Our First WWOOFING Experience

On November 8th, Sebastien and I took a bus, County Link, from Burleigh Heads to Byron Bay.  Once we arrived in Byron Bay we were picked up by the lovely Clare Hopkins and she took us to her home in Bangalow.

In order for us to do this trip for more than a month we will be using a few resources.  These resources include helpx and housesitting.   Helpx helps people who are looking for help to connect with travelers who are looking for accommodations in exchange for some work.  This exchange has been going on for a long time and the nickname for the people who actually come to help is WWOOFers.  This stands for Willing Worker On Organic Farms.  Though the helpx resource is not necessarily for organic farms.

We landed a gig with right away and with in a few days we were in the care of Clare Hopkins.  She said that she put it out into the universe that she was looking for a French speaker to help her friend JP, who wanted to use his French, to build a shed.  Low and behold we connected and what a treat it has been.

The first night we were in Clare’s home she cooked us a wonderful chicken meal (no I did not eat the chicken) with veggies and potatoes.  Delicious!  Oddly enough we sat and eat with Clare, her partner Peter, and JP and discussed Lowen, Riech, spirituality, quantum physics, and personal growth stuff.  It was a wonderful treat to be in the company of like minded people.

Here are some pictures of Clare’s beautiful house and land.

Our room…

The beautiful backyard and the amazing plum tree…

The agreement was that we would provide 4 hours of work in exchange for meals and accommodations.  What were were able to help Clare with included Sebastien building a shed with J.P. while speaking some French, weeding, power washing the dirt off the deck, cleaning out the refrigerator, and Sebastien helped Clare set up her blog/website.  Which is beautiful and show cases Clare’s lovely paintings and art.

I felt that it was an honor to help out Clare because she was taking such good care of us.  She cooked us fabulous meals and went out of the way to make us feel welcomed and comfortable.  We were very welcomed into her home and heart.  Thank you Clare!

Another trea was in meeting the cat, Be., J.P., Peter, and Zoe.  Sebastien really liked Be though.  Here are some pictures of our stay with Clare and her family.