Exciting Times Ahead...

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G'day! Just a quickie -

Right, Ellie and I are still staying at the City Backpackers in Brisbane and are now both working and have been for a couple of weeks. I have picked up a data-entry job at a law firm in Greenslopes (around a 15 minute bus journey in the morning from Brisbane CBD) and Ellie is currently working at the EKKA Festival selling show bags (2 days into it). Ellie did start working at the bar here in the hostel but to cut a long story short (Ellie tells it a lot better than I do so ask her!); she stopped working there, and started cleaning at the hostel for free accommodation for around a week and is now working at the EKKA for 10 days. We were both meant to be working at the EKKA but I was offered an extension at my data-entry job so decided to take that as it is significantly more hours.

After Ellie finishes her work at the EKKA at the end of next week and my contract is up, we have decided to try our hand at HelpX. HelpX is a website that is set-up to offer backpackers a chance to stay with a family or a couple at their house/farm and in exchange for 4/5 hours work a day around the house/garden, you get free accommodation and food provided for. We heard about HelpX through two British guys we were sharing a dorm within the hostel and we immediately thought it would be a good idea as it seemed a great way to do something productive and save some money also. We near enough signed up straight away after learning about it and started to apply to some families that appealed to us around the Brisbane/Gold Coast area.

This one family that we applied to seemed perfect as they needed someone (or a couple) to stay with them between the end of August and the middle of September when my dad arrives over. The dates fitted perfectly and after applying, the family (a mum, dad and a five year old girl called Pia) soon got back to us and were very keen on meeting up. The family live in an Eco-Village in Currumbin Valley on the Gold Coast and have just arrived back from four years voluntary work in India. So, what do they need us for? Basically, Penny (the mum) is heading back to India for three works as she has some work to do out there and Rob (the dad) needs a hand looking after Pia and the house while he is at work during the day. They rented the house whilst they were in India and unfortunately the previous tenants left the garden unattended and it is fairly overgrown so they also need a hand tidying that up a bit and sorting out a new vegetable patch (you are obviously encouraged to have a vegetable patch if you live in an Eco-Village).

After having a great veggie lunch and dinner cooked for us (they were all veggies in India) and Penny and Rob outlined the day-to-day tasks for us, we were more than happy to accept their invitation to stay. They are extremely well travelled people, easy to get along with and I just hope that Pia warms to us as she will be spending a lot of time with Ellie and I while her mum is away. It's definitely something a bit different to have a go at and we are definitely looking forward to the challenge! Penny and Rob have also provided us with a car and so at the weekends, we will probably go for day trips around the Gold Coast area as there are plenty of hidden gems to see. The Eco-Village is quite secluded and although it has its own social scene (yoga clubs, book clubs, a pizza oven and a cafe) - we will definitely do our own bit of exploring while we have a car at our disposal.

Ellie and I are really excited now to get our current jobs out of the way and get stuck into a bit of babysitting and gardening! After the HelpX has finished, we will head back up to Brisbane for a couple of weeks while my dad is over visiting and then we will probably head down to Sydney early October time and try looking for some work there. If all goes well with this HelpX and now that we have signed up, it is something that we can both fall back on if we are looking to save a bit of money for a few weeks and get involved in a different kind of work that is normally outside.

I would love to type more but unfortunately my brain is really struggling to work this evening! It is probably from staring at a computer screen all week, so I will stop now and go and lay down for a while I think...

I will update soon once the EKKA is over and all that jazz.

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Comments

[J. Cressman]

Good call on HelpX
Hadn't heard of helpX before. Sounds like a decent site to check out though... thanks. Joel jmcressman.blogspot.com