Profile information
Host is looking for help immediately
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
16 Jun 2025
Reply rate
93.8 %
Usually responds within 3 days
Feedback
14
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Details
Description
Hi, we are Keely and Daniel and our two daughters are Milena (9) & Nisha (7).
We live in the Blue Mountains and are looking for help in the garden, general maintenance as well as other projects which could include ome painting and other minor landscaping and construction. Knowledge of gardening, landscaping or construction would be useful but anybody keen to get stuck in is welcome.
Our lovely family home had a very overgrown garden and that we have worked hard to turn it into a wonderful, beautiful, fun space for us to enjoy and our kids to grow up in. We have been fortunate enough to host some great workawayers in this time who have helped with a lot of the major work. Our big projects are mostly completed now but we still need help to maintain the garden and finish up some messy sections.
We grow as much food as we can manage, keep quails and have a very lovely pet bunny.
Keely works part time as a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Daniel is working (partly from home) in community housing full time.
The Blue Mountains is a beautiful place. We live about 15 minutes walk from a train station which can take you anywhere in the mountains, there's so many beautiful places to visit.
No smokers, and whilst we enjoy a drink sometimes we will not have intoxicated people around our children.
We are an LGBTIQ friendly home.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Interests
Nature
Performing arts
Languages
Sustainability
Culture
Gardening
Cooking & food
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
The Blue mountains is a beautiful place to visit, and offers countless bushwalking/hiking opportunities as well as some of the most stunning scenery in the country. The Blue Mountains is the stunning traditional lands of the Darug and Gundungurra peoples, there are so many beautiful walks and getting out on country is one of the best ways to connect with and experience Australia.
We have a strong history in both hosting couchsurfers and couchsurfng during our various travels, and we did so because we love meeting people from different cultures and learning about all ways of life. We love our kids to meet people from different cultures and hear your stories.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
We're mostly looking for help weeding, mulcing and tidying in our back garden and keeping the house. There may also be other odd jobs like some painting to be done on fences etc. We'd be looking for a single person or couple to do about 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week but times and days can be flexible (especially since gardening is weather dependent). This might mean sometimes working longer days when needed and then taking extra days off.
If it rains a lot while you are here, then you can give the house a deep clean instead 🙂 As we both work and have children we often find it hard to keep on top of the cleaning and are happy to have help decluttering the endless amounts of stuff that seems to come into the house. There are plenty of general home maintenance jobs around as well, so please let us know if you have experience with any home DIY.
We'd also really like someone who will cook for us twice a week (or more if you love to cook) so we can experience some new dishes, as we love trying new food from different cultures.
We do have two young kids, so the right volunteer(s) will need to be good with kids, kind and friendly. Your attitude towards kids is very important, as we expect them to be treated with kindness and respect.
We expect that you will tidy up after yourself, help out with communal tasks such as cleaning up after meals and generally treat the house with care. We would greatly appreciate hosting people who can pitch in with general tasks rather than waiting to be asked. At the end of your stay please give your bedroom and bathroom a thorough clean.
If you have other skills or interests we'd love to hear about them, it's always great to have people teaching our kids new things.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Chinese (Mandarin): Beginner
Accommodation
We have a large private room with a double bed, and you will have a separate shower and toilet from us. Your living area is downstairs and we mostly live upstairs so you will have plenty of your own space. We have a shared hammock area that you can relax in and your room opens directly to the back deck.
Amenities:
Heating in room
Use of our washing machine
Internet
TV
We live close to a railway line and road so you will hear the occasional train go past and trucks. Otherwise it's a very quiet residential area. As we have kids, we ask that evening noise be kept to "moderate" levels. We eat early around 5:30-6pm and after dinner we are busy getting our kids to bed so once the cleaning is done you'll have the evening to yourself to relax.
We will provide a cooked dinner with our family every night, we'd love you to cook twice a week so we can try new things. You are welcome to use the kitchen to prepare food for your own breakfasts, lunches/snacks. We can provide basics like bread, oats, fruit, vegetables, pasta, rice etc. There is often leftovers from dinner that you can have for lunches. Please let us know any dietary requirements when applying. We eat mostly vegetarian and fairly healthy, a lot of veggies and only have meat 1-2 times a week, we can easily accommodate vegetarian, vegan and gluten free guests.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
My animals / pets
Ashes
Feedback (6)
The family was helpful in every way - whether with tips about other countries or great recommendations for the best bush walks in the Blue Mountains or interesting facts about animals and… read more
During their stay they did a lot of work… read more
Photos
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(4.7)
Communication:
(5.0)
The family was helpful in every way - whether with tips about other countries or great recommendations for the best bush walks in the Blue Mountains or interesting facts about animals and… read more
During their stay they did a lot of work… read more
It was cold and rainy while she was here, so we didn't get her out doing gardening but did some animal care, laundry, ironing, general cleaning and deep cleaned the fridge. She did a good job of all tasks. She… read more
He got on well with the kids, playing games with them, baking cookies and trying valiantly to teach them… read more
She generally sleeps late and often would not come upstairs to us until midday or early afternoon, but after this would work for the afternoon, help with (or… read more
They are both very hard workers, and… read more
She did some weeding in the garden, helped deep clean the pantry and cooked… read more
