Global Gauthier's: The Daintree Manor Workaway

Coast near Cairns

The flight was brilliant. Many empty seats meant I could sleep most of the way while Milessa did whatever she does.

Once there at 1 pm, we were getting pretty hungry and so shared an airport burger before our workaway host Errol met us in the airport.

His friend, Valya, was also flying in, so he picked us all up at the airport before making the 2 hour drive north to his BnB in Daintree National Park, The Daintree Manor.

For those not familiar with the idea, workaway.info is a worldwide organization, like Woofing. Which means that when you sign up,

Mil cutting the lawn!

you're given a list of hosts that are needing work done on their personal property or business. They then allow you to stay at their place for free with food included, in exchange for 4-5 hours of working doing whatever. Sometimes it's housework, chores, cleaning, gardening, lawn care, painting, animal care, cooking, etc.

So this is what we signed up for with Errol! Online he said he was needing general maintenance done, weeding, help with chickens, cleanup of bush after the cyclone, window cleaning, painting, and room cleanup after guests. Those ended up being most of what we did during our 2 weeks.

So on the way to his place we stopped at the grocery store and he bought what we'd need for the majority of the time and we bought a few snacks. From the very start we could tell how good of a person he was and how much he seemed to care about people. We ended up finding out that he was a christian as well, so that was cool to have that in common.

The drive there was very pretty along the coast north of Cairns. And the Daintree River we crossed is apparently full of salt water crocodiles, so it's not for swimming!

The view from his BnB was also spectacular! Surrounded by mountains and in the middle of a Rainforest (reputed to be the oldest rainforest in the world), it was a very secluded paradise. And the room he allowed us to stay in was amazing as well. Much more comfy than a campervan or

Some of the fruits Errol was growing

shared bunk mattress!

He grew many of his own fruits, and soon vegetables. Mangos, pineapples, cumquats, dragonfruit, soursop, and whole bunch more we forget! He had a bunch of chickens and roosters and 20 guinea fowl. There was also the cutest little Sun Bird, Tweety-pie, that he had saved and now lived in the house. She visited us lots too, just appearing on our shoulders at random!

Though he was not at the point yet, it was his goal to be a self-sustaining property as well. It was

Rainwater tanks

powered mainly by solar panels and had huge water tanks for collecting rain water.

Our days started at 730 when we would have brekky, and begin work at 8. Almost every day Errol made sure we didn't work past noon, which was very considerate of him.

The first day we cleaned the chicken coops, hauled wood into the forest, and moved soil around the yard. After that, every day varied with the jobs I mentioned before. The most exciting was pulling a tree down by myself as it was being cut it down. It tried falling the other way, but we managed to pull it my direction with a whole lot of effort.

Our afternoon/evenings off were very relaxing. We spent most of them at the BnB playing cards, watching birds, and watching some movies (when

there had been enough sunlight to create enough power) before helping make supper. Even though rainy season was supposed to be over, it rained a lot while we were there, so going on hikes or to beaches wasn't really an option much of the time.

During a few of our days off, Errol offered his car or truck (standard right hand drive- so fun!) to take and see some of the area. We did a few short hikes through the rainforest, went into the Mossman Gorge to see some waterfalls, hiked along a beach, and went south to Port Douglas to see their local parade. That ended up being very fun as the whole town was involved and there were fireworks at the end. It was also where we first saw these huge bats- flying foxes about 3 foot wingspan- flying around the city at dusk.

Unfortunately we couldn't swim the ocean anywhere at this time of year. During the day there are too many marine stingers (Box Jellyfish, one of the most venomous animals on the planet) and during the evening/night there was Salt Water Crocodiles to worry about! So swimming this far

Grosse green ants!

north was really an option for at least another few weeks when the jellyfish move north.

So we were able to relax lots! Which was very nice after moving around NZ to a place everyday. We were able to visit with Errol lots, as well as his friend Valya, an older Russian lady. We really enjoyed getting to know both of them during our stay. One of our favourite things was when Tweety would come visit us, you'll know why when you see the pictures!

These was loads of other animals to see in the area as well. Sulphur Crested Cockatoos flew by every day making a raucous noise every time. They were beautiful. Laughing Cuckaberra's also had quite the call, sounding like hyenas in the mornings! There were many others, some we saw and some we weren't lucky enough to see, like the Australian Cassowary- a huge flightless bird that looked like some sort of ancient dinosaur bird.

Though our time there was great, it was also nice to be on our way to Cairns when we drove in with Errol and Valya. The 2 weeks went pretty quick and we were very grateful to have such a great host! Anyone going go north Australia should consider staying at his beautiful Daintree Manor!