Join us in beautiful rural Whangārei, New Zealand

Details

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  Description

  We live in a beautiful rural location, surrounded on all sides by stunning native forest, giant boulders and scores of native birds.
  
  It is incredibly peaceful here and yet only 10-15 minutes drive from central Whangārei.
  
  We moved onto this land in the winter of 2024 and we are starting to create a little regenerative haven. We are starting from scratch with vegetable gardens, a home orchard and many other fun projects. Come and join us as we begin this journey.
  
  Tasks include: creating new garden beds, cleaning, weeding, making compost, track clearing through the forest, saving seeds and planting. We also share daily tasks such as cooking meals and cleaning up after meals.
  
  Our current project is completing a small renovation and we'd love some help from anyone with carpentry or interior painting skills.
  
  After a hot day of working in the garden, jump into the swimming pool to cool off, or take a walk through the forest.
  
  We home educate our 3 children and we believe that their teachers will come from the community - we are certainly not their only teachers. So if you have skills like art, music, teaching bitcoin - anything really, and you are keen to share your talents with the children, this will be very welcome.
  
  Whilst we have not yet hosted Workawayers, we have hosted Wwoofers. Here's some feedback from a wonderful Wwoofing family we hosted recently:
  
  "We are a family of 5. We were welcomed by Sam and Aria's entire family to their beautiful property for two weeks. Living conditions were wonderful. We were able to help and exchange a lot with them. They respect working hours and make sure they allow you to discover the surrounding area. We discovered vegetarian cuisine with great pleasure. It was a very nice meeting. We highly recommend this wwoofing to everyone!"

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Vegetarian or vegan

  

  Self development

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  Books

  

  Plant care

  

  Gardening

  

  Animals

  

  Nature

  

  Camping

  

  Outdoor activities
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We are from a mixed Swiss/Kiwi/Uk ancestory but all born here in Aotearoa New Zealand.
  We can teach you gardening skills, some DIY, help you understand the Kiwi culture and generally have a fun and interesting exchange together.
  We wish for our children (ages 8-14 years) to meet people from diverse backgrounds and be given opportunities to learn from many different 'teachers'.
  Join us on our journey as we create a beautiful haven and leave this land better than we found it.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  Tasks: planting trees, creating garden beds, helping with house cleaning, weeding, pizza oven building - all sorts!
  Currently we are completing a small renovation.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent

  This host offers a language exchange
  If you can speak Schweizerdeutsch or German - awesome! as our oldest son is trying to learn.
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  Accommodation

  You will have a room in our large house. You'll have your own bathroom.
  
  You could also choose to camp in our garden if you prefer to be closer to nature.
  
  There is space to park your campervan.
  
  We are Vegetarian. We hope you will enjoy our vegetarian cuisine while you stay with us. We do eat dairy products and free range eggs.
  
  We try to eat wholefoods, organic where possible. If you are gluten-free we can try to accommodate this for dinners but please bring your own gluten free bread if you need bread.

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  What else ...

  10-15 minutes drive from central Whangārei - we can collect you at the central bus station if you arrive by public transport. We have a dog and two cats. We have a swimming pool. Locally there is the Hundertwasser Art Gallery, great beaches, the Quarry gardens and waterfalls as well as the stunningly beautiful Tutukākā coast famous for it's outstanding scuba diving and snorkelling experiences.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  Unlimited wi-fi but Wi-fi turns off around 11pm each night and re-connects around 7am each morning.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  You can park under our tall carport but be aware - our driveway is very steep and winding and gravel. If your campervan is not powerful you might have trouble getting back up the driveway.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Female dogs or very chilled out male dogs are ok. Although very sweet-natured, our 2 year old border collie Bruno occasionally has had fights with other male dogs who have not been de-sexed. Otherwise he gets on brilliantly with most other dogs.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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