Our first awesome HelpX experience having whetted our
appetite, we decided to let HelpX pick our next destination. Spending weekends in Brisbane meant we wanted to stay on the Gold Coast. So we scouted a few HelpX posts,
and we were lucky enough to get a reply from one host. At that point, we had no
idea just how lucky we were. And they had no idea how unlucky they were.
These hosts had a property near Coomera station, so we hopped on a train on a Monday afternoon, and got to see the Gold Coast countryside again from the train windows. Our hosts have vast acres of land nestled between hills in Wongawallan, where they are in the process of building a house. My pictures don’t do it justice, but this was the Australia we had envisioned, wild, isolated, serene. Rather than put us straight to work as would have been fair, Dan brought us to the local swimming hole for a dip. In a sign of things to come, I spilled beer in the car while trying to pick up his phone. I wiped it off with our towel. For the next week and a half, I was going to be functioning without a brain. But I digress. The wide yet shallow creek was warm from a day in the sun, but just perfect for us to cool off in with a beer in hand. After a while we headed back to the property, and we sat down for a lovely family dinner. Once again, HelpX had come through for us. This kind of traveling, meeting great people, made to feel part of the family, eating delicious home-cooked meals, and discovering locations held secret to the average tourist, is definitely for us.
Rosie lost her best friend two weeks ago. They were inseparable. |
Of course, there is work to do.
However, HelpX hosts seem to be careful not to scare away helpers, so even the
work is either fun or not difficult. For Dan we had to spray weeds, water
plants (I broke the nozzle of the hose), collect rocks (Hi-ho, hi-ho…), line
them up along the driveway, and then, the best part of all, we had to cement
them into place. That meant mixing cement ourselves, and pouring it ourselves. Here
not only did I manage to drain the battery of the mower I was using to haul
rocks, I also let cement dry in the mixer and had to chip it out. We also got
to work at Jo’s mom’s house, where we cleaned her pool, dug up some plants and
leveled the soil for turf, and then we got to the fun part: the water-blaster.
There were tiles around a pool stained by weathering, and all they needed was a
little high-powered pressurized water to bring them back to life. The blaster
was so strong I had pins and needles in my arms after using it. The dirt didn’t
stand a chance. Neither did the pool. The water blasted most of the dirt straight
into it. So much for cleaning it. Even worse, I sectioned the hose feeding a
sprinkler while digging… I also forgot my shorts between locations not once,
but twice. I had become a walking calamity.
For those of you who haven’t become a Dumb and
Dumber character, the best part of working like this is that nothing ever
becomes routine. Jobs vary from host to host, but also from day to day with
each host. The problem is that you never feel competent at any single job. I’m
terrible at mixing cement. I’m terrible at most manual labour. I can only cling
to the hope that I am getting less useless with each finished job. In the end
the job got done, though not as much as our hosts deserved.
Surfers Paradise under attack. Where are the Watchmen when you need them? |
Since
working only lasts 4 hours a day with most HelpX hosts, we had plenty of
downtime to enjoy our new surroundings. They were nice enough to drop us off at
Surfers Paradise one morning, where we headed for the beach. This was our
second walk along the beaches of the Gold Coast, and this time I jumped into
the crashing waves. It was a beautiful day, the air was hot, and the waves were
big, just a perfect day to spend a morning on the beach.
After that we took off on the boat again racing
against the tide that was going out. Then, adventure came to grab us. Or rather
it grabbed the boat, which got stuck in shallow water. We were facing the very
real prospect of being stuck there for hours until the tide came back, unless
we could push the boat to deeper water. We all got out and hauled the boat
closer to shore, hoping to find a channel, no luck. We hauled it out back
towards the opposite shore, still no luck. We were running out of options,
there just aren’t that many directions to haul a boat when you’re stuck in a
river. It’s either right or left. But finding deeper water is apparently like
plugging a USB, it only works on the third try. Somehow, hauling it back
towards shore again, we hit the channel we had hoped to find but missed the
first time. With sighs of relief, we jumped back on the boat and headed home
just as the sun was setting.
Throughout
all of this, we got to know our hosts, and we’re better for it. One is an
accomplished businesswoman who immigrated to Australia from the UK when she was
just a backpacker. She built herself up and became quite successful, eventually
running her own company and managing dozens of employees. The other manages to
wake-up every day for a job he hates, but the money keeps him in it. That takes
more determination and heart than I have. After a day’s worth of dirty,
grueling work, he comes home and builds his house… I found myself admiring both
of them and what they’ve accomplished. They had had two pretty rough weeks
before we got there. They lost a beloved dog to a nasty tick that no vet could
seem to find. A week later, wild dogs ate one of the two goats they’d picked up
from a shelter. On the third week we arrived. These people deserved better.
Leaving them on Friday, Squid and I both felt the heartache of separation you’d
feel from leaving good friends. Luckily, I would see them again soon, because
I’d forgotten my camera on their property!
They only started working on the property a few
months ago, so there’s plenty left to be done over the next several months. If
you want to help these good people, you can find these awesome hosts on HelpX.