Friday, March 29, 2024

Easing the OE

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Travelling overseas on the big OE can churn through your savings at a nauseating speed as you head from one tourist spot to the next and often get only a glimpse of what it is like to actually live there. Or you can search for host families in countries around the world who offer food and accommodation in return for a few hours work a day.
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Tom Murdoch is a 19-year-old Scotsman from a dairy farm near Glasgow who is in the middle of a three-month stint on a dairy farm in Nelson’s Sherry River, working for equity farm managers Steve and Kerry Semmens.

For free accommodation and food, he helps out on the 800-cow dairy farm for four to five hours a day and gets to experience the New Zealand dairy industry compared to the 120-cow herd back home that is housed for seven months of the year. He’s also part of a local family and gets to know other locals, explore the area, go fishing and is anticipating his first-ever pig hunting adventure.

He’s following in the footsteps of his older sister who was also hosted by the Semmens several years ago when she headed to NZ to experience and explore the country.

The siblings sourced their host family through the website HelpX, which lists farm stays, homestays, ranches and even sailing boats that invite volunteer helpers to spend some time with local people. Another popular option is WWOOF, which stands for willing workers on organic farms, around the world, that similarly offers food and accommodation for wwoofers in return for a few hours work a day. In NZ there’s Backpacker Board and Farm Helpers in NZ (FHINZ) – as they say, “don’t leave home ‘til you’ve seen the country”, or maybe different farming experiences in NZ.

Overseas, you can find host families in rural settings in an extensive list of countries and find anything from a 12,000ha ranch in Argentina to helping with dog sled teams in the Yukon, a sheep farm in England’s Yorkshire Dales or an organic farmstay in the French countryside. The world really is your oyster when it comes to finding travelling adventures through host families.

For Tom, it’s a chance to see NZ, but also dairying in a different climate and scale to back home. His family milks 120 Holstein-Friesians that calve and milk throughout the year and spend seven months inside because of the harsh Scottish climate. The cows graze on about 81ha, while a bigger chunk of the farm – 121ha – produces silage and barley to feed the cows through the seven months inside.

Now he’s working with an 800-cow herd and if he’s on the morning milk, he can be finished his HelpX hours by mid-morning. That gives him the rest of the day to explore the region and check out not just the tourist spots but all the hidden treasures that the locals have told him about. As well as short working hours during the day, he gets a day off a week where he can head off in the “wee motor home” he bought for his excursions.

“I’ve got friends in NZ working full time and they haven’t seen much of NZ yet.”

He’s not getting paid, but this part of his travels isn’t costing him much either, and if Steve and Kerry are short-staffed there’s the chance now and again of working more hours and making a bit of money.

His trip began in Western Australia, driving tractors as much as 100 hours a week during the grain harvest, so when he arrived at his HelpX job in Nelson, it was a chance to relax a bit and get a bit of sightseeing finally.

“It’s a good way of trying something new. NZ is quite famous for its dairy industry, so I thought it would be good for learning.

“I’ve learnt a few life skills since I’ve been travelling too. I think it’s a good time to travel, when you’ve younger, because you’re not tied down and haven’t got long-term relationships.”

Kerry and Steve have been hosting helpers since 2006 and it was a natural progression from their own experiences as travellers. Kerry hails from another part of Scotland and met Steve when she backpacked to NZ, while Steve travelled for four years overseas, varying London-based work with milking cows on an Israeli kibbutz.

Consequently they have an affinity with backpackers who Kerry says are generally good workers and fun to have around the home.

“We’ve always found that people who have the gumption to get away and travel have a bit of go about them. They’re not coming to New Zealand to watch telly; they want to get a bit of Kiwi culture.”

They have three children and generally get three or so helpers through the year for varying amounts of time. In the past they often helped with the kids, especially at calving time, when the kids were young and Kerry was tied to the house.

“It’s good for your stress levels and sanity. And it’s great for the kids because they’re asking different questions around the dinner table.

“If we didn’t have Tom here, we would have to look for casual labour. Tom’s happy to fit in with the roster because he gets time off for travelling. He’s got flexibility.”

In fact, they like Tom so much they offered him a full-time job, which he had to decline because of his commitment to the family farm back in Scotland.

The Semmens usually employ four full-time staff but are down to three because one is on maternity leave, so having a HelpX worker helps fill the gap and they’ve also got someone to cover when their other staff take holidays.

“I think it’s also good to get foreigners on your farm to show them the good side of NZ dairy farming.”

Both hosts and helpers join organisations like HelpX and WWOOF and create a listing or profile that can receive reviews or references. Hosts sometimes search for helpers with specific skills, such as the ability to ride horses, agriculture or horticulture, carpentry or caring for children.

HelpX started in NZ in early 2001 and, like WWOOF, most hosts are lifestylers with blocks of land that need helpers for a myriad of tasks from making compost and general gardening to making mud bricks and cheese-making. Hosts might only need a helper – or pair of helpers – for a week, or for months. It just takes a little time sifting through the numerous listings to find something special.

Though most hosts offer accommodation and food in exchange for a few hours work a day, every situation is different and it pays to clarify the details before accepting. Some might only want help for a couple of hours a day and ask helpers to provide and cook their own food.

Helpers might stay in the family home or have separate accommodation. It might be possible to work a couple of eight-hour days and then get a couple of days off to go on a longer adventure.

Like any job, paid or not, a lot depends on how well everyone gels and while one experience might be the best part of the big OE, another could provide a good tale to tell, if not an enjoyable one.

Kerry says they’ve never had a bad experience with their helpers over the years and the family has enjoyed hosting travellers from around the globe and getting to understand their cultures as much as their helpers want a taste of Kiwi culture.

Check out:
www.helpx.net
www.wwoofinternational.org

And in New Zealand:
www.fhinz.co.nz
www.backpackerboard.nz

 

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