Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
14 Oct 2025
Reply rate
88.9 %
Usually responds within 2 days
Feedback
28
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Badges (4)
Details
Description
Kia ora 😀 We are located 5 hours north of Auckland and are looking for one or two helpers. The east coast is a 20 minute drive away with amazing beaches, also basic supermarket and cafes. Kaitaia is 35 minutes away. The Far North is definitely worth adding to your travel itinerary 😀 Our home is rustic yet comfortable and set in a subtropical rain forest. If you are looking for an authentic nature experience this is the place for you!
If you have a car we encourage you to take a day or two out and head up the coast and camp in one of the many cheap beachside campgrounds on the way to Cape Reinga. If we have time, we like to show helpers who don't have a car around our local beaches and visit a cafe. We have a couple of mountain bikes here and a tandem kayak stored at the sailing club. If you are a confident horse rider, you are welcome to ride Indy. We have good wifi but do prefer visitors that aren't glued to their screens 😁
The position is best suited to someone who enjoys peace and quiet, and nature. We currently need help with tidying our property after renovations. Our garden and orchard also needs attention after a long, wet winter.
We will be honest in saying it is untidy, hence our call for help to make it nice again!
You must love animals and be comfortable with living alongside and spending time with them. They include Marley, our boisterous 7 year old dog; 3 very friendly pigs, Rocky, Peppa and Pumpkin; a nosey horse, Indy;and an occasionally naughty goat, Simon. Plus one cat, Smeagol and multiple chickens, ducks and guinea fowl.
Help includes property maintenance like painting, weeding gardens, collecting horse manure; general house work, painting, feeding animals and walking the dog.
Accommodation is a king size bed in our home. We have good wifi available. We prefer it if our helpers stay for one week minimum. Although this is flexible we prefer you to arrive on Friday so we can spend time with you on the weekend helping you to settle in and explain tasks.
We are passionate about preserving our environment and have covenanted most of the forested areas of our land under the QE2 Trust. We are members of the local landcare group which involves supporting recovery of our local ecosystem and bio diversity through pest and weed control and planting.
We like to cook and would love it if you enjoy cooking or baking. Julien is a chilli fanatic and grows a variety of chilli plants. He makes fermented hot sauce which ranges in heat from a mild/medium to 15/10 (I'm not kidding haha). We also make kombucha using green tea and honey and Kimchi. We eat fish and vegetarian food.
We grow a wide variety of organic fruit including apples, oranges, grapefruit, lemons, plums, peaches, blue berry, mulberry, Bananas, feijoa, pineapples, grapes, raspberries, avocado, cherimoya. We also have a hugelkultur vegetable garden which a wwoofer helped to build that grows tomatoes, brasicas, lettuce, chard, kale, asparagus, garlic, zucchini and cucumber depending on the season.
We appreciate it if you show motivation and become a part of our family by pitching in. Helpers who are able to use initiative are like Gods to hosts, kidding, sort of! We worship anyone that noticed something needed doing and does it particularly if they haven't had much work to do. Work is 4 hours a day and help tidying the kitchen in the evening with 2 days off a week.
A sunhat and old clothes/shoes, sunblock and insect repellent are important.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Interests
Sustainability
Self development
Politics / Social justice
Pets
Charity work
Plant care
Gardening
Drawing & painting
DIY & crafts
Cooking & food
Carpentry
Books
Art & design
Animals
Sailing / Boating
Nature
Beach
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Sharing ideas and experiences. Seeing things from another perspective and reciprocal knowledge sharing. Learning about organic gardening practices. How to make hot sauce, kimchi and kombucha. Learning skills on land care and maintenance. Learning about animal care including horses and poultry. Feeding our huge pet eel in the river. Local treks.
Fun, laughs, relaxation and not too hard work.
Help
someone to help in the garden, stacking cut firewood, lawn mowing, collecting horse manure, general housework, house painting, spring cleaning, weeding, mulching, windows, animal care, walking Marley the dog, feeding animals.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Accommodation
Large bedroom with king-size bed in our home.
What else ...
Northland is a beautiful place to visit with some of the best scenery in the country. Many parts of it are remote with beautiful forest and white sandy beaches. If you don't have a car we may be able to take you to local beaches or you could join Julien at the local sailing club on Saturday. We have a twin kayak available there too.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
We have space for a 4 birth or 6 meter camper with power accessible.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
My animals / pets
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
Feedback (13)
We loved spending time with all the different animals they live with : Cats, dogs, all sorts of birds, chickens, ducks, horses, pigs (my favorite) and even eels in the river haha!
The jobs was not… read more
I enjoyed my time in this place and the craziness of your home with all the pets and animals. You made it really easy to feel at home and made sure I was always comfortable.
Your property and the… read more
Thanks so much for choosing us as your first host. It was a real privilege to have you stay with us. You fitted in just like family and are so easy going. Thank you for all your hard mahi (work) over the past week. Marley the dog has been a bit sad and Erin misses you too. All the best for your travels Selma.
Ko te pae tawhiti whāia kia… read more
Photos
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
Feedback
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(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
We loved spending time with all the different animals they live with : Cats, dogs, all sorts of birds, chickens, ducks, horses, pigs (my favorite) and even eels in the river haha!
The jobs was not… read more
I enjoyed my time in this place and the craziness of your home with all the pets and animals. You made it really easy to feel at home and made sure I was always comfortable.
Your property and the… read more
Thanks so much for choosing us as your first host. It was a real privilege to have you stay with us. You fitted in just like family and are so easy going. Thank you for all your hard mahi (work) over the past week. Marley the dog has been a bit sad and Erin misses you too. All the best for your travels Selma.
Ko te pae tawhiti whāia kia… read more
I spent a week with them and it wasn't enough at all haha a very great experience and exchange, always being flexible, available and glad to advise or so 🙏
They are living in a real sanctuary having all sorts of animals very lovely and close to humans having interaction with us.… read more
We hope to see you all again sometime in the future.… read more
The family is really nice, Sandra and Yvonne a great chefs !
The work was mainly gardening or cleaning, and I really liked it !
My campervan where I was staying was really comfi
Thanks guys for this workaway, was great :)
Thank you so much for welcoming me into your friendly and happy home. The work was never too hard and it was always nice to settle down with all of you in the evenings with some lovely food. It was good to have my own accommodation with a big comfy bed:)
And I also had fun on the scout camp in spite of the… read more
This awsome family were my last host in New Zealand. And I couldn't have asked for any better.
I was welcomed into their family and looked after and cared for more than really well. I was treated like a friend and family member. They showed me around and we went to many magnificent places together.
I loved being… read more
