New Zealand
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Our family of 3 children, 1 slightly tubby Bearded Collie, 2 cats, 2 sheep and several chickens 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. We generate our own power, harvest water and use worm composting for our septics which seems to work well. The house is new 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 building steps, clearing weeds and planting the property with 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 just to get back on track with what we have already achieved, a busy summer, Autumn rain and warm days has meant an explosion of weeds :-( 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 and we would love some cheery travellers to help us get under control again.
When the weather is fine we prefer help in the garden but if its not so nice there is always plenty to do in the house so we don't worry too much about the unpredictable weather we have at this time of year!
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...
Gardening
Building
Help in the house
Animal care
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!
The kinds of things we would love help with include
- weeding, planting and mulching
- help with landscaping projects
- clearing bramble to restore the stream and planting with natives
- help with our animals
- help with housework if its raining and we can't get outside
English
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).
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.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
