3 Ways to find Free Accommodation in Western Australia
Guest Post By Mark and Nate at Escape Artist 11:11
Have you ever considered staying in unconventional accommodations during your travels? Besides being a cost-effective option, it opens doors to new experiences and stories. During our visit to Perth, Western Australia, we discovered three unique non-traditional places to stay that blew our minds.
From unique encounters with locals to making lifelong friendships with fellow travellers, these places brought us a whole new perspective on travel. In this guide, we’ll take you through our top picks and share why they’re worth considering for your next adventure. Trust us; you won’t regret skipping the usual hotel or hostel routine!
3 Ways to Find Free Accommodation in Western Australia
If you’re headed to Western Australia, finding affordable accommodations can be daunting. However, with some creativity and an adventurous spirit, you can score some great options for free!
House Sitting
House sitting can seem like quite a strange concept. Also known as pet sitting (most “assignments” include animals to take care of), the deal is that homeowners find trustworthy strangers to come and take care of their property (and pets) while they go on vacation. Fido/Felix aren’t sent to expensive, stressful kennels, the owners get peace of mind knowing everything is well-cared for, and you get a free place to stay! Numerous websites allow hosts and sitters to sign up, log in and search for a good match.
We used https://www.aussiehousesitters.com.au/ to find gigs in Western Australia, but there are global ones, such as https://www.trustedhousesitters.com and https://www.nomador.com/. Sites usually charge a reasonable yearly membership fee, giving you access to potential house-sits all over Australia (and with the latter two, the rest of the world).
If you love animals and have a passion for pet-sitting, then building a solid portfolio of references is crucial in showcasing your skills and abilities to potential clients. The best place to start is with friends whose pets you have cared for in the past; their glowing recommendations can go a long way in establishing your credibility and reliability.
Once you have a few actual assignments under your belt, your pet-sitting resume will start to take shape, and soon, homeowners will reach out to you for their furry companion’s care needs. So, don’t underestimate the power of positive feedback; it could be the key to opening doors to new opportunities and building lasting relationships with pets and their owners!
It’s worth noting that this exchange relies on faith in humanity rather than any monetary transaction. We’ve heard of sites that charge both homeowners and sitters, but in our experience, it’s better to avoid accepting payment as it changes the relationship dynamics. This deal is all about trust and mutual generosity, not a service to gain free digs.
A word of advice: Try organising Skype conversations with your potential sits, too, as it gives you a better idea of what to expect. We speak from experience when we say that not all house-sitting assignments are a walk in the park… But generally speaking, pet sitting has been a wonderful, fruitful experience for us. In our blog post “Why pet sitting is perfect for travelling animal lovers“, we go into greater detail about why we still look after animals worldwide.
Couch surfing Another way to make new friends and have a more soulful travelling experience is to try couch surfing. Some people claim that the website and its concept plateaued in the mid-2000s, but we recently did it in Perth and can vouch for the community’s size and popularity there and in the rest of the world.
How about Couch Surfing
Travellers can sign up at http://www.couchsurfing.com and create a profile, then search the database for thousands of like-minded people offering a place to stay free of charge. The accommodation isn’t always a couch, either; most hosts provide a private room to sleep in and have had so many guests stay in their home that they are very well prepared for hospitality for their sofa-surfers.
To bag a decent place to crash, having an honest, attractive profile and the intention of genuinely wanting to engage with the host is crucial. Members want to feel that they’re inviting someone fun, exciting and considerate into their home, so a blank or vague profile is bound to be unappealing.
Another thing to remember is to engage with them in online conversation before you show up, asking questions related to their profile and travel experiences to see if they would get along in person. It’s essential to read their profiles carefully, as some hosts have certain stipulations, such as individual guests only or specific gender preferences.
If all this sounds a little bit kinky, you’re right to be apprehensive. A few couch surfer hosts besmirch the concept with a hint of seediness, although it will be pretty evident from their profiles if they are looking for more than just a conversation about travel. Look out for “naked sleepers” or “share a bed” in the tags, and stay precise if sexual adventures aren’t a part of your agenda. Site moderation also helps surfers remain safe, and there’s a whole section on the website devoted to it, so it’s simple to find the right social experience for you.
We stayed with a friendly, fascinating German couple who lived in downtown Perth. They had hosted hundreds of surfers and provided us with a very comfortable private room and even our bathroom, proving how well-equipped and generous some hosts can be.
We learned about their work in Alice Springs and their conservation efforts all over the globe and got to know Perth a little better thanks to their guidance as locals, which is what couch surfing is genuinely all about. WWOOFing/WorkAway If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty and chipping in to help with physical tasks, this third method of finding accessible accommodation in Western Australia will suit you.
Whether you want to help an eco-tourism company in Broome or try landscape gardening next to the Margaret River, there’s a variety of work to be found in Western Australia. With websites like http://www.wwoof.com.au/ (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) and https://www.workaway.info/, travellers can discover ideal hosts to live with in exchange for a few hours of work per day.
How About Working on a farm
Like couch surfing and house sitting, registration with the websites allows you to search a database of ideal locations, accommodations, hosts and employment.
From large organic farms to private smallholdings, you can help people who don’t have enough workers or those who can’t do the work themselves, such as people with disabilities or older people – it’s a very positive, productive way of travelling. Our caution with working in exchange for accommodation is to ensure you understand the work involved.
This isn’t just so that you are sure of fulfilling your requested duties, but also to safeguard against employers who might take advantage of their free workers! Fortunately, the websites we’ve listed in this post list vetted hosts and offer plenty of advice and support, which should protect you from any evil farmers.
With a great profile, excellent communication and the right attitude, “WWOOFers” and “Workawayers” can find meaningful encounters with the locals of an area. If walking someone else’s dogs on the beach, going on graffiti trails with couch surfer hosts or picking oranges near Perth sounds like a unique way to spend a vacation, look at the links in this post and give it a go.
You’ll be rewarded with more than just a free roof over your head. Byline: This post was written by Mark J Newton, one half of the artistic duo the Escape Artists 11:11. He and his partner Nate Evans have been living a nomadic lifestyle since 2014 but have only recently begun to document their travels. To learn more about life and work while being location-independent (and what 11:11 means to them!), head to their site www.escapeartists1111.co.uk.
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