Comments on: Wwoofing

By: Matt (Matthias)

Matt (Matthias) — Sat, 15 May 2010 10:49:11 +0000

I was on Cockatricefarm for one month and I can definitly say that it was one of the best times I have ever hade.

And I am not talking about killing tussocks (that sucks). But about Allison and Rhys who are one of the nicest persons I have ever met and quite easy to understand (they don’t have this realy bad australian accent. They are realy patient people who want their wwoofers to feel good.
They introduced me in the art of making medieval armor, weapons and fighting (which was great fun). Otherwise I would never made this experience.
Another very nice thing was that every wwoofer had a day he had to cook the dinner (my second one was a disaster) so that you can try meals from different countrys.
But my favourite activity was playing Munchkin which is an realy nice card game and a very goog way to improve your English.
Finally, I can just recomand everybody to visit their farm and I hope I can arrange to visit them a second time before I leave Australia.

By: cockatrice

cockatrice — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:28:43 +0000

Rhys here. Maud arrived in the lead up to a major national medieval feast we were running. She sewed lots of banners and costumes, and helped greatly with the cooking and serving for the event.

Because she was such a champion and worked so hard, Maud was mostly excused the tussocks, though she helped a lot with other parts of the garden and the farm. She came with us to the big Rowany Festival, where we all had a lot of fun.

Maud had studied English at school, but was not a confident speaker when she arrived in Australia. She is now able to communicate easily, which will help her enjoy the rest of her Australian holiday. We look forward to having her back too.

By: maud from france

maud from france — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:36:42 +0000

I was in cockatrice farm for 4 month and it was very difficult to leave this place.
This farm is close to goulburn a nice city where Aldi is the best place to buy food!!!
When you arrived in the farm you first meet Rhys who pick up you in the train station, and after Allyson, both of them are very welcome, generous and make you feel like at home.
After you meet all animals chooks, ducks, cats, horses, cows, alpagas, and dog Carra a lazy dog who is very friendly.
Come next other wwoofer with them you share an house and so much fun in the evening.
If you stay for longer, lot of thing change new chooks, new dogs arrived, you meet new people…
In the farm during the day you work most of the time outside, weeding, gardening, tree planting… and the famous tussocks, I hate it but is great fun!!!
And a part of you’re time is also helping with medevial project and you improve your sewing, trust me I’m a doctor like says Allison.
Medevial night can be lot of fun with the cooking Daly, but is the possibility to learn some art and science like armoring, luceting…
And you can part of some medevial event and be drunk, and do some silly things like sing on the table…
I very looking forward to come back in this place, Allison and Rhys are part of my familly like some special to australians wwoofer. And all people I meet at this farm are good friend and I’ll never forget them.

By: cockatrice

cockatrice — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:48:03 +0000

Rhys here. We loved Pat and Silvan to bits, except sometimes during card games when Pat won far too many. However the International Championship match was won by Australia!!

(Pat however is the World Champion Serrated Tussock Remover, otherwise known as the Cave Troll berserker.)

We haven’t played cards or roleplaying games since they left, so it’s not all we do.

Pat became a very fine cook while here, and Silvan’s knopfli (sp?) was pretty good too. We miss them both.

By: pat from france

pat from france — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:31:24 +0000

what can i add to silvan coment…
i was living with silvan during two month in cockatrice farm , where i spend a total of six month !
like silvan said, if you want to have fun, meet great peapole, lurn a lot of differents stuff about australia and medieval, it’s definitely the place to be !
Rhys and Allison are now good friend. they were my kind of aussie familly when i was there.
i try two other wwoof place in australia, and so i can say Cockatrice farm was the place i prefer, far ahead of the others
like silvan said , if you like card game or roleplay game, you will have a lot of fun there ( do not win to often at “500″ playing card game, after that they get pissed and they don’t want to play anymore :p )
well, a last word to say : i will be back !

By: Silvan from Switzerland

Silvan from Switzerland — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:55:16 +0000

I had been wwoofing for about three month in total at Cockatrice Farm between July and October 2009.

When I heard about Cockatrice Farm I didn’t really know what to expect. I read about all this medieval things and was really keen to catch a glimpse on all this stuff but I just had no idea how it would going to be. What I found, was much more than I expected. Rhys and Allison are great people with a good sense humour and very open-mided. The way they accomodate (in a very neat little house close to their own) wwoofers has a lot of advantages as the day of a wwoofer can differ quite much from that of a working Australian. It allows a lot of space and freedom to plan your days. If you show interest, you can learn lots of things and help with all kinds of stuff including armouring, planting, cooking, fencing, removing serrated tussocks (great fun ) …….. or what ever you can do best.

Because they leave you a lot of freedom you are required to take responsibility, be honest and fair. Whist working on the farm during the day with the other wwoofers the dinner on cockatrice farm (the cooking is taken in turns) is always a great opportunity to socialise, chat, playing games (ask about Munchkin or D&D!) whist you improve your English. This is another thing while staying on the farm is a great thing – Rhys and Allison help you all the time to improve your language and tell you about mistakes (if you wish).

Rhys and Allisons lovely property became my Australian home and the two great friends. I want to thank them a lot for letting me stay and coming back on their farm. I came back twice until now and I will return a third time – for sure !!! I hope they are going to visit me sometime – they are welcome at any time! All the best and tanks a lot!!

Cheers Silvan