For us 2012 became the year we got
fully into Helpx and started a new journey. The Helpx website links hosts with
travellers who would like the opportunity to stay and work with local people and
gain practical experience and cultural exchange in return for free board.
 |
| Alex & Karen |
As Tenderbreak is a large rural
property and as we are still building its key infrastructure, there is a list
of jobs “a mile long”. We also try to grow as much of our own food as possible,
so there are continual tasks associated with this process, from preparing and planting
the crop, right through to harvesting and storage.
 |
| Sarah weeding the garlic |
Now
that we are in our sixties, sometimes our bodies have the odd objection to the
ideas in our minds, so we end up with the occasional ache or pain to slow us
down. The perfect solution is to welcome Helpers who have the energy,
enthusiasm and interest to help us out. In return we provide free board, share
our knowledge and skills and hopefully give them an enjoyable experience on
their travels.
 |
| Jeff shifting mud bricks |
This year we have had a total of 14 helpers
from seven different countries. Every one of them are lovely people with whom
it was a joy to share our lives. And they have all been instrumental in helping
us do many important tasks that would have been much more difficult and
slow-going, if we had to do them all by ourselves. We look forward to hosting
many more Helpx visitors during 2013.
 |
| Jodie, Valencia & Tia |
2012 was not all fun and games though.
There were a few issues that caused us pain. Andrew was “out of action” for
several weeks when he injured himself, and then there was some minor (but
expensive) damage to the car. However the event that caused us the greatest
pain (and still does) was the loss of our dear dog Blue (who starred in many photos
in this blog). Although his passing happened in August, it has been too painful
to do a post in memory of our friend. Perhaps we’ll do one in the new year when
our hearts have healed a bit more.
 |
| Laura using human energy to clean the rugs |
No comments:
Post a Comment