HelpX, or Help exchange, is a way to travel for free by volunteering in exchange for food and accommodation. There are other similar models like Workaway and WWOOFing, but the one I use is helpx.net. I volunteered my way across New Zealand and Australia from 2011-2013, and later found places to volunteer in Bali and Japan. Typically, I would volunteer from 4 to 6 hours a day and then have the rest of the day free to do whatever I wanted. After doing this podcast with my author and travel friend Rollie Peterkin where he asked about some of my favorite volunteering experiences, he recommended that I write them all down. So here they are, in chronological order!
Category: Volunteering
WWOOF and HelpX: Seeing the World One Farm at a Time
The light filters through the branches of the plum tree, each leaf outlined in a brilliant yellow from the just risen sun. We are reaching up, stretching to pluck the abundant purple plums above us. In about an hour, we’ll all join together for our first meal of the day; muesli, homemade yogurt, and fresh…
Volunteering Abroad
Hi readers, I recently wrote a story about volunteering abroad, and it’s now the featured story on StartBackpacking.com! To read it click the link below: http://www.startbackpacking.com/travel/travel-organic-farm-work-wwoof/ Also, I updated my “volunteering” page with lots of photos. You can click here to find it, or find it under the ‘advice’ column up top. Bonus photo: some…
Gentle Earth Walking
After the peach orchard, James and I headed to helpx at another property near Daylesford, Victoria. Being in Australia, we never expected to meet and live with people who embraced Native American ideals, but here we were! Sue and Don call their project Gentle Earth Walking, where they build custom made teepees, ranging from 15…
Taralee Orchard
James and I volunteered at a stone fruit orchard near Port Pirie, Southern Australia called Taralee Orchard. We stayed for about two weeks and were really happy with our experience! There were 5 other helpers there – Kyoko, Emma, and Marco from Japan, and Werner and Regina from Switzerland. Meeting and socializing with the other…
