Profile information
Host rating
80 %
Feedback
27
Facebook verified
Email verified
Badges (3)
Details
Description
Our family of 3 children, 1 slightly tubby Bearded Collie, 2 cats, 2 sheep , several chickens and three + rabbits live on 2.5 Acres, of regenerating native bush and grass.
We are working hard to be self sufficient but have some way to go (the veggie patch is looking a little bit sad right now...). We generate our own power, harvest water and use worm composting for our septics which seems to work well. The house is almost five years old and built to be energy and materials efficient.
Our village is in the heart of a fantastic slice of countryside with beaches, shops, cafe's and every activity you could imagine a short drive away. We are out dog walking, mountain biking, swimming as often as we can...trying to find a balance between getting on top of the weeds, housework and having fun!
We have had some great times with people we have hosted and every day we look out our windows and see what we have achieved together. However we still have a fair bit of work to do and are slowly working through several landscaping projects including finishing our fire pit and steps, clearing weeds / gorse / bramble and planting more shrubs, natives and fruit trees. As soon as one project is finished there always seems to be another one in the making :-)
Right now we are in need of some help all round! Very soon we will be starting some new planting projects as well as strimming and trimming the new spring growth! On a rainy day (of which there are many during the spring) we may ask for some help in the house or help to refurbish our dining room, table and some wooden chairs we have just bought on Trade Me - both need some sanding and filling to get them ready to repaint.
Juggling three sporty kids and the washing that comes with it means there are rarely enough hours in the day to make a dent in the backlog, let alone start new projects! We like to mix it up a bit - there is always stuff to do in the garden but when its wet and we can't get outside we can always find a project or two in the dry.
We would love to welcome a cheery, sociable couple who enjoy a challenge and don't mind mucking in in our busy, noisy household - if that sounds like you - please get in touch!
Just mucking in, having some fun, great food and a few beers at the end of the day would be great! Surf board, mountain bikes available for use...
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
General Maintenance
Help around the house
Animal Care
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We are keen travellers (albeit more sporadic these days) and love sharing travel stories and tips with our guests. We are happy to offer advice about places to see and things to do in NZ and have really enjoyed sharing our little piece of NZ with our guests from overseas :-). Staying with us you will get to see how we live on a day to day basis, juggling fun times with getting things done. You will be welcome to come out with us on the weekends and be part of our busy, noisy family during your stay. We hope that you will learn a little bit about Kiwi life, enjoying the great outdoors!
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
The kinds of things we would love help with include
- planting, weeding and mulching
- help with landscaping projects
- sanding and repainting tables and chairs
- clearing bramble to restore the stream and planting with natives
- help with our animals
- help with housework
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Accommodation
We have a room with a double bed and loads of space in the house to hang out. This has been perfect for couples. Internet is available 24 hours. We have use of the village pool in the summer and we are a short 10 minute drive from the nearest shopping centre, Albany. The drive to the centre of Auckland is 20 minutes (if traffic is good). Murawai is our closest surf beach (25 minutes) and Long Bay or Orewa on the east coast (15 minutes).
What else ...
We do live in the country. There is no public transport in the immediate vicinity but we are happy to drop you in Albany when we can if you need to shop / travel by bus to other parts of Auckland. We have space for your car or van and we have Mountain bikes available to borrow if you like to ride.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (14)
We have stayed two weeks with this family and we just loved it! It was the beginning of our WHV in NZ and we couldn't dream for a better start! Sarah is so nice and she cooks so well and Maurice is so funny and nice too!
The work was fair and we could go out in the afternoon to visit the west coast with good advices.
We loved… read more
travel through NZ possible. They helped us to sort out some serious problems so we could stay instead of
flying home.
Being with the Hobans was just what we were looking for. We enjoyed the work, where Sarah taught us a
lot in gardening. Afterwards… read more
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
We have stayed two weeks with this family and we just loved it! It was the beginning of our WHV in NZ and we couldn't dream for a better start! Sarah is so nice and she cooks so well and Maurice is so funny and nice too!
The work was fair and we could go out in the afternoon to visit the west coast with good advices.
We loved… read more
travel through NZ possible. They helped us to sort out some serious problems so we could stay instead of
flying home.
Being with the Hobans was just what we were looking for. We enjoyed the work, where Sarah taught us a
lot in gardening. Afterwards… read more
Mainly we worked in the garden moving flax, weeding or trimming grass as well as building a retaining wall and helping a bit in the household. We also planted a few plants before the high summer hit:)
The Hobans are busy! There is always something going… read more
The food was great (I already miss your pizza!), we helped with weeding, planting and general upkeep. Sarah really helped us sorting out our bank account after a few glitches and Maurice gave us some great tips for places to go in New Zealand.
We loved all their… read more
The work they had for us wasn't much and they were… read more
They helped us with some garden projects including moving our fire pit project a little further along and a lot of weeding!… read more
Taking part of their projects was so enjoyable, there is so much to do, you'll find something for you !
Their home is warm and welcoming and the work-in-progress garden is promising (and the only one where you can see a flying trampoline !!!).
We loved our "family time" together,… read more
We felt us like a part of the family and enjoyed the time… read more
It was school holidays and their help around the house and garden was invaluable! They worked their way through our list of chores including mowing the lawns, repotting seedlings, cleaning windows (quite a job!!), fixing up the chicken run to stop the wily chickens escaping (yeh!),… read more
