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Host rating
85 %
Last replied
8 Mar 2026
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Details
Description
Kel monitors the messages but only answers about once a week - the more notice we have to host the better for planning throughout the seasons~
APRIL-MAY *we currently only have one single room and bed available for guests*
We are converting a small yard into a permaculture garden. We have space for 2-3 people and would love to share skills both directions and get help for our ongoing projects. We are only looking to host guests for about a fortnight at a time.
We live with another couple in a quiet suburban neighbourhood in a small town about 20 minutes drive from Mackay and keep ducks, mealworm, compost worms and beehives. We aren’t TOO far from either the city centre, or the countryside, or the beach. We are welcoming to LGBTQIA+ travellers, singles or couples.
We will be doing tasks together and sharing skills on the way - we can offer beekeeping, tropical food gardening, poultry keeping, Landcare and sustainability skills. Kelly would love to meet someone to teach her more about how to woodwork and carpentry, how to construct and build simple things like tables and supports for rain barrels strongly and safely. She has a lot of dream projects she would love to see created: a pond for the ducks, an outside shower, an outside kitchen, fixing the integrity of the fence, a front yard water feature as part of a local frog breeding program….
We have a lot of skills skills and would like to learn more, please message to show us your profile and tell us about yourselves.
We would love to host Deaf or hard of hearing people too, we only know how to fingerspell in Auslan but are keen to learn more Auslan language and how to communicate better with members of the Australian Deaf community if anyone would like to show us.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
House & pet sitting
Interests
LGBTQ
Vegetarian or vegan
Sustainability
Pets
Farming
Charity work
Art & design
Plant care
DIY & crafts
Gardening
Cooking & food
Drawing & painting
Animals
Yoga / Wellness
Nature
Hiking
Beach
Mountain
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Social activities (this is just a few ideas - we can find more based on your interests):
We can show you some of the local scenic nature sights like see platypus in Eungella, or walk on quiet clean beaches to admire sea anemones, or take you fishing or crabbing, attend show openings at Artspace, drive out west to look for emus in the wild. There is a tabletop gaming shop in Mackay that we are keen to visit but we very new to the genre so would love to be shown around by someone in the know!
Skills and knowledge we can share: cooking (partner is trained chef), beekeeping, winemaking, herbal skincare, soil remediation, animal care, backyard poultry, tropical gardening, English reading & writing, plant lore, crochet, worm farms, rewilding in the suburbs
We are very welcoming to LGBTQIA+ travellers, singles or couples. We are also happy to host people travelling with kids, dogs or cats, provided that they are well-behaved and safe around the ducks. Cats need to be on leashes outside to protect native wildlife populations.
We hope to learn a lot by hosting people of different cultures, like new ways of seeing the world, how to communicate better, learning different words from different languages, seeing our home anew through the eyes of our wonderful guests!
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Help days will be different, but includes animal care, batch cooking, building, pruning, mulching, digging, planting, sowing, scrubbing, construction, measuring, planning, harvesting, dehydrating, power washing, dusting, vacuuming - everything needed to run a suburban "homestead", basically. We have a lot of deep-cleaning tasks that need to be done after the summer rain, inside and outside the house, like power-washing the driveway, or pulling out the fridge and cleaning behind it.
The kind of help we would like is around 4hrs per day, 4 days per week (typically 8-11am, 11.30am-12.30pm).
Days ideally look like this:
We make ourselves breakfast (7-8am) and lunch (1pm), and supply a light smoko rest (11-11.30am).
*we are an omnivorous household, but due to high cost of living, we eat a mainly vegetarian diet. Happy to adapt to vegans. Happy to cook with more meat and fish if any of our guests enjoy hunting or fishing. We cook a lot of low GF, low-acid sides, mainly European dishes with cheese, eggs, butter, or milk. We would love to learn more simple and healthy dishes from other cultures!
Communal chores don't count towards hours - we work as a team in the evening to prepare meals (splitting the cooking/cleaning chore equally, resetting the kitchen for the morning), sweeping, take out the bins, keep the place tidy like a community does (maybe another 1-2hrs a day).
Languages
Languages spoken
English: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
My partner and I would love to host Deaf or hard of hearing people too, we only know how to fingerspell in Auslan but are keen to learn more Auslan language and how to communicate better with members of the Australian Deaf community.
Accommodation
We have two private bedrooms for our guests, one with single bed, one with queen.
Bedrooms have empty inbuilt closets.
The house has one toilet and one bathroom (toilet separate from bathroom).
Facilities for our guests: Wifi, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, 240V external outlet for campervan, freezer space for cold storage (fridge usually full sorry), air conditioning, air fryer
Our yard might really suit people in campervans/ small caravans that want to park up for a fortnight, recharge, do some repairs, tidy the camper, wash everything. We can host a camper (under ~2.4m) or small teardrop-style caravan in our undercover area, and there is an outlet close for you to connect to, or a parking spot if you bring a car. We have shed space to accommodate small builds or repairs too.
What else ...
Social activities (this is just a few ideas - we can find more based on your interests):
We can show you some of the local scenic nature sights like see platypus in Eungella, or walk on quiet clean beaches to admire sea anemones, or take you fishing or crabbing, attend show openings at Artspace, drive out west to look for emus in the wild. There is a tabletop gaming shop in Mackay that we are keen to visit but we very new to the genre so would love to be shown around by someone in the know!
Skills and knowledge we can share: cooking (partner is trained chef), beekeeping, winemaking, herbal skincare, soil remediation, animal care, backyard poultry, tropical gardening, English reading & writing, plant lore, crochet, worm farms, rewilding in the suburbs.
We are also happy to host people travelling with kids, dogs or cats, provided that they are well-behaved and safe around the ducks. Cats need to be on leashes outside to protect native wildlife populations.
We hope to learn a lot by hosting people of different cultures, like new ways of seeing the world, how to communicate better, learning different words from different languages, seeing our home anew through the eyes of our wonderful guests!
For any guests travelling with minors: we both have our Child Safety Blue Cards.
We are a smoking and drinking home with designated smoking areas. Kelly has a lot of family living close by, you are welcome to meet them if you want, they love meeting cultural exchange people.
Both of us (Kelly and Jim) travelled overseas from 2016-2021 doing HelpX and WWOOFing etc, so we have experience as helpers. I want our guests to have good experiences with us, and we have hopefully created a good space for travellers to park up, share our lives, help us out a bit and leave having learned a lot from each other and gained a lot of positive experiences overall.
Houserules:
Our site is a registered biosecurity entity, if you have been to other farms, especially with BEES or POULTRY please let us know - we need observe biosecure practices (like washing under cars and disinfecting boots).
Smoking is outside only in designated areas.
Move safely around the ducks - they will walk up behind you and could get accidentally stepped on. Only bring dogs you would trust around your own delicate small animals.
If you have ratting dogs, you will need to keep an eye on them because people bait rats in our area and they could be poisoned. There are a couple of local vets in case of emergencies, they are expensive but will provide good care 24/7.
Cats need to be on leashes outside to protect native wildlife populations.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have not worked with digital nomads before this, please let us know what you need and we can check to make sure we have what you need to support your career.
Space for parking camper vans
Nowhere to dump black or grey water here, but there are likely facilities within 10-15 minutes drive of our home for you to dump out.
Can possibly accept pets
Probably goes without saying but you are responsible for your animals waste. All dog and cat poops need to picked up and disposed of safely.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
Ducks
Photos
Feedback
Anna had a wealth of knowledge of how to grow nursery quality houseplants and it was great to hear different ideas and techniques she had utilised working back home. She was always happy to pitch in with the communal chores, keen to learn new tasks, and participated fully in whatever tasks her hours… read more
