Join an artist family in a Japanese inspired house in the Australian bush in Watagan, Australia

Details

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  Description

  We are a family of artists living in a homebuild Japanese inspired house built with part of the set from The Matrix. We are set in a lush valley surrounded by beautiful trees and an abundance of birds and wildlife.
  We have a pool, veggie garden, native garden, fruit trees and a small (non commercial) vineyard.
  Our day to day life here involves tending to the house, gardens and vineyard, going for afternoon walks, a coffee in town, a glass of wine by the fire, plenty of swims in the summer, playing instruments and of course, painting and drawing.
  
  We love sharing our projects and our home with other people, and appreciate the cultural knowledge that is exchanged through platforms like workaway. We have also been hosting WOOFers for over 15 years and have loved the experiences we have shared with people.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Help around the house

  Light maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Interests

  

  Sustainability

  

  Politics / Social justice

  

  Pets

  

  Culture

  

  Farming

  

  Writing

  

  Plant care

  

  Music

  

  Languages

  

  History

  

  Gardening

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Carpentry

  

  Books

  

  Architecture

  

  Art & design

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Cycling

  

  Camping

  

  Hiking

  

  Nature
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Cultural exchange opportunities at our home include:
  
  - sharing music from our country (through songs and playing instruments)
  - sharing different styles of art making
  - opportunity to show important Aboriginal cultural landmarks nearby
  - Japanese architecture
  - opportunities to visit our small local town in Wollombi (with a thriving artistic community).

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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

  The kinds of work we do is seasonally dependent, but can include:
  
  - weeding and watering the garden
  - clearing invasive weeds from surrounding bush (regeneration)
  - building and house repairs
  - vineyard: pruning, picking grapes, netting, pressing, bottling wine/grape juice
  
  We typically share the tasks alongside one another, its generally more enjoyable that way and allows us to guide, share tips and answer questions.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  Spanish: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  Our daughter regularly visits from Melbourne and speaks Spanish almost fluently.
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  Accommodation

  Guests stay in the same house as hosts, in an open, light room with 360 ° views of the tree tops. The room is upstairs with a double bed, desk, loungechairs and a sofa that doubles as a fold out bed. Stairs are quite steep so be careful.
  
  We will share meal times with our guests. We are mainly vegetarian but we do occasionally eat fish and chicken .

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  What else ...

  Our house is not accessible with public transport, so a car or a lift is required. We can provide lifts from Sydney, Newcastle or Cessnock (depending on our schedule of course), so flexibility is necessary.
  
  Our house is completely self sufficient (it runs on stand alone solar power which means we are disconnected from the electricity grid). We have an efficient system that allows us to access all tech/internet etc however because we dont have an infinite power supply we encourage guests to be mindful of turning off lights, TV and not having long showers. We discourage guests who want to spend hours online for this reason.
  
  We share the surrounding environment with some wonderful wildlife, which means that sometimes bugs can make their way inside. We always make an effort to keep the house clean and bug free but this is a part of living in the bush.
  
  To save water, we have a composting toilet outside the house.

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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

  The track is well maintained but is unsealed, so sometimes the road may be damaged after heavy rain. Thankfully the road isn't too steep but please be careful with larger vehicles and low vehicles to avoid potholes.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  

  Snooker

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