Helpx, What’s the Deal?

I’ve just come to the end of a year’s long trip around Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and I’ve been able to fund this travelling simply by doing Helpx. People usually ask me where I stay when I travel and I say, “oh, I’m staying with Helpx hosts”, which is usually met by a blank stare. Those who don’t know about Helpx may know about Wwoofing? But if you don’t know about either then let me explain the concept to you.

Helpx in brief is work for around four hours a day, in exchange for food and accommodation. Some of my friends hear this and ask why I would want to work whilst I’m travelling? Fair enough, if you’re on your jolly holidays for a week or even a few months, then you might not have the time to consider Helpx. But when you’re travelling a country, especially an expensive one such as Australia, then Helpx can really come in handy. It comes from the website www.helpx.net, where you search for a specific country. Some countries such as Australia and New Zealand have thousands of hosts, whereas countries such as the Philippines have about ten. You click on your country of choice, and sometimes this can be narrowed down even further with specific locations in that country e.g. New South Wales. You can then choose, if you wish, from the categories of:

10 Things You'll Probably Only Ever Do as a Backpacker

When you're a backpacker you lead quite the different life as to what you would lead at home. Your money habits change drastically, your hygiene can alter and you day to day routine gets completely thrown out of the window. Some of these changes are good and some are just pretty cray and you're happy to leave them in the middle of the Australian outback.

1. Hitchhike

I would never hitchhike in my home country, the UK. Not because I think the UK is anymore particularly unsafe than the likes of Australia, where I have hitchhiked, but I simple wouldn't even think of hailing down a random car and asking for a ride at home. Maybe its because I have my own car, maybe its because British folk are so awkward at chit chat or maybe I do feel unsafe? But I've hitchhiked a fair few times on my travels, and although as a single blonde backpacker I do feel like I could be an easy target, I'm fairly trustworthy.

My week in the Daintree Rainforest

The Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation. Where the oldest rainforest in the world meets the biggest reef in the world. Has that sold it to you already? Well, man alive, what a week it has been! For those of you that don’t know, the Daintree rainforest is a rainforest/national park in northern Queensland about 2-3 hours’ drive, north of Cairns. It is the oldest rainforest in the world, and masses different from what you would see in the middle of Cairns and the backpacker hub. 

Five Things I’ve Learnt about Myself Whilst Travelling through Australia

I’m coming towards the end of a five month trip through Australia and I realised I’ve slightly changed and I’ve learnt a few things about myself. None of this, I’m now a spiritual being shit, more of, here are just five things I’ve discovered. 

1. I hate dogs

I’ve always known I’m not a huge dog fan, I’m more of a crazy cat lady, but having stayed with a lot of families through Australia who have dogs, I realise that I almost despise them. Some families have been fine, their houses haven't smelt, their dog was well behaved and I even took to playing with some of the puppies. But some of the houses I’ve stayed in have had annoying, yappy, little dogs who crawl all over you and try to lick your face whilst the owner is beaming, “oh look how she likes you!” I don’t want your smelly dog on me, and I’m tired of vacuuming around because there is hair everywhere. Rant over.

Five Ways to Live Abroad For Free

I’ve spent the last four months travelling through Australia and so far I haven’t paid for a single piece of accommodation. It’s so easy to now travel on a budget and essentially travel abroad for free. I’m not talking about someone sponsoring me to travel the world (if only…) I’m more or less talking about travelling and getting your accommodation, and sometimes food, for nothing! 
I’ve come across many different ways to do this and I can think of five easy ways you can travel on a budget and use your money for the fun things rather than an uncomfortable bed in a fourteen person dorm.

1. Couchsurfing

Probably the most heard of. Couchsurfing is a great way to stay at someone’s house for free and also meet some locals. If you aren’t familiar with couchsurfing, it’s basically a website where you search for a person in a selected city/town/area/blah blah and see if their couch is available for you to sleep on. I’ve used this site a number of times to stay in a place and sleep on someone’s couch, or sometimes have my own double bed in my own room. It’s all free, you don’t need to pay for the website or pay anything to your host. However, I do like to cook for them or take a small gift as a thanks. They get to meet new people, and then they can couchsurf in other countries as well, so you can return the favour but it’s not expected. The site allows you to narrow your searches, so you can pick age ranges, non-smokers, even similar interests as everyone has their own profile. You’re then allowed to reference a host after your stay, that way you can avoid the weirdos and it lets you know past surfers experiences. The expected stay can range from just one night to as many nights as your host lets you, but I assume this tends to be 3-4 nights maximum stay.

Australia Memories: The Blue Mountains

When I first had the dream of going to Australia back in 2010, I bought the typical Australian Lonely Planet and began my search. A few years later, the book was left unread and I hadn’t really thought about this massive country too much. All I remember from my purchase was the incredible image on the front of it, which turned out to be a fantastic shot of the Blue Mountains.

Fast forward to a few months ago and I was planning my journey round Oz and I realised that the Blue Mountains were definitely on my list of places I must see whilst I’m here. My big aim for Australia is to not spend a penny on accommodation so I’m relying on friends, couchsurfing but most importantly Helpx. I messaged a few families and hostels in the Blue Mountains and thankfully one replied last minute and offered me a stay with them!