Isobel & Ben

Australia
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Profile information

Travel information

We are currently

Travelling
Description

We are motivated to travel and explore new cultures. We love meeting new people and sharing our experiences with others. Some of our passions include making music, cooking and spending time in nature.
Interests

Self development

Events & social

Culture

Pets

Sustainability

Politics / Social justice

Performing arts

Cooking & food

Gardening

Languages

Music

Animals

Outdoor activities

Mountain

Hiking

Fitness

Nature
Languages spoken

English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn

We're interested in:

Languages

Eco Projects

Life at a Farmstay

House & pet sitting

Some knowledge of:

Light gardening

Animal Care

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping around the house

Light maintenance

Able to teach about:

Teaching
More details about your skills

Isobel is a piano tutor and Ben is a qualified classroom teacher and guitar tutor. We both cook regularly for ourselves and for our family. We tend to home gardens and each have our own veggie patch. We have good people skills as we also work in a music shop and interact with many different people every day.
Age

21 & 26
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
- Special dietary requirements

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21 Dec 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Stay and have fun in the ...)

We stayed with Claire and Andrea for one and a half weeks. The stay was originally planned for two weeks but was mutually ended early following a disagreement around disclosed expectations during a planned house- and pet-sitting period.

Work, Tasks & Structure
Before arrival, we had an online call with Claire where expectations, routines and … read more rules were outlined. Claire explained that the schedule was to work from 9:00am to 2:00pm on weekdays with the weekends free, which we agreed to because it was clearly structured and allowed us to plan time to explore. We also agreed to set the dinner table and clean up as part of our responsibilities.
The work consisted of outdoor tasks (raking, transporting wood) and indoor tasks (cleaning). These tasks were reasonable for a Workaway exchange and were clearly explained.

Positive Aspects
The positive aspects included:
• The daily tasks were communicated clearly, and positive feedback was given, particularly regarding efficiency and quality.
• Claire’s meals were home-cooked and tasty. Dinner was a shared experience, and we enjoyed many conversations around food, family, travel, and Italian culture.
• Andrea was calm, patient, and generous with his time and knowledge, particularly around food, wine, and local culture.
• We enjoyed accompanying the hosts on some local outings.

Work vs Personal Time
As the stay progressed, we found that the distinction between work time and personal time became unclear, as additional tasks were often delegated after the workday had ended, such as walking the dogs.
While small requests were understandable and tolerable, some of these tasks took a significant amount of time and regularly cut into what we understood to be our free time. Given that the property is approximately an hour’s walk from the nearest town or train station, these interruptions often made it impractical to rest or properly explore in the afternoons before night fall.

House & Pet Sitting (Key Issue Leading to Early Departure)
The only issue that arose between us regarded a planned house- and pet-sitting arrangement during the second week. We had agreed early on to look after the house and pets while the hosts were away, and we had prior experience with similar responsibilities.
On the day of the hosts’ departure, we were informed that we would not be able to leave the house for more than four hours at a time during this period. This restriction had not been mentioned previously, despite earlier discussions about our intention to explore nearby areas over the weekend.
Given the location of the house, this restriction would have made it impractical to go anywhere meaningful during that time. This was particularly difficult because we had already worked and planned to continue working to accumulate time off for exploring on the weekend. With this new limitation, that time off could not realistically be used, as we would have been house-bound.
If this requirement had been communicated to us earlier, we would have been able to swap the free day of the weekend to a working day during the week, allowing us to explore the area whilst still maintaining pet-sitting and work duties. We were disappointed that this did not happen, especially after all the work we put into cleaning, helping with chores, gardening and looking after the pets.
We attempted to discuss possible alternatives or compromises, explaining that we were not intending to leave the pets unattended for an entire day and had planned our outings between feeding and walking schedules. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no flexibility around this four-hour limit, and the arrangement that we had initially agreed to was no longer being fulfilled by the hosts, which was not fair to us. As a result, we mutually agreed that it was best to end the stay early.

Overall Reflection
While the experience ended earlier than planned, we did appreciate many aspects of the stay, particularly the food, cultural exchange, and some of the shared experiences. For future volunteers, having very explicit agreements around time off, personal boundaries, and, in the case of house-sitting, having expectations clearly outlined before arrival would be important.

(Neutral )

18 Dec 2025

Left by host (Stay and have fun in the ...) for Workawayer ()

Sometimes things do not work out and my husband and I reflect and move forward ,
we refuse to say anything negative about anyone , we very much love the workaway programme and the experiences of meeting new people and cultures .
We wish you all the best .

(Negative )

11 Dec 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Experience an Italian/French ...)

We really enjoyed the two weeks that we stayed with Hedwige and Maurizio and we felt welcomed into their home from the day that we arrived. Our tasks mainly invovled helping out around the house, gardening and completing maintenance work, with Hedwige always explaining clearly to us what we had to do. We loved every meal that we shared with them- … read more

(Excellent )

9 Dec 2025

Left by host (Experience an Italian/French ...) for Workawayer ()

Abbiamo ospitato Ben e Isobel per due settimane condividendo i lavori di casa o del giardino e tutti i pasti! abbiamo apprezzato la loro gentilezza e tranquillità, la loro disponibilità per qualsiasi lavoro e le chiacchiere a tavola grazie all'italiano molto ricco di Isobel. Siamo contenti di aver incontrato questa giovane coppia che ha dimostrato … read more

(Excellent )

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