Enjoy cultural exchange while helping restore native bush and enjoying beach life in Waiomu, New Zealand

Details

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  Description

  Hi there! We’re Megan & Jamie. We live on the beautiful Thames coast on the Coromandel peninsula.
  
  I work from home with the occasional day trip to Auckland, Jamie works in town (Thames) at a native tree nursery. We have a 3 1/2 year old son August, a 2 year old daughter Fern and a 4 year old pup Scarlett.
  
  Our property is surrounded in bush, but just a 5 min walk to the beach and an awesome cafe. We are working to clear our property of invasive things like ginger root, wattles and your everyday weeds and are always always chopping firewood. We are looking for people that are happy working outdoors.
  
  We’ve recently taken a break from workaway while we had Fern and completed some home improvements including a new kitchen and added a cabin to our property. When we’re home, workawayers would stay in the new self contained cabin. It is quite basic and has a king single bed, a boat toilet and only cold water (safe for drinking). You’d have to come down to the house for showers. For now we think this is best suited for single workawayers, we may look expand to couples after some additional improvements like setting up the single trundle. Please look at photos to be sure you’d be comfy in the cabin. It has a covered porch and beautiful water views and is far enough from house to feel private.
  
  We’re keen to get back into hosting and having some extra hands around the property and house + some chats with people exploring the world! These days firewood chopping or meal prep are fairly equally rated. We have a lot of weeding and the house could do with some deep cleans. We don’t really ever seek out extra child care as we are pretty stoked to get to hang with our little loves as much as we can in this phase of life. We also have some small projects on our wish list like clearing paths around the property, making a swimming hole area at the stream that runs through, redo-ing our stairs (sleepers & gravel), setting up a greenhouse that’s been under the house for a while, completing some deck projects and also building an outdoor shower. Plenty to do! We’re happy to provide cereal & yogurt in cabin fridge for breakky + dinner on working days. Typically do 5 days on and 2 days off.
  
  We both speak English, I know a very little amount of French, Spanish & Portuguese. We eat everything, but can cater to dietary preferences so long as you don’t mind us eating meat / cheese 😊
  
  No smoking / vaping on our property.
  
  Internet is patchy at the cabin, but available at the house.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house
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  Interests

  

  Sustainability

  

  Gardening

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Animals

  

  Sailing / Boating

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Nature

  

  Camping

  

  Beach
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We’re happy to offer our home as a stop off on your travels. We’re a great home base for activities around the coromandel peninsula such as hiking, fishing charters, canyoning, kayaking, etc. As a family we love going for walks, spending the afternoon at the beach and having Jamie’s parents round for dinner catch ups, you’re welcome to join us.
  
  Jamie is very knowledgeable about native plants and animals and makes for a great NZ nature guide.
  
  We don’t travel much these days with the kiddos so we are looking forward to hearing travel stories and having some extra hands around the house.

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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

  Our main goal we’d love help with would be garden work and clearing around the property. We’re working to clear the invasive species and create a pristine native bush. Occasionally we need someone to house sit and look after Scarlett. We aren’t currently looking for childcare, but playing with the kids while someone is cooking dinner is super helpful.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Beginner
  Portuguese: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
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  Accommodation

  You would be staying in our self contained cabin which has a toilet inside. We’ll provide linen and bath towels, please byo beach towels if possible.
  
  In exchange for 4 hours of work a day we offer light breakfast supplies in the cabin and then a sit down dinner at night. We believe in a community kitchen approach - where everyone pitches in. So if you cook, we’ll do the dishes and vice versa. If you notice the dishwasher is full - run it, if you notice it’s clean, help us out with an unstack and so on.

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  What else ...

  It is easier if you have your own car.
  
  We tend to enjoy a few beers or a glass of red with dinner, if you’re planning to enjoy a few drinks while you’re here it would be great if you brought some of your own. We’d appreciate no heavy drinking.
  
  We eat everything, but can cater to vegetarian or pescatarian.
  
  We are strictly a smoke and vape free home.

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  One

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  My animals / pets

  

  Scarlett (6 years)

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