Involvement Volunteers International We spent six weeks with Gil and Donna, and we had a great time! Basically, everything that`s advertised on their profile is true: we worked from 7.30am til 1pm, with a breakfast at 9.30. And we never worked later than 1pm (sometimes we even finished earlier)! As a girl, I worked mainly with Donna. I spent the first 2hs feeding the animals and cleaning the enclosures and then, it varied: I did some painting and raking, burned stuff, cleaned the B&B rooms, prepared the food for the animals, etc. Ben mainly worked with Gil… doing “man stuff”, which means small repairs, mostly. All in all, it was pretty diversified. It can be hard work, but I don`t think any kind of work comes easy either…
We also spent a weekend at their farm, helping with the construction of the house. Very different landscape and weather; it was pretty nice too.
A couple other thing that were accurate regarding their profile: the sense of humor and the good English. The first one because they`ll always joke, whether it`s about feeding you to the crocs or telling you about a spaghetti tree (still have to verify that one, though ;)), but it goes both ways and we never hesitated to kid them too. Regarding the English part, you need to have a level that allows you to understand what they want you to do (which seems pretty fair).
The best for the end: the food! We`re true foodaholics, so this was a real heaven for us! They say “as much as you can eat”, I`d say “more than you can eat”: we got back all the weight we had lost during the roadtrip.
I think that`s it… Well, thank`s again guys, that was a hell of a month (and we`ll be back)! Cheers!
PS: we`ll always put a bit of food in our mouth thinking about Mouse
