welcome to Tassie mate

For our first week in Tasmania, we looked for a woofing place. Woofing and HelpX are websites where you can find farms or other private individuals who need help in their house or garden. You work 3 to 4 hours a day and in return you get free accommodation and food. It's a wonderful opportunity to really travel in a country. It's a nice give and take and a wonderful opportunity to exchange cultures.

We spent the first week with Tim. Tim is 60 years old and has his farm near Deloraine. He has a large property. Half of it is wooded and the other half is planted. It is important to him to preserve the bush on his property because he believes in the balance between everything. Tim has chickens, cows, a milk cow, and his faithful dog Jake. He has everything his heart desires. He grows all his own food and can live so well from it that he can even sell the surplus at the market. He lives alone and does everything himself. He makes his own cheese, bakes his own bread, has his own vegetables, slaughters his own chickens and cows, and even brews his own beer.

The week showed me how much is really possible. The world gives you many opportunities that just want to be used. We mostly weeded in the gardens and were able to watch Tim closely.

With great joy, he showed us his property and answered every question from us with enthusiasm. We ate wonderfully the whole week, helped with baking bread, made feta and mozzarella, and much more.

It feels good to finally be out of the city. I can finally breathe freely again and slowly settle in the new continent.

Tim loves Japan and uses every free second to tell you a new story about his travels. Every day he folds at least one crane (origami), it stands for luck, joy, and long life. His whole house is full of origami. He proudly tells us that most of them are from Japanese woofer's who all want to teach him a new origami, but he prefers to stick with his crane, which keeps taking him back to his visit to Hiroshima.

On Tim's property, there is a small wooden hut without running water, where John currently lives. John is originally from England but has been living in Australia for many years and also has a second citizenship. He is a yoga teacher and a very talented musician. One evening, he played the piano and guitar at the same time here.
On Saturday evening, we were allowed to participate in a yoga class with Tim. We drove to another beautiful farm and settled down on the floor in a room with a large window, together with a group. John opened the yoga class with a few nice words and then we sang together. John sat in the middle and played a kind of piano operated by air. He sang a two-line song and the group sang it back. We sang the same passage over and over again. At the beginning slowly and cautious and then slowly got more and more into it. After that, someone else from the group took over and John accompanied on the guitar or with drums. It was an interesting experience. I found it very beautiful to watch the people playing together. They took the whole procedure very seriously but still remained very relaxed about it. I felt well received and I am glad to have been a part of it.

On our last day, we climbed a mountain together with Tim! It took about two hours steeply uphill through the bush! But as always, the effort was rewarded as soon as you reached the top. A wonderful view presented itself to us. Tim said that on some days you can even see the ocean - but you can't have everything.

This week with Tim was a good week! We learned a lot about plants and animals. We almost looked a copperhead snake in the eyes and watched a Tasmanian echidna slinking away. We made mozzarella and beer, got to participate in a yoga class, and admired the view of a beautiful island here.

'If there is a paradise, I hope it's like this place.' Flo