After our camping trip around the south western corner of Australia we looked into volunteering positions and the first one we signed up to was in Fremantle, just south of Perth. It was for two weeks and only required 10 hours a week so we could look after our hosts hens and goats while they went away. To be fair it was more like a pet sitting position than volunteering and because so few hours were required only accommodation was provided but not food. We were mostly using the time to relax and catch up on life admin, photo editing etc before our travels continue.

The position was an interesting one though, the owners bought a classic Australian bungalow on a 1/4 acre plot. Most people knock down the old house and build two new ones for profit however these guys decided to keep the original house and cleverly design it to create multiple living spaces inside and outside, plus a garden for growing organic vegetables and housing goats and hens. Inside the house was the hosts living area and a communal dining room and kitchen. A steep ladder led up into the attic which is where our room was. It was a nice spacious room however due to the ladder entry into the room there was no door and thus no privacy or soundproofing which was quite a negative as we felt like we couldn’t call our families and have a good old chat. There were two sort of mini flats built for tenants within the house and a further two tiny homes in the garden. So the community housing was home to 8 people, all trying to do their part and live as sustainably as possible. I loved the concept.

The first day we arrived we were encouraged to join the daily goat walk. Because goats are herd animals it helps to have more people to give them the impression that their walking in a group. It was absolutely bizarre though, walking two goats down these residential roads. They shared one lead but except for when crossing a junction we could drop the lead and they’d walk themselves.

The goats were really friendly, Coco had a shiny black coat while Lady Marmalade was beige and built like a brick house. I know it’s not nice to pick favourites but ‘Marma’ as she’s affectionately called had such a wonderful character. She loved neck scratches and she’d almost go into a trance with her eyes rolling back and a smile spreading across her face. They were both pregnant and due in September, one had two babies and the other three and albeit they’re not due until September Lady Marmalade looked like she was ready to burst. Apparently that’s how she always looks though due to previous births when her muscles stretched or split so she’s just a very wide gal. The father to both the goats was a small chap called Hot Potato!!

Once our hosts headed off on their trip we were looking after the animals on our own. Our days would start at 7am, letting the 17 hens out, sprinkling seed for them, topping up their feeder and then feeding the goats a cup of their grains along with a layer of hay. Everyone got fresh water and the goats usually got a treat like a banana skin which they adored. Interestingly if I accidentally dropped the food they would stop eating it. So if I put it to their mouth they’d sniff it and turn their head to say no. Everyday there was a task to do like mucking out the pen or cleaning something and by 9am we were done. The house was in a great suburban location, just a 15 minute walk to the nearest beach and from there we could continue walking south, hopping our way along the different beaches.

We attempted the evening goat walks but we only succeeded on 3 occasions, Lady Marmalade has unbelievably powerful brakes and if she doesn’t want to go then that’s it so without her ‘herd’ she was stubborn but easily forgiven due to her adorable smile.

Fremantle itself is a historic town which was first settled in 1829 and those settlers had a rough start when they realised there wasn’t any good earth to plant as it was mostly sand and once news got back to England people started to migrate elsewhere, leaving the area in desperate need of workers. In the end they decided to bring in convicts to do the work, starting with 75 in 1850, followed by a whopping 9000 before 1868. They were all at the end of their sentences and deemed less dangerous so they set them the challenge of constructing the town known as Swan River back then. As you can imagine there’s a lot more history in between then and now but I won’t delve into that. At some point the name was changed to Fremantle and the beautiful heritage architecture is now the town centre today, bustling with shops and eateries.

‘Freo’ had a nice vibe but I think my expectations were to see a lot more heritage buildings and quirky independent shops. It was still a lovely place though and much more our thing than Perth. There’s a weekend market in Freo but we found it uncomfortably busy even during the winter months. Luckily a closer walk from our accommodation was a more traditional community market, set outside and selling homemade crafts, fruit and veg, coffees and plenty of food from around the world. We couldn’t resist the El Salvadorian pupusas, a delicious sort of fried dough filled with cheese and beans. It’s served with salsa and a zingy salad and we lived off these delights in Guatemala so it was very nostalgic tasting the flavours again.

We were able to borrow our hosts bikes which gave us a nice amount of freedom to explore the surrounding area where we were mostly trying to search for colourful birds to photograph in the parks. We ended up spotting some rainbow lorikeets in a tree beside the road. These birds are literally every shade of the rainbow, they’re absolutely fabulous and as common as pigeons in some areas of Australia however these were the first ones I’d managed to photograph on the west coast.

It was a great opportunity for us to get free accommodation in Australia in a beautiful area with pretty beaches where we could go for afternoon dips in the chilly sea. I really liked the neighbourhood area and street art that we saw on our walks and we also managed a day trip to Rottnest island which I’ll share about in a separate post.

But we didn’t love every aspect as a few details differed from the profile to reality. One issue that could have been avoided is we were promised a private bathroom within a shared laundry room however the host liked to use our toilet and pissed on the seat every time which I found very infuriating. We also weren’t told that when they host community events our toilet is used by everyone so one night we had a dozen kids running in and out – although none of them pissed all over the seat like our host did. On top of that we were given a bed with dirty sheets, featuring lovely stains and dribble marks on the pillow and I just think that’s such a horrible way to welcome people into your home, I’m not sure if it was due to the previous volunteer not getting the room ready as she was supposed to or the hosts not checking. Oh and they put toilet paper from number ones in the compost and we were left with a full bin of someone else’s paper. It’s just little things but geez, hosts need to make their volunteers feel more comfortable but this is something we’ve found with volunteering, it seems to be getting worse and worse and we’re often treated like workers instead of volunteers. Overall though when we look back at our time spent there it’s mostly positive and we’ll miss the lovely goats. We also got a little insight into sustainable living, making hot and cold composts, picking sweet potatoes and testing the soil to see the quality of it.