Discover the area, while helping us with various outdoor home tasks and projects in Clare Valley, South Australia

Infos

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  Description

  We live on a 6.8 acre bush block on the edge of the small town of Clare in the beautiful Clare Vallery wine region of South Australia, a two-hour drive north of Adelaide. The house, guest cabin and my wife’s art studio are set in a tranquil location surrounded by mature gum trees and plenty of wildlife including kangaroos, deer, and many species of birds. We live mostly off-grid using solar power and rainwater.
  We are older, retired householders looking for assistance with some DIY projects around the block. We prefer people who are practical, willing to work and learn new skills, though it would be helpful if at least one person had some basic DIY skills or even some carpentry / joinery / plumbing experience.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Pratique d’une langue

  Jardinage d'entretien

  Projets DIY créatifs

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Petits travaux d'entretien
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  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Technologie

  

  Fitness

  

  Animaux de compagnie

  

  Films et télé

  

  Dev. personnel

  

  Culture

  

  Écriture

  

  Arts du spectacle

  

  Cuisine et alimentation

  

  Photographie

  

  Musique

  

  Histoire

  

  Bricolage / artisanat

  

  Livres

  

  Art et design

  

  Nature
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  Steve has worked in education, occupational psychology and statistics, while Moira has worked in visual arts education, museums, writing, and magazine editing. We have both lived and worked in several countries: Scotland, England, the USA, Australia and Seychelles. We travelled a great deal in our younger years, backpacking in the UK, North America, SE Asia and Papua New Guinea. We have always enjoyed meeting people from different cultural backgrounds, gaining insights into other cultures and lifestyles.
  
  Due to age and health issues, we are now less able to work and travel, so feel that hosting travellers is a great way to meet people from around the world, while also gaining some assistance with DIY on our property. I trained in electrical engineering and have a variety of practical skills which I have applied to many DIY projects. I have a keen interest in self-sufficiency through capturing rain water for household and garden use, making improvements to the house and creating gardens that can supply year-round interest and tolerate the extremes of hot, dry summers and cold winters. I am happy to share my knowledge and skills with Workawayers as they assist me with tasks that I can no longer complete on my own.
  
  Moira and I appreciate the quiet beauty of the bushland surrounding our home, with regular visits from kangaroos, deer and various species of birds. Living in the Clare Valley, one of Australia's premier wine regions, we enjoy visiting cellar doors to taste and buy local wines and we love eating foods from various cultural traditions - sharing some of the cooking and meals with our Workaway guests is a lovely way to learn about different cuisines and get to know each other.
  
  We enjoy music - modern music (especially 1950s-1980s singer songwriters), classical, folk, and world music - films and visual arts, and we like to support local arts businesses and community activities. We regularly attend exhibitions in local galleries, film nights at the volunteer-run cinema in nearby Blyth, and musical events at wineries and other small venues in the area. We also watch some of the local under-17s footy games (Aussie Rules) to see our teenage great-nephews play in the North Clare teams. Joining us for some of these activities is a great way for Workawayers to experience life in regional Australia.
  
  Moira continues to create artwork and teach occasional workshops in textiles, wet felting, and encaustic. You might like to join her in her art studio and try your hand at felting with wool, water, soap and a little elbow grease!

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  Aide

  We are looking for helpers who are willing to assist us with renovations in outdoor areas around the house and garden to improve safety and access, as there are some old and/ or badly-completed DIY (Do-It-Yourself) structures that require maintenance or replacement. In the past, I have tackled such jobs but at 78, I am now physically unable to work on these jobs by myself and I cannot work on my knees anymore. So I am seeking help from Workawayers who are younger and fitter!
  
  The tasks include some woodworking: building a new wooden deck, steps, and pergola, and creating a small access ramp to replace three awkward steps behind the cabin. Familiarity with tools would be good - you would be working alongside me, so would learn from my past experience on a wide range of projects. Better still if you have previous experience of joinery or carpentry.
  
  We are also looking for assistance with replacing a dry stone retaining wall (no higher than 80-100 cm) and adding a few steps. We are planning to use walling blocks that are very easy to build with and require no foundations or mortar, so they are suitable for DIYers. But it would be very useful to have help from someone with some prior experience of hard landscaping to help with planning and installation.
  
  Once this wall has been replaced, our next project will be to demolish the main concrete steps at the front of the house and lay an area of paving to create a patio.
  
  We have a swimming pool which is surrounded by grass - which is very messy. We would like to lay paving instead, and build a small retaining wall that will act as a seating area. The pool also need to be cleaned after being rather neglected over winter so Workawayers are very welcome to help with this, and then enjoy cooling off in it when it is clean and the weather has warmed up.
  
  There are various other tasks that would suit anyone keen on gardening: installing a garden irrigation system, and generally improving the garden with planting, path layout, edging, and creating some raised borders for fruit trees and perhaps a wicking bed for herbs.
  
  Don't worry - we are not expecting all of these tasks to be done by one or two Workawayers! The projects will be spaced out over the next few months and we look forward to hosting different Workawayers to tackle the projects that are best suited to their skills and interests and travel timetable.
  
  Help will be part-time on a voluntary basis in exchange for bed and board. Suggested time commitment is 25 hours per week, which can be arranged flexibly - perhaps over four or five days - allowing plenty of opportunity for you to relax, explore the region and local wineries, or to undertake remote study or work.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il souhaitait faire partager sa propre langue ou en apprendre une nouvelle.
  Contactez-le pour en savoir plus.
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  Hébergement

  Workawayers will enjoy very comfortable, self-contained accommodation in a lovely guest log cabin about 30 metres from our house. It has two adjoining rooms, one with a queen bed and comfy couch, and the other with two single beds, kitchenette, and dining table and chairs. The cabin has a private WC and shower room, a TV and radio, reliable internet and mobile coverage, as well as air-conditioners in both rooms for heating and cooling, and electric blankets on the beds, if needed. The cooking facilities include fridge, hot plates, microwave, toaster, kettle, pans, dishes, cutlery and cooking utensils. Outside, there is plenty of space to park your car, or a campervan if you have one, and a lovely outlook across native bush land and - at present - a small lake ( the first time there has been enough rain, since 2016!)
  
  We will provide you with food for all your meals - we can go shopping together so that you can choose your preferred types of milk, bread, cereal etc. We don't eat a sit-down breakfast or lunch, so Workawayers are able to use the kitchenette in the cabin to prepare these meals when they wish. In the evenings, we enjoy opportunities to share dinner and engage in conversation with our guests, but also need some time to ourselves, as many of you may also prefer. So, some evenings, we will share a meal together in our house (or have a barbie in the garden, weather permitting). Moira and I both enjoy cooking and eating foods of different cuisines. As part of the cultural exchange experience, we also look forward to Workaway guests sharing their own cuisines with us by contributing to cooking some dinners, too. Other evenings you and we may agree to self-cater and have some quiet, alone time.

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  Autres infos...

  The Clare Valley is one of Australia’s leading wine-growing regions located 2 hours north of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. If you do not have your own transport, public buses run to / from from Adelaide four times per week and we can meet you from the bus stop in Clare.
  
  The centre of Clare is only 1.5km away from our home and offers good facilities: shops, cafes, Clare Art House and several wineries. There are many other wineries throughout the Clare Valley and a lot of them have cellar doors where you can taste wines and some also have some dining options.
  
  If you enjoy walking or cycling, there is a lovely 35 km walking and cycling track – the Riesling Trail - and the 100 km Clare Valley Wine & Wilderness Walking Trail, winding through the valley. Both are accessible within 2 km of our house and pass through lovely scenery, providing off-road links to several wineries and to other small towns in the area.
  
  There is limited public transport to some other towns in the area, so a vehicle will be needed if you want to explore the greater area. Or, if you are a keen cyclist we have two bicycles and safety helmets which you are welcome to borrow, although one bicycle requires some attention and probably new tires first.
  
  Bungaree is a historic, working sheep station just north of Clare where visitors can tour 17 heritage-listed buildings, including St Michael's Church, the stable yard, and the historic woolshed.
  
  Nearby towns of interest:
  Blyth: Brooks Lookout is a picnic site situated 400 metres the wheat fields of the Blyth and Wakefield Plains, so flat that you can see 90 kilometres to the Yorke Peninsula. The new 4.4 km Dean Nicolle Eucalypt Walk opened in August 2025. It features more than 2,000 Australian plant species including 300 varieties of rare eucalypt, planted by volunteers between 2010 and 2019. As of September 2025, local resident and artist Ian Roberts had painted around 770 of the 900 species of eucalypts. You can see his work at Medika Gallery in Blyth. The community-run Blyth cinema shows films most days of the week.
  
  Auburn: home to several eateries, a couple of small gallery shops, and HATS (Historic HATS (Heritage, Arts and Traditions), a small volunteer-run live music venue which has concerts two or three times a month in the historic Courthouse Cultural Centre.
  
  Mintaro is a rare example of a historic, colonial town which was declared a State Heritage Area in 1984. Visitors can wander the streets, lined with pretty cottages, lose themselves in Mintaro maze, or sample wines at Reilly's Cellar Door and Restaurant.
  
  Burra is a small historic town about 40 minutes drive from Clare, It was home to a major copper mine in the 19th century until around 1977. Today it is a State Heritage Town with many historic buildings and mine sites being preserved by the National Trust of South Australia. Visitors can follow a self-guided trail to see old mine buildings, miners' cottages in the town, and dugout cottages in the creek bank. It has a lively Regional Art Gallery which presents regular art exhibitions.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  Fixed wireless

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Plenty of parking options for campervans

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Mes animaux

  Callie (9 ans)

  Callie is a beautiful calico cat. As is very common in Australia, she lives indoors to keep the local small wildlife safe. She was a rescue cat and must have had a difficult start to life as she is easily scared and very shy around strangers. We are trying to socialise her with gentle introductions to guests.

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