New Zealand
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Hi,
We have a 2 ha avocado orchard on the outskirts of Whangarei.
Sorry about the photo, it's the only one I could find with us all together! We are a family of four but the eldest daughter is away living in Auckland. The younger is still at school, in Whangarei.
In days gone by we had a very successful time with wwoofers and ended up with one fellow coming back every summer for 4 years. So from January 2015 we decided to give workaway a go. It has been absolutely fantastic for us, there is always so much work to do and it's wonderful having a mix of ages and nationalities around with new energy and skills to share the load.
Lately we have had workawayers who preferred to cook for themselves in the flat and we are more than happy with that arrangement. It also solves any problems with food allergies and preferences :-))
But sometimes it's also nice to share a meal and a game of cards or whatever.
We are happy for people to work 3 hours a day if you are cooking your own food. Or I can provide the food and you cook it yourselves for 4-5 hours a day. There are unlimited avocados in season, and produce from the garden.
The accommodation is a self contained flat separated from our house.
We are pretty easygoing about working hours, some times the jobs are enjoyable and you don't notice time flying by, other jobs a few hours is enough and that's fine too. Within reason we leave you to work out when you feel like working to make up the hours.
Some times there are jobs to work together, some times I will let you know what needs doing and leave you to it.
If you have any particular skills I tend to try to find the job most likely to be the most productive .
Perfectly happy for you to work longer hours some days and then have more days off to explore the area. Don't mind whether it's week days or weekends or what time of day you want to start. You are, after all, on holiday!
There are easy walks to do around bush and coast within easy reach of town or the Bay of Islands is just over an hours drive north. Waipu cave system is half to one hour south.
Whatever works is all good.
It's handy to have a car as we are 5km from kamo village.
However I do go back and forth regularly, and can easily give you a ride in my car.
If bussing catch the bus to Kamo, not The Hub.
we have wifi available, it isn't great, it's a rural line, not fibre but it does exist.
we are not smokers and would prefer non smokers and there is definitely no smoking inside the flat or house.
Happy to have individuals, couples or families with children.
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Farmstay
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
we try to be as gentle on the earth as we can be so use organic growing methods wherever possible.
It would be wonderful to be self sustaining but that is unrealistic at this point. We have been on the property for two years now, it was virtually abandoned when we took over so it has been a lot of hard work to get it back to a manageable state and planting many trees besides the existing avocados. It is now almost there and so there is maintenance work and we are now able to develop new areas and ideas.
There is a variety of work including renovations in addition to the orchard work of picking and packing avocados, weeding, mowing, spreading compost, digging and planting out vege gardens etc. There is always cleaning to do if that's your preference. We have a LOT of windows. There is always plenty to do!
Always happy to have qualified arborists, often carpentry work available, and then there is all the ongoing horticultural work of planting, weeding, mulching etc.
english, basic schoolgirl french
self contained two bedroom flat with most of the mod cons :-)
we have the tutukaka coast nearby with the wonderful poor knight islands for diving and snorkelling trips.
we have a lot of coast line on the east coast, with absolute stunning beaches and lovely short and long walks.
the bay of islands is accessible for a long day trip or overnight easy trip.
same time to the waipoua forest with the kauri trees and bush walks.
whangarei township has everything you could need altho it is not a big city.
there is a strong international sailing community which sits out the cyclone season from nov to may so there is the chance to get crewing work up to the islands if that is of interest. most international boats leave between april and june.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
