Australia and WWOOF

Having already spent two weeks in Australia it’s about time I give an update.

I didn’t really think it through when I applied for the free eVisitor visa which is valid only for three months. Because Australia is BIG. But hey, it was free…
Three months is a short time if you want to see a lot but also do a bit of wwoofing to get to know people and culture. WWOOF originally stands for world wide organization of organic farmers and is exactly that. You can become a member and help out on registered organic farms worldwide for food and accommodation.

People I talked to who knew people who had done it said it had been great. Seeing that accommodation is probably the biggest chunk financially when traveling, wwoofing certainly is a cheap - if slow - way to travel, you just move from farm to farm, far off the beaten tourist tracks, and all you have to pay for is some transportation.

So, after two nights in Brisbane and getting used to the time zone I met my host Randall, together with two other wwoofers, Damien and Jackie, at the Brisbane museum, because Damien wanted to see the Egyptian exhibition.

Jackie was leaving and was dropped off at a friend’s place, and Randall, Damien and I went to see the museum, did some grocery shopping after that, and drove back to the farm, 40 min north of the city.

It wasn’t really a farm though. It was a fairly large property owned by different parties of Randall’s family. There was also a big orchard, a creek with waterholes for swimming, a big veggie garden and 8 chickens. The house was amazing. Randall had started building it when he was 14 and wanted to move out of his parents’ place. It looked like a mix of tree house in the middle of the jungle and a pyramid with different levels and most common rooms without walls. Which is why we had frequent visits of lizards, snakes and spiders. Once I find a computer with internet access I’ll post pictures of house, people and creatures.

My job was building a new chicken den to keep the 7 chickens and the one rooster happy. Snakes like chickens, therefore I found myself weaving chicken wire for 4 days to make the den snake proof. There was also the watering of the numerous plants which took maybe an hour every day. Apart from that it was me who did the dishes all the time which was fine until Randall got a new blender and went crazy with it. We had smoothies, lemonade, soup and ice cream several times a day, all made with the blender. Lots of dishes to wash. But we also had a bonfire, stone oven baked pizza, and a film screening of one of the documentaries Randall had written and directed, in the garden, which was really cool. Oh, and home-brewed beer.

I met different people there, other wwoofers, Randall’s mum, who one day brought us fresh scones and biscuits, and other folks. I was offered to stay for three more weeks while Randall was gone, but I declined.

My official excuse was that I only had three months and didn’t want to spend one of them just at one place. But to be honest, I also didn’t like the idea of being responsible for keeping a huge garden, 7 chickens and a rooster alive, while also having to deal with other wwoofers. I like meeting people, but sometimes, all I want is some alone time to accommodate my introvert side. Doing small talk with people you don’t choose to talk to can become tiring after a while. While I enjoyed talking to Randall, I was a bit at a loss with the other wwoofers who were about 10 years my junior.

So I did have a good time wwoofing, but I was also happy having my independence, anonymity, regular shower and spider-free bathroom back. Will I do it again? Maybe, but not very soon.