and I was able to explore nearby walking tracks and beaches in my free time!
I cannot recommend Nicki and Richard enough as hosts and I hoping I am able to come back during my time in New Zealand!Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Laura )
Laura's stay was a real pleasure for us! She was very relaxed and easy company, organised, neat and tidy, reliable and good fun. She was very flexible in making things work out for us, and very respectful of living in our home with us. Laura was keen to help with trapping and soon became quite adept at dealing with various pests on our property,
… read more using a variety of different trapping methods. We asked her to water lots of plants and fruit and vegetables and look after our ducks and chickens while we went away for a few days and she took her responsibilities very seriously, doing everything she could to give some newly hatched baby ducklings a great start in life..... and all the plants thrived too! She helped with lots of different outdoor tasks, and cooked some great meals and cakes and made a batch of delicious blackcurrant conserve.
We very much enjoyed her company and she was very sociable with our neighbours, friends and other Workawayer helpers. We were delighted that she was able to stay a week longer than she had originally planned - she will be welcome back again if her NZ travels allow.
I can highly recommend Laura to others.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Coline & Baptiste)
Coline & Baptiste were an absolute delight! They were very enthusiastic about helping us with trapping for pests, and took great delight in all our various jobs from weeding, baiting traps, picking berries, planting and staking fruit trees, growing vegetables, to plucking the fur from captured possums! They did a lot of watering and mulching of
… read more our native trees on some VERY hot summer days... always smiling and joking and never a word of complaint. They worked super hard and much longer hours than we expected - THANK YOU BOTH.
They also quickly demonstrated their sense of fun and playfulness, and were great company for other friends and helpers who were staying here at the same time. And they were fantastic cooks, although we all worked very hard together we certainly didn't lose any weight as their French recipes were delicious.... (most involved cream or butter or both!) They also thought of ingenious ways to use whatever produce came from the vegetable garden or fruit trees...
Baptiste and Coline stayed with us (based at our cottage) for ~ 3 weeks, rather longer than originally planned, as they wanted to help us to have a break away from home in the middle of the dry summer, and they looked after our place perfectly while we were away (i.e. lots of watering, weeding and feeding poultry).
We can highly recommend Coline and Baptiste to any other Workaway host or employer - we wish them well in their travels and work in NZ and we very much hope that they will catch up with us again before they depart NZ. You are welcome back here any time!
Vom Host für Workawayer (Brenna)
It was a pleasure to have Brenna staying with us for 2 weeks. Although she had rarely 'had her hands in the soil' before she learned very quickly and was very good at following instructions then working on her own doing a wide variety of tasks. She became quite adept at weeding the vegetable garden, staking tomatoes and potting up strawberry
… read more runners, weeding and watering our native trees and cleaning out the henhouse - plus many other things including shelling walnuts!
Brenna is a high energy, enthusiastic person and we really enjoyed her company - she was very sociable and got on very well with our friends and other helpers.
I can highly recommend Brenna to others! We wish her well on her travels around NZ on her bike!
Vom Workawayer (Anahi) für Host
I had 2 great weeks with Niccki and Richard! they are very kind and lovelly people. I am very grateful with them for all the new things I learned about vegetables and fruits garden, taking care of the hens and ducks, and I feel very happy to had helped them a little bit with their project about reforesting with native trees. I enjoyed a lot the
… read more tasteful meals that they prepared for us, most of them made with fruit and vegetables harvested there. I totally recommend this experience and these hosts!Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Workawayer (Laurent) für Host
I stayed with Nicki and Richard for 2 weeks, and I definitely recommend ! The work was fair, and I learned a lot about native trees. Repotting, caring about the panted trees, picking the fruits and feeding the animals was part of the job.
It was a great experience having them as hosts, with insights of english and NZ culture. Trust was here,
… read more comfortable house, healthy food, good moments at dinner, a countryside environment with birds chatting and sheep around.
Thank you !Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Workawayer (Lucile) für Host
I had a great time at Nicki and Richard’s! They immediately made me feel at home. Weeding around the native trees, cutting pine trees, and planting new trees were very satisfying. I enjoyed learning about seeding native trees, as well as herbs and vegetables for the garden, pruning apple and pear trees, preparing asparagus beds, making compost
… read more with seaweed, beekeeping... Richard taught me how to use the quad bike but I wasn’t very comfortable using it. Probably my favourite part was looking after the chickens. One hen became sick but with Nicki’s knowledge and persistence, we managed to make her better! I really enjoyed sharing a few French recipes and a full cheese course with you and your friends! Nicki and Richard are always working and always have a new project, but they are very flexible with the hours and days off. They were very easy to talk to and we had a lot of great conversations. I learned a lot about the farm life in New Zealand and the native forest!
The area is quite remote but absolutely beautiful. The beach is close and there are a few walks nearby. There are lots of birds coming to the garden and it was always special to see the little group of quails coming close to the window.Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Lucile)
Lucile stayed with us for ~ 5 weeks during the depths of winter, and helped us with lots of different tasks on our property.
These included weeding around our plantings of native trees, looking after our chickens and ducks including caring for a sick pullet (who I am pleased to say made a fantastic recovery and is now laying eggs!), sowing
… read more vegetable seeds, preparing compost and vegetable garden beds, winter pruning apple trees, very carefully pricking out tiny seedlings, cleaning windows on a wet day, and preparing a 'database' to help us identify different NZ plant species. Her attention to detail was commendable.
As well as speaking flawless English, Lucile is also a very talented cook - and we were delighted that she shared some of her favourite family recipes with us (tarte tatin, tomato tart and pumpkin soup were my personal favourites). She took some great photos of birds in our garden. All in all she was helpful, tidy, respectful of our house rules and willing to turn her hand to anything.
On a more personal note, she was very considerate in volunteering to move out of her ensuite room when another Workawayer couple arrived to help us - this worked better for everyone else in the household but she personally drew the short straw with a much less convenient space!
We hope that she will come and see us again if her travels bring her back this way.
We enjoyed Mel and Pablo's stay with us, they tackled weeding gorse and broom and blackberry with continued enthusiasm inspite of the prickles and the sometimes frost mornings, and were always cheerful and helpful. They were good company and happy to help with a range of different tasks including pruning berry bushes in the fruit cage, cleaning
… read more out the henhouse and even inspecting the beehives on a sunny day.
Mel encouraged us to do some yoga/ stretching and was a very capable and patient teacher. In retrospect we rather wish we could have found a job to use Pablo's technical skills with timber! They took some of our suggestions about fun things to do nearby and clearly enjoyed their soujourn in North Canterbury. We hope that they find work somewhere near Christchurch and are able to catch up with us again.
We stayed with Nicki and Richard for over three weeks and we had a great time. We did all sorts of things (prune, collect seaweed, plant trees, weeding, bottling cider, chopping wood, beekeeping and more) so it went by really fast. They were very welcoming and made sure we were comfortable during our stay. The area is a little bit remote but you
… read more can easily drive to Kaikoura or Hanmer springs on your days off. Also there is a beautiful landscape right there in the valley. We had very interesting conversations and learned a lot from them. If you are looking to experience some quiet time and learn about native forest we totally recomend this experience.
Thanks Nicki and Richard!
Vom Host für Workawayer (Jonas)
Jonas is an amazingly enthusiastic, high energy, self-motivated and positive person, we really enjoyed his company in our home and also valued the contribution he made at our place. He has a ready smile, an infectious laugh and is amazingly strong! We marvelled at his dedication to achieving his personal health and fitness goals, and at the size
… read more of his muscles!
He took on every task which we requested - from chopping firewood, weeding native trees, cutting out wilding pines, spreading compost, foraging for mushrooms to cleaning out the chicken house. He is madly passionate about fishing and was generous in cooking and sharing his catch with us. Jonas was engaging company for our visitors and neighbours, and got on well with other Workawayer helpers who were here at the same time as.
Jonas is now considered part of our extended family, and we anticipate that he will come back to visit and help us again from time to time when he can fit it in between his other adventures and studies. Thank you again for choosing us as your Workaway host on your arrival in NZ!
Vom Workawayer (Jonas) für Host
I stayed with Nicki and Richard for about three months and had an absolutely fantastic time with them. Their place is situated in a beautiful rural area close to the sea. Its quiet and peaceful :). Nicki and Richard took me in and treated me as part of their family. They provide amazing food, and have great stories to share. They are among the
… read more most welcoming people that I know, and are always trying to help you out if they can.
In terms of work, I usually joined one of them for their task for the day. And that meant a lot of variety: wood chopping, planting stuff, moving things around, digging, weeding, foraging and much more. If you care for biodiversity, the work will feel very rewarding, too. They always make sure you are not bored with your task. They dont enforce the 5h-per-day rule with weekends off. They work pretty much seven days a week, so dont be afraid to communicate with them regarding your work schedule. In your spare time you can go to the sea or nearby river for fishing.
All in all, I learned a lot, laughed a lot and had an amazing time. Thank you Nicki and Richard!Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Workawayer (Sissel & Kasper ) für Host
We were lucky enough to stay with Nicki and Richard for two weeks and had an amazing time there. The work we did with native plants was quite physical and made a lot of sense and we really enjoyed that we were all working together and had a lot of fun while doing it.
Nicki and Richard are some of the most welcoming and kind people they made us
… read more feel like a part of their family and we really got to experience life in rural New Zealand. The community there is outstanding and very special.
We had a lot of fun while staying there and learned a lot from them about beekeeping, gardening, their vegetable garden, farming, native vegetation ect.
We made a lot of great memories and will deffinetly come back if we get the chance - highly recommend it!Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Sissel & Kasper )
We had a great time with Sissel and Kasper and really enjoyed their company and contribution. Sissel particularly enjoyed learning about bee-keeping and did a great job of weeding, both around our native trees and also in the vegetable garden. Kasper is a great cook and created up some fantastic meals as well as showing me a different approach to
… read more making sourdough bread; he also enjoyed doing physical hard work and did a great job maintaining our native tree plantings using the weed-eater and wielded a heavy chain saw to fell wilding pines - good job!
Both Kasper and Sissel were very polite, friendly and sociable with us and our neighbours, and very appreciative of the fun that we had together including fishing at the river and walking along the beach - we would be very pleased to welcome them back here again if they have the opportunity to return to New Zealand.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Christian)
Christian stayed with us for 2 weeks and was delightful company and a hard worker. He took great interest in everything about our property - and wanted to try as many new experiences as possible - which included inspecting a beehive and capturing a swarm, cutting down wilding pines (on a very hot day), attacking blackberry and other prickly weeks
… read more with unflagging enthusiasm, as well as weeding the vegetable garden and cleaning out the henhouse (on his 'day off')... He became rather fond of our poultry and enjoyed watching baby ducklings grow up...
He was always very respectful of living with us in our home, and enjoyed helping with preparing meals - including baking a magnificent cake and cooking up a huge batch of blackcurrant conserve at my request to use up a glut of fruit. He was careful with tools and equipment and kept his room neat and tidy. He was sociable with our neighbours and friends and our other Workawayers.
Christian has a very relaxed, easy disposition and we really enjoyed his company. I would highly recommend him to other hosts. We are very pleased that he plans to come back here again in a few months time!
Vom Workawayer (Christian) für Host
I had the best time staying with Nicki and Richard, they are some of the friendliest and most welcoming people you will ever meet. The work they are doing to restore native New Zealand habitat is awesome and it was a pleasure to contribute. Turns out chopping down wilding pines is a lot of fun too!
We were graced with heaps of delicious local
… read more produce throughout our stay, and I was able to get involved with loads of activities I'd never tried before. The Blythe Valley is a wonderful community, I'm sure any future workawayers will be introduced to Nicki and Richard's many lovely neighbours as we were.
The accommodation provided was great and expectations were always clearly communicated.
Thank you Nicki and Richard for an amazing stay, I look forward to returning soon!Du kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Vom Host für Workawayer (Linda & Roman)
Linda and Roman were a delight to have helping us at our property - on arrival they immediately set about weeding blackberry and culling wilding pines with us showing great enthusiasm - although sadly they fell ill 2 days after getting here, which meant that thereafter they were on 'light duties' only.
Linda and Roman stayed with us for nearly 2
… read more weeks, always cheerful and positive even when they were not feeling great. They were very independent once we showed them the task and were able to look after themselves, our household and poultry when we had to go away for a few days.
They were very respectful of their surroundings, we had some wonderful conversations and swapped recipes, and we very much look forward to their return visit in March next year!
Take care both of you, have fun on your travels and come back and stay with us again when you can!
Vom Workawayer (Linda & Roman) für Host
We stayed with Nicki and Richard for 2 weeks on the organic farm. We had many different tasks such as feeding the ducks, various jobs in the forest, looking after vegetable beds, picking raspberries or helping out around the house. We were able to learn a lot about the flora and fauna of New Zealand and take part in interesting projects. After
… read more work we enjoyed selfmade food together, funny conversations and a good glass of home-made cider in front of the fireplace.
About the accommodation: we had a large, separate room next to the house with a comfortable bed, private bathroom and toilet. We also had our own fridge for our groceries.
If you love peace, seclusion and a secret beach, this is the place for you. Nicki and Richard are a lovely, tidy and understanding couple.
We loved working here and look forward to seeing our new New Zealand family again soon.
Thanks for everything!
Roman and LindaDu kannst nur Workawayer mit aktiver Mitgliedschaft kontaktieren.
Help with some gardening projects in wonderful Taranaki, New Zealand
Stay in rural Wanaka/Cromwell, New Zealand
Wir haben festgestellt, dass es in deinem Profil weniger als 3 Fotos gibt. Für das neue Gastgeberprofil-Layout empfehlen wir dir unbedingt, mehr als 3 Fotos zu haben, damit sich dein Profil optisch hervorhebt.
Bitte nimm dir einen Moment Zeit und suche ein paar schöne Aufnahmen heraus, die zeigen wie es bei dir aussieht und Lust auf einen Aufenthalt bei dir machen:
Bitte logge dich in dein Workawayer-Konto ein, um diesen Gastgeber zu kontaktieren, oder
melde dich hier an!
New Zealand
Wenn du nicht australischer oder neuseeländischer Staatsbürger bist und du während deines Besuchs arbeiten, studieren oder als Volunteer tätig sein willst, BRAUCHST DU DAS ENTSPRECHENDE VISUM. Um mehr darüber zu erfahren, solltest du dich VOR DEINER ABREISE von zu Hause an die Botschaft in deinem Land wenden.
Hilfe bei Ökoprojekten
Gartenarbeiten
Heimwerker- und Bauarbeiten
Betreuung von Tieren
Mithilfe auf einem Bauernhof
Hausarbeiten
Handwerkliche Arbeiten
