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Who can join WWOOF Australia?
You need to be at
least
18 to join WWOOF Australia, members can be of any nationality - including Australian. It should be noted that participants require a level of maturity and
independence to participate in the program.
Due to the physical and mental demands of the WWOOF experience, participants should have at least average physical fitness. The nature of the program is such that it is generally unsuitable for persons suffering from psychiatric or psychological conditions.
WWOOFers
should expect to do 4 to 6 hours of
farming
/gardening work in exchange for
each
days food and board (depending on factors like season, workload, quality of
their
work and the
accommodation, etc). These hours can be flexible so WWOOFers have free days but
this
must be
negotiated with the Host.
WWOOF Hosts will want to check your WWOOF
Membership book against your passport or other photo ID when you arrive, if you contact Hosts
from a fraudulent websites you will not be issued with a membership
book or WWOOFing insurance and Hosts will not accept you.
To read some feedback from WWOOFers and WWOOF Hosts, visit our
Feedback page
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The
Australian WWOOF Book
costs
AUD$60.00 plus $5.00 postage per order
outside Australia only
PLEASE NOTE:
you MUST arrange your entry visa to Australia BEFORE
you join WWOOF.
WWOOF Memberships will not be refunded if you
cannot get an entry visa .
WWOOF Pty Ltd and WWOOF Hosts cannot assist with visa applications or travel
costs, so please do not ask. See
Overseas Information & visas
If you live in China and wish to join WWOOF Australia, please contact our
Agent for China, as you cannot order
direct from WWOOF Australia. You must be at least 18 years and will need
to obtain a
tourist visa
before you join.
Your Hosts
Within Australia, as in many parts of the world, our hosts are mainly pursuing a simple, sustainable, lifestyle. Many are Permaculture enthusiasts, and about 20% use Bio-dynamic growing methods. About a quarter of the farms in the WWOOF Book are
Certified Organic properties. Some of our hosts are alternative co-operative communities, and a few are communal living groups. The work you will do for these hosts is likely to be
as wide and variable as the hosts themselves. Since you work as family there are no set hours, but an average of four to six hours daily
of farming / gardening type would be a fair exchange.
Length of Stay:
The minimum stay on a WWOOF farm is two nights, the maximum stay is by mutual agreement between you and your host. Most stays are for a few days only, but there are a number of hosts who encourage longer term stays up to as long as six months, usually after a trial period of four or five days.
How to Book with a Host:
Once you've found a suitable host in
the WWOOF Book, (use Google Maps to
find WWOOF host locations)
bookings can be made by phone, mail or email
(always put WWOOF in the subject line), to the farm you choose, with a follow-up phone call to confirm your booking.
You can fill in a
WWOOFer
application form, and send it to the
host of your choice. Remember that the more you tell the host about what you can
offer them, the more likely they are to want to Host you!
The cost of travel and
accommodation to and from individual Host properties is your responsibility,
however some hosts will pick you up from the nearest train or bus stop by prior
arrangement.
What to take with you:
Sleeping Bags. Mostly accommodation is in a spare room within the family home - but see the host's entry for variations. Usually bedding would be supplied,
but this is not certain. Check when booking, but it would make sense to
have a sleeping bag with you for emergency use.
Sunglasses, Hats, Boots
& Gloves: While work can be anywhere in a garden or farm situation, always anticipate the worst weather and wear
these to protect yourself from sunburn, ultraviolet rays, injury, bites and
stings.
Goodwill and respect for the privacy of your host,
remember in most cases you will be living with a family in their home, so please
respect their private space and the rules of their home.
Common Sense ... and
a willingness to ask questions about places, people, tasks and processes.
Hints on WWOOFing: Try to phone your prospective hosts between
8.00 am and 9.00 am, or between 6.00 pm and 8.00 pm for the best chance of catching them. It
helps if you sound enthusiastic and promote your skills.
You must give the host:
-
your WWOOF membership number
& date of membership (so the host knows that
your membership is current)
-
your name
-
your contact phone number
& e-mail address
-
details of skills, abilities, things, you are experienced and good at doing, which you feel may be useful to the Host
-
when you would like to come and for how long you would like to stay
-
if presently staying with a WWOOF Host, the name and contact details of that Host
-
Why you have chosen this particular host
-
Any
allergies, physical limitations, diet restrictions the host will need to be aware of if accepting you as a WWOOFer.
Your acceptance depends on
whether or not you are actually a WWOOF member or willing to join. (Some hosts
will accept you if you are prepared to join as soon as you get to their
property, Hosts can arrange this for you when you provide them with your
identification and pay them for your membership, WWOOF will send your book to
you at the Hosts address)
Ask the host to clarify the accommodation you will have and the number of hours they expect you to work. You are expected to eat the food provided by your host, ask what sort of meals they provide (some are vegetarian, some are not) - if you are on special diet,
please bring your own food. Many hosts live a long way from shops and you may not be able to get supplies once you arrive.
Be prepared to get out and
meet local people. Get the most from your visits. Stay a few weeks at one place, then try a different style of host to broaden your experience.
Potential Participants in the WWOOF program should satisfy themselves that they are able to cope with the physical
and mental demands of the WWOOF experience. Participants should have at least average physical fitness. The nature of the program is such that WWOOFing is generally unsuitable for persons suffering from psychiatric or psychological conditions. If in doubt please contact WWOOF to discuss and/or discuss the matter with your Medical Practitioner.
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Adam
Greenman has WWOOFed his way around England, Scotland, France, Spain
Portugal & Hungary and has written an A-Z pocket handbook for WWOOFers, called
The Practical Guide to WWOOFing .
This can be purchased direct from Adam in
paperback or
as an
e-book
directly from WWOOF Australia
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WWOOFing with Children
Many host farms welcome children by arrangement - please look at a host's entry in the WWOOF book to check. The most important point to make is that - please - never WWOOF with children except by prior arrangement with the host. Although you may be keen to WWOOF, your child may not like the idea of a strange place, new faces, different food, and not sleeping in their own bed. It would be sensible to start with a short visit.
WWOOFing is about helping the host, and if you are also looking after a child then the help you can give is limited. Children must be supervised at all times. You cannot just tell older children to "go off and play". Farms can be dangerous places - they are not playgrounds. Younger children may not have the patience needed to allow you to hoe a long line of vegetables, nor should not be near you when you are chopping wood etc.
One solution is to
travel with another single parent or a partner and take turns to supervise. Remember that the host will be feeding and accommodating several people in exchange for one person's help, so a contribution to the cost of food might be needed. Many hosts have limited resources, which is why they ask for WWOOF help.
Some host farms are in remote places and those with children welcome the company of others. Being remote means that you need to carry everything your child might need since popping down to the local shop won't
always be possible.
At many farms there will be other WWOOFers - some will like children, others may not - and you may well be sharing
accommodation and have to consider the fact that everyone, including yourself, needs a good nights sleep after a hard days
work.
Please do not think in terms of giving the children a nice holiday on a farm. There are specialised farms which offer this sort of holiday. We receive many reports of excellent WWOOFers with children but there have also been some disastrous ones. Those that go wrong, are usually due to poor arrangements prior to the visit - expecting behaviour from the child beyond their capabilities at that time - or expecting unreasonable facilities from the host.
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WWOOF Guidelines for WWOOFers and Hosts
WWOOFing Guidelines for WWOOFers and
WWOOF Host guidelines
Read the
WWOOFer Guidelines in Japanese, the
Host Guidelines in Japanese, the WWOOFer Guidelines in Korean or the
Host Guidelines in Korean The Japanese Guidelines are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You need the Acrobat viewer to view these files. which can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe
The History of WWOOF in
Australia
WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms)
was started in England in 1972 when the first WWOOFers spent a weekend helping on an organic farm in exchange for their keep. The organization was initially called Working Weekends on Organic Farms, but was changed to Willing Workers on Organic Farms in 1982 after people asked "why only weekends?"
Today there are 50 WWOOF groups all over the world, including France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Italy, USA, Austria, UK,
Nepal, India, Korea, New Zealand and Canada. All the groups are independent, but operate in a similar way, by putting people into contact with each other. Throughout the world the WWOOF philosophy is the same; WWOOF hosts provide food and lodging to travellers and students in exchange for between 4 and 6 hours work per day.
Lionel Pollard started WWOOF in Australia in 1981, and over the last 29 years WWOOF has grown into an organization that employs 7 people, and publishes a
WWOOF Book of over 2,000 host farms and properties all over Australia. This book provides contact details, a description of the property, the work to be done and the accommodation
& meal situation. The WWOOFer simply browses through the list, chooses a place they would like to go and contacts the host to arrange a mutually suitable time to visit. The choice may be based on geography (close to a route they are travelling); or philosophy (such as biodynamic farming practices); cultural (many of our hosts speak other languages as well as English) or it may just sound like an interesting place to visit. WWOOFers live and work with the host families in the same way as relatives and friends do when they visit.
Many of our hosts are involved
in Landcare and Land for Wildlife organisations throughout Australia. WWOOFing
is a hands-on way of learning about organic farming and environmental rehabilitation.
WWOOF Pty Ltd (A.C.N. 085-920-690) 2166 Gelantipy Road, W Tree, via Buchan, Vic 3885 Australia
E-mail wwoof
@ wwoof.com.au (no spaces)
Phone (03) 5155-0218
From outside Australia,
Telephone +61-3-5155-0218
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