Mickael

Mickael has a love of food. Not two days at Fryers and Mickael had created a Quandong Flan.



Quandong is a native Australian food grown in the more arid parts of Australias interior. Each year my father harvests bucket loads from the bush in South Australia - delicious! If you want to try it you can buy some from my friend Lyle.


Mickeal was also here for the garlic harvest.

Rosemonde

Rose of the World!

Rosemonde stayed with us for x weeks. I'm sorry you didn't get as much building experience as you would have liked.

But ofcourse you did help thatch the roof of the hut near the lake.



And then there is the Francophone Wall that you made with Mickeal!

We had alot of rain this spring, infact there were floods! Our top dam which provides garden water for the village showed signs of breakin so we had to call in the earth builders to fix it. With a little help from our WWOOFERs.

Callum

The big picture was to put in a greywater treatment system for the barn but a tree stump got in the way.

Have you ever tried to dig up a tree stump? Callum has! It took two days of hard yakka (work).


Here is Callum with a sense of determination - assisted by Dan.






Okay, i feel a little guilty setting you guys up for this job. This job took a couple of days hard yakka. But finally there was a breakthrough.



Flynn Finished off the design by building a couple of beautiful stone steps either side of the system.

It is now a beautiful and functional part of the garden. Give it twelve months

Dan the Man

February to 15th September 2010

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?













Dan was last seen hiding out in Fryers Forest.

Dan has been staying with us for several months and he would be with us still had the HOMICIDE SQUAD not turned up looking for him!

No he is not a mass murderer, just a chilled out plumber from Manchester. However Dan did not make contact with his family back in the UK for some months, then he overstayed his visa by several weeks. It is no surprise that his mother got a little worried. Consequently she rang the police and reported him as a missing person. The Homicide Squad finally tracked him down to his new paradise - Fryers Forest.

Dan is now our longest staying WWOOFER - 8 months to be precise. He has seen Fryers in both its extremes. Bushfire prone summer to torrential winter rains.

Upon leaving Dan left some good words of advice. "Remember WWOOFER rule number 1 - phone home!"

DAN BY LAKE HARIDAS



LAKE HARIDAS POST SEPTEMBER 2010 RAINS


Thanks Dan for your very chilled out presence in our home. I hope you take a piece of Fryers Forest with you. See you in three years time.

Vincent

6th June - 4th July

Vincent stayed with us for 3 weeks. Three weeks was not enough! He was wonderful company, a good wooker and wonderful cook! Thanks for your great energy and humour.

Slowly but surely Vincent made his way through our big pile of firewood. Splitting and stacking it in the front of our house.



He chops wood like a pro!




Vincent also helped us put a new roof on the community building.



Here he is with the roofing crew.


Hamish, Ants, Dan, Vincent and Stewart.


And of course there is always the dishes...

Vincent and Dan help Hazel with the washing up.

Elise and Geoffray

29th April to the 10th May.

Thanks to the volcanic activities in Europe, Elise and Geoffray found themselves stranded in Australia as their flights were cancelled. Lucky for us!




We have been refurbishing our community house. Here are some shots of Geoffray and his fine contribution...







Meanwhile inside Gary and Dan are hard at work sanding the floor.

Maria

25th March to the 12th April

"I just met a girl called Maria!"

Maria comes from Spain. She is a lover of opera and musicals. West Side Story is a favorite!

She spent many reflective hours weeding our "Love Tube".



She also replanted some garlic that had sprouted. The beginnings of our garlic crop. This year we aim to plant over 200.



Maria, Dan and i also collected firewood and cleared some tracks around the forest.

BEFORE



AFTER


Thanks Maria for your work here. When we harvest our garlic I will cook a Paella in your honour, with extra garlic - you can never have too much!

EIJI

Eiji stayed with us from 19th February until 4th March.

His arrival coincided with the blackberry season.


Eiji picking berries.

The local soccer club had a family fun day, Dan played and Eiji watched from the side. Both of them got in the local online paper THE CASTLEMAINE INDEPENDANT, check out the article http//www.castlemaineindependent.org/sport/



Eiji cleaned up the dead wattle all over our lot and bundled the kindling and firewood into beautiful stacks. We will think of Eiji when we light our fire this winter.



Cath and i enjoyed our daily walks with Eiji to the top of Fryers Forest.

Thank you Eiji for your calm and focused energy.

DAN

Dan joined us from the UK, Manchester in fact.

Dan is a plumber, suddenly we have alot of plumbing work to do.

Here he is contributing to the barn (our WWOOFER accommodation).

ELODIE and CARO (and the return of NICO)

Elodie and Caro arrived in late January from France. They spent 3 weeks in Australia before arriving at Fryers.

ELODIE
"Elodie, like Melody but without the M. Firstly I would like to say thank you for this adventure.You are a wonderful family, with you we have learn a lot, sometimes when we live in a big city with all inconvenience, we forget the most important things like family, united family, love, community, i never seen a hapiness family like yours. I hope to see you again."
E



Nico, Elodie and Caro build a lean-to, something for the grapes to grow on.

SAM and JOE

Sam and Joe stayed for only three weeks, but they left their mark on Fryerstown.

They arrived in time for the Fryestown Firepersons Frolic. Which has become Fryerstowns premier social event. Every year in December the local CFA (Country Fire Authority) puts on a party. There is food, drink and music. Even Father Christmas makes an appearance on the back of a vintage fire truck.

As Sam and Joe are illustrators we suggested their WWOOFING time be used to paint a backdrop for the event.



The backdrop now proudly hangs on stage at the Fryerstown Hall.

MELUSINE

Mel became a functioning part of our house. She planned to stay two weeks and left two months later.

Thanks Mel for our beautiful stone walls and the garden. You are a truely authentic individual!



We love you Mel - where ever you are!

YOSHI

When Yoshi came here in July he said "I want to stay here long enough to see the seasons change." He arrived in July 2009 and left in October. In that time he planted a fabulous vegetable garden. We have only just harvested his onions.

Yoshi started a sour dough leavin and baked great bread, he rekindled my interest in baking. His leavin lives on...



Thanks Yoshi!

Here is an atmos we recorded near Lake Haridas.

Press play to listen...

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Yoshi and Us

NICO

Where do we begin...

JENNY

Jenny worked hard in our garden building new beds. Thanks for the spuds and the broad beans.

YUKI

Burn off photo

DAWN

Check out Dawns WWOOF Blog

YAAP and Mieke

The delightful Meika and Yarp


Yarp tests out the new WWOOFER accomodation!

Felting...

SANITA, TANIA and MICHAEL

Here's the portable being delivered.

ROMAN and JUDITH

May 2007

Roman (from Switzerland) first visited in 2004 and stayed a few months with his friend Cornelius.

He returned in 2007 with his girlfriend Judith. Great energy!

They painted the barn, which is our main WWOOFER accomodation.

DAVE

Dave rang one 40 Degree January day from ?? (about 50Ks)and said "I'm going to ride my bike

HENRI

Henri was our first French WWOOFER. He baked a mean Tart?? on our wood stove in the middle of summer.


PHOTO

He was also the first person to roll a car on the road in. No photo - bummer!

RUBIN

"I'm not a WWOOFER! I'm a human being!"

Rubin hitchhiked here from Melbourne in the middle of 2005.

Here he is helping with some forestry whilst on of the Fryers Forest residents gives advice.

PHOTO

Greetings Earthlings

We have had the wonderful pleasure of hosting WWOOFERs here at Fryers Forest since Rene Busch in 2003. Since then we haven't looked back. WWOOFERs have added a real richness to our lives. Some cynics would say that it is exploitative, but going from experience, i think our WWOOFERs get an authentic Australian experience.

THIS IS CHaOSS



CHaOSS stands for Cath, Hazel and Oscar Spike Stewart.

Here is Fryers Forest in the wet...


The Man in red is Gary.

And here is Fryers Forest in the dry...