Odd Jobs ProgramTasmania, Australia

Hate hibernating in Winter? Got some spare annual leave? Feeling far too close to a full-on burnout? Sounds like you need to swap your day job for an Odd Job.

We don’t mean cleaning out gutters, pulling out weeds or replacing tiles in the bathroom that have been cracked for longer than you care to admit.

This winter Tourism Tasmania is offering Aussies the chance to step away from the desk in favour of doing something a little more hands-on.

And by hands-on, we mean donning a pair of waders and venturing out into Great Oyster Bay as an Oyster Organiser (apparently a thing). Or keeping temperatures warm and toasty as a Sauna Stoker (also, apparently a thing). Or Truffle Snuffling, which sounds more like a creature from The Fantastic Beats franchise than an actual job. And don’t get us started on the role of Wombat Walker, whose sole responsibility is to take them on a morning waddle.

If anything’s for certain it’s that someone in the Tassie Tourism office clearly froths alliteration. But all jokes aside, you don’t have to hibernate in front of the telly ‘til September.

Replace the daily grind for one or two days of volunteering for a local business and reconnect with nature, the community and your own sense of enjoyment; something a 9 to 5 job inevitably sucks out of us. Too dark?

As if all that wasn’t convincing enough, successful applicants also receive a selection of fine Tasmanian produce or goods, specially picked out by their Odd Job host as a ‘you did such a good job organising oysters/stoking saunas/snuffling for truffles/walking wombats’ present. Honestly, sign us up.

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