Experience the Dandenong ranges in Melbourne, Australia

Details

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  Description

  We are a family of four - two adults and two young kids. We live in the beautiful Dandenong ranges and while we get frequent visitors like wallabies and native birds in our backyard we are also walking distance to a small township and the metro train line to access Melbourne city. We are close to the well known Puffing Billy steam train, and there are many beautiful hiking tracks in the easily accessible Sherbrooke forest. The forest is well known for being a habitat of lyrebirds, which you can often hear mimicking the other birds' calls.
  
  We have a couple of big projects we'd like to complete, including extending our existing chook yard to make it big enough to keep more chooks, as well as turning it into an anti-aviary, to enclose a couple of fruit trees as well as keeping the chooks safe from foxes. We also want to dig out more of the underneath of our house, in order to put down a concrete slab to be able to convert it into a workshop/pottery space. As well as that, we have lots of small yard maintenance jobs that need doing to keep the weeds at bay, such as cutting back blackberries and weeding the garden.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Help around the house
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  Interests

  

  Technology

  

  Sustainability

  

  Self development

  

  Writing

  

  Plant care

  

  Gardening

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Books

  

  Yoga / Wellness

  

  Winter sports

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Nature

  

  Hiking

  

  Fitness

  

  Dancing

  

  Cycling

  

  Camping

  

  Beach

  

  Adventure sports
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  There are often community events on in our township which Workawayers would be welcome to attend. We have varied in skills as a family from health and well-being to technology to building to permaculture. We’d love for our young kids to be exposed to different languages, foods and cultures.
  
  One parent and the two kids are at home three days a week plus the weekends, so we are often around (we're working the other days). In contributing to our projects we hope that Workawayers will learn skills in building and construction, local unique flora and fauna (like the local 'land yabbie'), english language (if applicable) and permaculture principles.

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  Help

  The main thing we need help with is taming the garden/bush on our block. Invasive species grow voraciously and need constant attention to beat them back. We’d like to grow more natives and produce more food. We try to garden from a permaculture perspective with thoughtfulness and minimal pesticide/herbicide. We also frequently need to do things like collect and stack firewood, repair the chook yard fence, etc.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  French: Beginner
  Japanese: 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

  We have a spare room in the house which has access to a bathroom that would be predominantly used by the Workawayers. Our house is fairly small so you will be able to hear our children. The room has a desk and a queen size bed and a chest of drawers. It also has some of our belongings in it. We would expect Workawayers to make their own breakfast, lunch and snacks and we would cook dinner.
  
  We are happy to be flexible with the hours people would like to work and either provide all food or provide less if people would like to contribute fewer hours. Unless requested otherwise, we'd expect to provide basics for breakfast and lunch like bread, cereal, spreads, fruit, coffee/tea etc. Our household has one gluten free person so there are generally gf options (although we are not strict on contamination). We eat an omnivore diet but try to minimise meat consumption from a sustainability perspective.

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  What else ...

  Our house is up a steep gravel drive and it is most easily used by confident drivers. We have a number of steps up to the house and the block itself can be slippery in the winter - good mobility is required. It’s walking distance to local shops, cafes, buses and trains.
  
  Our kids are energetic and can be noisy when they're playing so you will need to be ok with hearing them any time from 7am!

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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

  Workspace is rudimentary

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  Chooks

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