The short date range on this WWOOF might raise a few eyebrows and prompt a few questions, but we’ll get to that. As with our last 2 WWOOFs, we showed up to find other WWOOFers already here. This was strange considering we’d recently spoken on the phone with the hosts and they didn’t mention extra help (and their online description said they only had room for 1-2 people). But there were 3 young German boys sitting at the outside lunch table as we pulled up, and we soon realized there was a bit of a problem. We were double booked. And the hosts (Mark and Michelle) were a bit frantic about what to do. Strange considering they’d known for at least a day or 2 that they’d double booked us, but they still had no idea what to do with us once we arrived. Oh well, we had some lunch, and then Stuart went to work moving hay bales on the farm while Keris helped Michelle work out the living situation. And it was a bit of a situation. They’d rented out their large house and moved into their small art gallery. We hoped they were only half-joking when they asked us if we had our own tent (like we wanted to sleep in that in return for our work for the next week after just camping for 6 nights already). But, we were in luck. They had moved a house to the property that they intended to renovate and live in. The only catch - it was still in the 3 pieces it arrived in after being delivered on the back of the trucks! No power, no water, no toilets. At least some of the rooms had doors on them, because the living room was open to the garden. So here we were - overbooked, sub-par accommodations, and frantic hosts. Stuart pulled out the cell phone after moving hay and after 10 failed attempts at finding a new WWOOF, we accepted our fate. By some miracle, it wasn’t long that someone called back with an opening, and we’d be out of here after just 2 nights.
Part of the house still in pieces. We'll be sleeping in one of the rooms at the back (luckily a fully enclosed room)
Welcome home honey!Our hosts did try extremely hard to rectify the situation, but it was still a struggle with meals and work. Keris spent her first day cleaning our “split house,” making the accommodation a little more reasonable. A portable toilet was put in place and an extension cord ran up to the house. Stuart built a gate and weeded the veggie garden. We took our afternoon free time to Lake Hayes and had a run and a nice long talk about leaving this WWOOF behind. We’d actually become quite attached to the hosts and could see ourselves sticking it out to the end, but deep down we wanted to leave and try out this new WWOOF we’d booked. We’ve always kept an open mind with each new WWOOF experience, but we were completely unprepared for this one, and reaffirmed our decision to bail. We worked a little more in garden the next morning, and then left Mark and Michelle. We wished everything had worked out as planned and believe we may have enjoyed the WWOOF a little more. And, in the end, we lucked out the German boys were there, because with extra helpers around, when Mark asked for volunteers for sheep crutching, I was able to decline. Sheep crutching involves not sheering the whole, but only around their... umm... butt. Apparently, in the hot summer, poop will dry on the wool and can allow diseases to multiply and sicken the sheep. Get us out of here!
Some craftsmanship on the new gate. 
Some weeding in the neglected garden. We were very much looking forward to have a wonderfully large, diverse garden to help manage. Not a giant weed patch.
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