Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
2 Jun 2025
Reply rate
88.2 %
Usually responds within 4 days
Feedback
13
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Details
Description
We are a couple with a big garden living on an acre on the outskirts of the coastal surfing town of Torquay. We are into recycling, music, sustainable gardening and cooking.
We grow much of our own food using organic methods , and we provide opportunities for people to experience a sustainable lifestyle. We have one bee hive no pets but because we are in the bush we get lots of visiting native birds - Superb Blue Wrens, Kookaburras, Parrots, Ravens and Currawongs all are regular visitors.
We are inspired by Permaculture and organic gardening principles and David Holmgren’s ‘Retrosuburbia’ book.
We aim to be
- peaceful and calm.
- compassionate, loving and empathetic.
- happy, fun-loving and always laughing.
- as sustainable as we can be.
- creative, working on projects of many kinds.
- socially and environmentally connected.
We are looking for people to volunteer with us that are committed, inquisitive, enthusiastic and reliable. We particularly welcome those who can happily be shown a task and be set onto it for a few hours and not get bored.
We need you to ask questions – "Where can I find..?” “Would you like me to..?” Is this ok?"
It’s also important to us that you share what you’re feeling - “I hope..” “Is it possible..” "I've been noticing that..."
Please only consider volunteering with us if you are genuinely interested in learning new skills in a ‘doing’ context, not just thinking about it. You will know if you are that kind of person if you feel excited, or apprehensive, as you read this.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Learn about applying permaculture to a small property and living a sustainable lifestyle with organic food and cooking.
I'm a landscape architect so I have an interest in a range of environmental and social issues. Leanne's interests are in healthy diets, organic growing and social welfare. We are both gardeners - we met a horticultural college!
During the footy season you can join us for a game of AFL football (if you go for the Geelong Cats!).. see attached photo.
We are into music (I play mandolin & guitar mainly) and play with local community music groups (old-timey, bluegrass, folk, celtic) and other music jams and regular dinner parties with family and friends.
Language-wise I love to practice my high-school French, and am surprised sometimes with what I recall, but its a work in progress.
We have family in the area, including two who have properties that host Workaways, and we have often swapped workawayers between us for a bit of variety.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Tasks will often be projects that we working on as we retrofit the property to be more sustainable and resilient. These will be jobs listed on the whiteboard, and we will discuss them over meals.
In between these ‘big’ jobs on the whiteboard other tasks that you may find time to do (that are always helpful whenever the season) may include:
• Weeding the veggie garden or other garden areas
• Raking up leaf litter from the paths, lawn and driveway
• Washing dishes and sweep/mop the kitchen floor after meals
• Sweeping and mopping the floor
• Bringing in wood for the fire (in winter)
• Watering the pots on the deck (in summer)
• Gardening and looking after the orchard,
• Keeping the roadside stall stocked with excess garden produce and kitchen products.
We are always doing house renovations, so building skills would be specially valuable!
We are keen to work out what special talents that you bring to us – your super-powers! So feel free to suggest something that you would like to do!
Previous Workawayers have built fences, gates, art projects, paving, small constructions, gardens, made apple cider, jams, passata and so on. We are keen to get people involved in whatever projects we are doing, including the skills and passions of our visitors. So we welcome your ideas and experience as a key part of the creation adventure!
On top of the 4-5 hours work, we would expect that Workawayers would participate in the general chores of running a busy household and would contribute to preparing shared meals, cleaning up after ourselves and so on. We invite you to join in with us as part of our family, which also means contributing towards the daily chores of cooking and cleaning. We cook together or take turns sharing food ideas. We really enjoy food and grow much of our produce from the big organic garden.
Help hours are flexible because my practice is based in the home office, and as a starting arrangement suggest doing 4-5 hours work in the morning starting around 8am so you have the afternoons free. If you want to take advantage of the beautiful still mornings on the beach (afternoons in summer can be a bit windy) then we can accomodate that too.
If you would like to swap some half-days for full days so you can get out and have full days at the beach or wherever, we can probably make that work too. Weekends are sometimes a busy time for projects, so occasionally we might suggest swapping your weekend rest days to midweek, so that we can work together on a big weekend project.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Beginner
French: BeginnerThis 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.
Accommodation
While we are doing some renovations your accommodation will be a large caravan in the garden.
Until recently this was a popular rental place - but we're not operating it at the moment as we had to move it. So its quite nice, but one task will be to get it tidied up, perhaps create a new outdoor space next to it and a path to the bathroom.
There is a double bed, and a single bed/daybed, kitchen with fridge and microwave, eating area, and lounge. It has air con heating/cooling and the daybed converts to a big desk.
Nearby is the freestanding bathroom with hot water, toilet, shower, a pink clawfoot bath and windows that open out overlooking a pond!
A special space at our place is the balinese-inspired day-bed on the deck, a very nice place for a night under the stars or to hang out during the afternoons. You've very welcome to enjoy it while relaxing.
What else ...
The weekends are your own to explore, and we encourage you to get out and find your adventure! On weekends we will most likely still be very active, and we would welcome your assistance then too if you are still staying here, but equally we encourage you to get away and explore and do some travelling!
The beach and town is only 30 minutes walk by foot, and we have bikes you can borrow to get there quicker, starting from the concrete shared public pathway that starts out the back of our garden and takes you to Torquay and Fishermans Beach along Deep Creek. The iconic Torquay back beach is just around the headland, and is world famous for surfing. Bells Beach is a short bike ride away.
If you want to go for longer walks along the coast (eg Great Ocean Walk) we can drop you off by car, and we can show you some of the local sights.
There is a bus to Geelong, Melbourne and west along the coast, 20 minutes walk.
In winter the whales come along the coast and can be seen from the cliffs locally. We have a Chocolaterie chocolate factory nearby too! Over winter we enjoy the wood fire and mulled apple cider, and we regularly go to the pool for a saunas and spa and you could join us for a small fee, and of course there is the beach!
Basically this is a tourist town and is full of exciting things to do with your time off. We really want you to have a great time and take away some special memories of your holiday in Australia.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have optical fibre conection to the property and can provide ethernet connection - 100bps speed!
Space for parking camper vans
Theres plenty of room to park a campervan
Can possibly accept pets
We probably cannot welcome cats to the property, given the wildlife here.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
My animals / pets
Feedback (8)
They are extremely approachable and easy to work with. They are keen and ‘check in’ regularly to ensure they’re doing a great job.
They just jump in and help with the usual chores around the house- we didn’t do the dishes once during their one week stay!
While with us they helped organise the… read more
That’s an indication of how easy he is to get along with.
In that time he helped us out with lots of jobs large and small, including gravel paving, repairing and repainting the deck, and lots of little jobs in the garden and house.
He’s a keen cake maker, can whip one up in a… read more
Photos
Feedback
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(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
They are extremely approachable and easy to work with. They are keen and ‘check in’ regularly to ensure they’re doing a great job.
They just jump in and help with the usual chores around the house- we didn’t do the dishes once during their one week stay!
While with us they helped organise the… read more
That’s an indication of how easy he is to get along with.
In that time he helped us out with lots of jobs large and small, including gravel paving, repairing and repainting the deck, and lots of little jobs in the garden and house.
He’s a keen cake maker, can whip one up in a… read more
I stayed for nearly 2 weeks at their place and the work was good and rewarding.… read more
We wish her… read more
It's a beautiful place and the work is very good. Both have explained well and clearly what to do. They are very interested and look to the individual… read more
They stayed with us for about 5 months, and over that whole time have always been happy, helpful and considerate. They have helped us with many jobs including painting, decking, gardening, and much more. They have learned a few new skills, such as… read more
