Outdoor experience and learning new skills in Queensland, Australia

Details

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  Description

  Friendly family with lots of tasks and projects on the go!
  
  We have always loved meeting people from all over the world and of all ages. We are well-travelled ourselves and hospitality is very important to us. We like to meet with you and also to introduce you to other people locally.
  
  At the moment we are only accepting applicants who will have a vehicle for transport instead of relying on us, as we have a very busy time coming up..It is possible for you to hire a low-cost vehicle locally if you will not already have one.
  
  We love to host hardworking, strong, energetic, enthusiastic people who want to help us and enjoy our lovely surroundings. We provide full accommodation and food. It's very important that you can live harmoniously in a shared house and properly contribute to the cleaning, laundry, shared cooking and tidying up (shouldn't have to say that but have found it necessary:))
  
  On Tuesday mornings, we all have coffee together, usually at a long table, and enjoy home baked biscuits or cakes with outstanding barista coffee.
  
  Many of our Workaways use their time here to begin their travels in Australia, or to plan their next travels, or find jobs, or just take a break from constant travelling. Sometimes we can provide WHV extensions, because our location qualifies for "flood remediation volunteering". We are a safe and easy place to be, where you don't have to put your hand in your pocket.
  
  In return, we appreciate your energy and hope to learn from each person with us.
  
  You'll be helping on our rural farm and gardens, restoring native gardens, buildings and wildernesses, on the beautiful Sunshine Coast.
  
  For the right people, volunteer work with us can qualify for a second or third Working Holiday visa based on volunteer disaster recovery work, selecting ‘flood recovery - volunteer’ under ‘Employment type’ when completing a visa application form on ImmiAccount. (Information correct at time of writing - please check whether this is relevant to you).
  
  You will live in a shared house; we are generous with food, have good wifi and water, a brilliant location within a very safe property. As a family we work hard, so we expect you to work hard, diligently and safely during your on-duty hours.
  
  We provide accommodation with three bedrooms, large open plan kitchen and dining, living area, bathroom. There's an outdoor dining area and firepit, well-equipped kitchen with fridge, hob, microwave, oven, slow cooker, toaster, also laundry facilities and yoga mats.
  
  If you're a couple you'll have your own room, otherwise you will probably be sharing a room.
  
  If you have your own campervan, you can also come anytime and share the house, just sleeping in your campervan.
  
  We provide vegetarian provisions for you to self cater, including eggs and honey from our own farm. If you are an omnivore that is fine - you can buy your own meat and any other luxuries you like.
  
  We are a friendly family with a small organic homestead and a second property with gardens and rainforest woodland undergoing restoration. On our home farm we keep pasture raised pigs and chickens.
  
  You will be based on our second property which is ten minutes away from our farm. This second property is 21 acres of gardens, rainforest, wilderness, and we also keep chickens here. This property is 18 minutes (drive) from the stunning Sunshine Coast beaches. It is not served by public transport although we can provide (old) bicycles and it's a 16 minute cycle ride or half an hour's run to the small market town. It’s recommended you have your own vehicle. If you don’t have a vehicle, it’s inexpensive to hire one locally. It is not typical to have the use of a vehicle when staying as a Workaway. We can sometimes give lifts but you should not expect to use our vehicles other than for work purposes on the property.
  
  There’s plenty to do on the property on your time off: art, baking and cooking, exploring, gardening, hanging out with the animals, harvesting lotus flowers, napping, observing the wildlife, reading, relaxing, resting, picking herbs, planting natives, pruning, sunbathing or in the wet season, splashing in the puddles ...
  
  We offer a traditional Workaway experience, typically five hours a day, five days a week.
  
  Note: we do not provide paid work here. Workaway is about you providing voluntary work in return for accommodation, food, hospitality and utilities.
  
  Note for the right people there may be the opportunity to introduce you for some paid hours locally.
  
  We are Angela, husband David, and son Ed who runs the home farm and nursery. We are looking for help with our gardens, orchards, woodlands and rewilded areas.
  
  You will not be helping in our farm shop.
  
  We love people who will have a go at everything and who work hard, with a good sense of humour. Only apply if you are happy and drama-free - life's too short for negativity and nuisance. Our philosophy is to look for solutions not problems. We expect you to work safely and efficiently.
  
  Duration is normally for one - three months, occasionally less.
  
  Hours are typically 7am-10am and 11am-1pm. We find this works well, before the heat of the day, so that you have the afternoons and evenings off, as well as two full days off. If you want to start earlier and finish earlier, that's fine.
  
  Preferred arrival days are Monday afternoons, with departures usually on Monday mornings, after you have cleaned where you were staying and set it up ready for the next Workawayers.
  
  We are focusing on restoring and improving our properties including native gardens, planting more native flowers, maintenance work. On our home farm we aim to produce more fruit in our orchard, grow more pigs, and produce more eggs. We practice organic methods, and are interested in biodynamic and permaculture principles.
  
  We have animals on our home farm including chickens, ducks, peacocks, and a lot of pigs. You may be asked to help with the animals during your stay but most of the time you will be helping in the gardens and with plants at our Gardens.
  
  The nearby towns of Yandina and Coolum Beach are both about 10 minutes away by car. From there, you can explore the whole of the Sunshine Coast. We are 30 minutes from Noosa Heads. There are beautiful national parks, state forests, mountains and waterfalls nearby.
  
  The nearest bus stations are Yandina and Coolum Beach. The nearest train stations are Yandina and Nambour. The nearest airports are Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. It's easier for you if you have a vehicle, especially if you want to go the beach/climb/explore/shop/surf. Otherwise it's a 15 minute cycle/half hour run/hour walk to the nearest bus stop/train station in Yandina.
  
  There is no public transport passing the property so if you don't have your own vehicle, you can cycle to Yandina and catch a bus from there. Or an Uber ride to the beach/shops costs around $16. We are always busy so unfortunately are not able to offer a chauffeur service. If you are an experienced and careful driver, after you've been with us for a week you may be able to occasionally use a vehicle for short journeys eg to the beach.
  
  Our dogs are Ruby the friendly Rhodesian Ridgeback, Ruby’s daughter Emerald. and Jack Russell Little Gem.
  
  We are near the acclaimed Mount Ninderry Healing Centre which offers reasonably priced acroyoga, bodywork, courses and therapist programmes, intention therapy, kirtan, and shiatsu, yin and flow yoga, with free community yoga classes once a week.
  
  One of our family businesses is the Flow Bouldering gym nearby. We can arrange free passes for you to boulder at Flow.
  
  We look forward to welcoming you :)

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  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

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Interests

  

  Politics / Social justice

  

  Farming

  

  Pets

  

  Sustainability

  

  Plant care

  

  Writing

  

  Gardening

  

  Books

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Animals

  

  Nature

  

  Beach
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Our family is originally from Devon in the southwest of England, where we created and operated Crealy theme parks and resorts in Devon and Cornwall.
  
  We have traveled a lot. Ed has also Workawayed in half a dozen countries including Israel, in South America and in Europe.
  
  We emigrated to Australia from Devon, UK, in 2010 and have lived on the Sunshine Coast since 2011. We spend most of our time on our farm and gardens. We like time in the country, going to the beaches, waterfalls, and national parks. We love meeting new people from all over the world.
  
  We wish you happy travels :)

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  Help

  We are looking to accept Workawayers who are happy to learn about plants and help us with restoring the grounds including ancient native plantings and woods.
  
  You will need sensible working boots or closed-toe shoes, a good hat, and sunscreen. If you come in The Wet, you'll also need waterproof boots and wet weather gear.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  French: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  We speak English, Spanish, and French.
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  Accommodation

  We provide accommodation with full facilities. We also welcome people with own self-contained campervan or similar.
  
  We provide food for you to self-cater. We provide your accommodation, bedding, and all your food including our own honey, free range eggs, as well as herbs, fruit and veggies when in season from the gardens and orchards or local stores, plus other pantry necessities.
  
  We provide accommodation with bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, barbecue deck, firepit and laundry facilities. Sometimes you may share a bedroom unless you're a couple in which case you'll have your own room.
  
  If you have your own self-contained vehicle or camper-van, we can provide a good parking area with access to electricity, harvested filtered rainwater, wifi. You can share and use the house facilities including kitchen, food, living room, laundry facilities and bathroom.

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  What else ...

  We are next to Mount Ninderry and close to Coolum Beach. There are many lovely beaches, country towns, national parks, state forests, and waterfalls around, great rock climbing, watersports, horseriding and hiking. Iconic Noosa is about 25 minutes away. You can enjoy free bouldering at Flow Bouldering.
  
  There is a good cinema nearby with "cheap Tuesday" tickets. There are excellent farmers' markets which you can attend if the family are going there, or if you have your own transport.
  
  Wishing you happy travels.

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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

  We have good wifi for digital nomads.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We can provide accommodation and we also welcome Workawayers any time who have their own self-contained campervan or motorhome, in which case we can provide bedding, laundry facilities plus shared access to a full bathroom.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

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