In January 2023, we had to leave our harvest job in Ravensthorpe (WA) earlier than we had planned, and so had some unexpected free time in Western Australia. Our colleague suggested to us that we should look at a website called Workaway to find a place to stay for a few weeks. We had never heard of Workaway, but we were hooked on the idea once we looked into it. The concept is simple- you stay rent free with a Workaway host, and in return do a few hours of unpaid work each day. This is a great way to meet people, learn skills, see local culture, and explore without spending a fortune.

We decided to look for places on the west coast around Perth, as we had not yet visited this area but had heard great things. We soon realised that although there were a lot of amazing Workaways registered in this area, they were almost all already full. As a result, we had to expand our search radius a little, and ended up finding a match near a small village called Burekup, just outside of Bunbury. The host was an older gentleman who had a massive garden, but was living on his own in a rural location, and had just undergone a knee replacement. We would both help with the gardening for 2 hours each morning Monday-Friday, and we had an entire 2-bedroom house to ourselves (free of rent).

To avoid the summer heat, we started work at 7am, and from 9am we were free to relax and explore. The work was mostly weeding, wheelbarrowing, and a bit of fencing. Our host was a very nice guy, and we often spent more time chatting than working. The accommodation was amazing- the house had been built on stilts on the side of a very steep valley overlooking the Collie River, and the views were breathtaking. The garden had been a labour of love for our host for the last decade, so was absolutely lovely, and consisted of trees and shaded areas, flowerbeds, lawns, and water features. We were welcome to relax there outside of working hours.

Bunbury itself is a lovely city, and after living in the Australian bush for the previous six months, we enjoyed having restaurants, bars, shops and cinemas close by. The beach at Bunbury is also great, although we didn’t dare to go swimming as our host had told us a few horror stories about sharks in the area. Another up-and-coming township in the area is Treendale, which is home to a brand new shopping centre and plenty of cafes and restaurants.

Between Burekup and Dardanup is the Ferguson Valley, which is a beautiful area and is brimming with cuisine and vineyards. We spent a lot of time sampling the local produce, and had some interesting chats with very friendly owners and staff at the vineyards. Our favourite spots were Green Door Wines where the wines and views were exceptional, and Ferguson Falls Vineyard for the brilliant service and top quality red wines.

We also took at lot of time to explore the Wellington National Park. This forested area is full of walking tracks, dams and lakes, and is intersected by the Collie River. All along the river are ideal pools for swimming or paddling, and there are dozens of campsites in the area for families and travellers who are just passing through.

Our favourite place in the area, though, was a swimming hole just outside of the town of Collie, called Minningup Pool. Here the Collie River slows and meanders lazily around large bends in the river, creating perfect pools to safely swim and cool off in the hot WA summer weather. There was also an irrigation channel which bordered our host’s land which was clean and concreted, and we were able to float downstream through the bush for about half a mile, and then walk back on the road. We loved doing this in the 40 degree heat.

The Margaret River wine region is only an hour south of Bunbury, and is well worth a visit. This rural area is absolutely stunning, and of course is full of vineyards. We were limited on the number of wine tastings we could do before driving back to Burekup, but we purchased several bottles of delicious wine to take with us. Our only real regret from our stay on the west coast of WA is not spending more time around Margaret River, as we only budgeted one day in this area, but could have spent weeks here.

Based on our experience, we would highly recommend Workaway to anyone with a couple of weeks to spare who is hoping to throughly explore an area and get to know the locals. We stayed for two weeks in total, and loved every minute of it. However, make sure you plan ahead where possible to get the best selection of available Workaway hosts. Additionally, we would definitely suggest visiting the Bunbury and Margaret River regions, as they are absolutely gorgeous. Have you had a Workaway experience, or done something similar? Let us know all about it in the comments!