Working Away

It's a hard life - Workaway, lazing on a beach somewhere

We discovered Workaway, or one of its sister organisations, back in 2007 when we first moved to Galicia. Many of our new acquaintances used one of the volunteer programmes, Wwoof or HelpEx, to find willing helpers to work for them in exchange for bed and board.

Our 'new' home needed more than a little TLC

It seemed a great idea and we met many lovely helpers, but we didn’t sign up as hosts. At that time our ‘home’ was a semi-derelict stone house with a leaky roof, missing floorboards, and no heating or hot water. It didn’t even have a toilet. Our house didn’t seem the sort of place a volunteer would wish to stay.

The bedroom facilities left a lot to be desired

Interestingly, since then, we have discovered many places with less salubrious conditions than our own A Casa do Campo. And have heard horror stories of volunteers treated like slave-labour, but that’s by the by. We carried on renovating our house, alone. And we did okay. Our home was not quite the vision it would be when we finished it, but it was getting more comfortable by the day, and we loved the area.

bedroom and outside were looking better

Then, in 2014, we bought a second derelict stone house to renovate. This one was for my mum, Iris; we had a schedule to work to, and an anxious parent to report to. We needed help.

A Casita needed a LOT of work

Workaway.info was our first choice of organisation. I liked the set-up, their website, and the fact that it was free for hosts. We completed a profile, uploaded some photos which hopefully wouldn’t frighten off too many potential helpers and signed up. Our first workaway arrived in August of that year and our most recent, our 30th, left this week.

Our first Workaway was a dream...

Our first workaway was an Australian, full of good cheer and with a work ethic that was exactly what we needed in those early days. We worked hard, ate well, and visited some of our favourite places in Galicia along the way.

...And had the muscle we needed!

We have since had an eclectic mix of helpers over the years; from throughout Europe, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand.

Our fabulous helpers did any job...

We have had real stars who helped our project to leap along and some who gave us a good laugh if nothing terribly concrete. We have had enthusiasm and practicality, occasional sullenness and lots of laughter. We’ve hosts vegetarians who hate vegetables and vegans who didn’t know they were vegan. We’ve had early risers and ones who stayed in bed until after noon.

...and no job is too much trouble

Our most recent helper was a fabulous lass from Argentina who made breakfast for Mum, empanadas for us all, and taught me to make a weird but surprisingly delicious meringue from aguafaba, or bean water.

A chef as well as a helper

Some of you may have read about our adventures with our Workaway volunteers in my memoir about Mum moving to Galicia, Chestnut, Cherry & Kiwi Fruit Sponge. Mum has been living in her own cottage, A Casita, for seven years now, and our army of helpers made it all possible.

Mum loves her Casita Amarilla

What you may not know is that hubby, S, and I have also been on the ‘other side’ of the Workaway experience when we worked our way around the world in 2019.

It was hard work this Workaway!

When we decided on a round the world trip for S’ upcoming 70th birthday, a logical way to keep the costs down and discover some of the places off the beaten path was to look at Workaway for ourselves. I completed a profile and a list of countries we were visiting then began to search for a host.

I fell in love with Japan

Our first workaway experience was in Japan, on the shores of lake Biwa. We fell in love with Japan and with the Workaway experience. Sadly, I have no photos of that time as my phone broke in Japan so I could take no pictures. Here’s a few S took of Japan.

Lake biwa, Tokyo and snow monkeys

In Australia we Workawayed in Perth, in the Blue Mountains, and in a suburb of Sydney. We painted wardrobes and built huge metal structures, we repaired kitchen cupboards and shower rails. We visited glow worm caves, deserted beaches and botanical gardens. And we ate fabulous food cooked by our lovely hosts.

Just to prove we worked occasionally - me balancing on a beam

When I was first looking for Workaway placements in Australia, I was amazed how forward the Aussies were. Instead of waiting for helpers to contact them, as most places do, they contacted me, asking us to come and work for them. If I’d worried that, at 55 and almost 70, we’d be too old for people to take a chance on us, I was happily mistaken. We could’ve stayed a year in Australia with all the amazing offers we had and some were incredibly difficult to turn down.

Workingaway in Valpo, Chile

In Chile, we Workawayed at an old Art Deco style house near to a beautiful sandy beach and within a short, cheap bus ride of Valparaiso. Our hosts were interesting, and mainly absent, but we enjoyed the surroundings and the views across the harbour from our work stations. We also enjoyed discovering the local buses and the local empanada stalls where we could get supper for a dollar.

Beaches featured a lot in our Workaway experience

We enjoyed our Workaway experiences so much that the following year, when we decided to visit New Zealand’s North Island, we once again found hosts via Workaway. Those two placements, both near to Auckland but in totally different homes, ended up the best we could have hoped for. In New Zealand we discovered new friends, and old ones we didn’t know.

Our hosts nicknamed us Slugger & Slammer for our demolition skills

‘Slugger and Slammer’ demolished a beautiful home on a hillside (at the behest of the owner, I hasten to add), and built a porch on a pretty bungalow in a suburb. S managed to put a drill through his thumb, but I settled for getting thoroughly filthy knocking down walls. We left New Zealand on the last flight before the airports were locked down due to a new and nasty virus called Covid-19, which was closing down the world.

Building instead of demolishing, in Auckland, NZ

We have started taking Workawayers again, here in Galicia, after two years when it wasn’t possible. Our home is now cosy and bright and maybe one day we’ll even get to do more Workawaying of our own.