A structured, premium working holiday for experienced professionals exploring a more meaningful, lower-stress future. Real properties. Real people. No pressure to commit.
No pressure. No commitment. Just a real-world trial of something different.
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2,000+Working properties nationwide
3.4MProfessionals rethinking ahead
$18BLand-sector skills shortage
ZeroPremium retreats like this — until now
You're not alone in this
If modern work no longer feels like the whole answer.
Many people are successful on paper but no longer feel certain they want to keep playing the same game. Some are burnt out. Some are quietly anxious about the pace of change. Some are simply craving a life that feels more real, more grounded and more meaningful.
Away exists for that moment. Not to push you into a dramatic decision — but to give you a calm, structured and genuinely memorable way to explore what else might be possible.
"When the old path no longer feels right, there is Away."
Pick a premium short stay on a real Australian property that feels interesting. Tell us your state and what draws you.
2
Step into a different rhythm
Spend a few days immersed in land-based work, slower living and a practical taste of a different way of life. Premium accommodation and meals included.
3
See what resonates
Use the experience to test ideas, meet real people and explore whether this way of living or working feels right for you. No performance pressure.
4
Go deeper if it fits
If the experience opens something up, Away can support a longer, more structured next step. That's always optional — never where you need to start.
If modern work no longer feels like the whole answer
data-copy="about-h2">You don't need more pressure. You need perspective.
Many people are successful on paper but no longer feel certain they want to keep playing the same game. Some are burnt out. Some are quietly wondering whether there's a life that feels more real, more grounded and more meaningful.
Away exists for that moment. Not to push you into a dramatic decision — but to give you a calm, structured and memorable way to explore what else might be possible.
"When the old path no longer feels right, there is Away."
The Away Programme
Start with a stay. See what opens up.
The Working Stay is the easiest first step. The Deeper Programme is simply there if you want to continue — it's never where you need to start.
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Stage One — Discovery
The Working Stay
3–5 Days · At a property near you
A premium immersive experience. Stay on a working property, eat well, sleep well, and spend your days working alongside practitioners in agriculture, horticulture and forestry.
Premium accommodation, meals and guided exposure included
Real properties, real practitioners, small considered groups
Designed to feel restorative, not demanding
No farming experience needed — just curiosity
No pressure to commit to anything after
From
$1,800
4 nights · all-inclusive · try a different life before making any big decisions
02
Stage Two — Transition
The Deeper Programme
4–8 Weeks · Matched to your region
For participants who complete the Working Stay and want to go further. Extended placements across our national network — matched to your region, your interests and your goals.
Extended placements matched to your region and interests
Mentorship from people already living this life
A personal pathway framework — at your pace
Connections to employment and land opportunities
Fundable by employers, government programmes or yourself
From
$8,500
4–8 weeks · available after your stay · government & employer funding available
What You'll Do
Three disciplines. All rooted in land.
Each discipline is led by a practitioner who has chosen this life deliberately. You work alongside them — not as a tourist, but as someone genuinely trying something.
Land & Soil
Regenerative agriculture, soil health, land management and the fundamentals of working with the earth.
Food Growing
Market gardening, horticulture, seasonal growing and the rhythms of producing food from the ground up.
Native Vegetation
Forestry, bush regeneration, native planting and stewardship of Australia's extraordinary natural landscapes.
"A working holiday for people rethinking work."
2,000+ properties across Australia
Why this works
The body knows things the desk never will.
Career coaching and retraining programmes share a structural weakness: they operate entirely in the abstract. A conversation about a different kind of life is not the same as the felt experience of one.
A week working with soil, tools and people who love what they do produces insight no workshop can replicate. Not because the work is romantic — because it's real, and the contrast is clarifying.
75%
of Away participants report a material shift in career clarity within 30 days of their stay
4.9
Average participant rating across all Working Stay properties in the Away network
68%
book a second stay or enter the Deeper Programme within 6 months of their first
147
Participants through the programme to date
Away Newgrounds — New
You are standing at a threshold.
The career transition you're navigating is not just a professional question. It is a spiritual one. Away Newgrounds is the interior layer of the Away arc — silence retreats, ceremony, forest bathing, First Nations land practice and eight other doorways for the deep work that physical land labour begins but cannot complete alone.
Not wellness tourism. Not a retreat centre. Something older and more serious than both.
"Something older than the modern world knows how to hold this."
Away Newgrounds
Step away to see what comes next.
There is Away.
Away Signal Intelligence
Away knows when you need it before you do.
Away's biometric wellbeing engine monitors the signals that predict burnout — HRV, sleep quality, calendar density, resting pulse and daily mood — and interprets them using AI to recommend the right intervention at the right time.
Most people wait until they're exhausted to take a break. Away's signal engine identifies the inflection point earlier — and when your burnout propensity crosses a threshold, it surfaces a matched working stay proactively.
Biometric signal interpretation
Connects to Apple Health, Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop and Oura Ring. Monitors HRV, sleep, resting pulse and activity patterns.
AI-matched micro-interventions
From a 5-minute breathing reset to a 15-minute walk to a 4-night working stay — the right intervention is matched to your signal, not guessed.
Proactive stay recommendation
When your burnout propensity score crosses the threshold, Away surfaces a matched working stay near you — not as a sales pitch, but as a clinical recommendation.
Your signal has been elevated for 5 days. A 4-night working stay is the right next step. Your HRV and sleep data indicate micro-interventions are no longer sufficient.
Your people deserve more than a standard redundancy package.
Companies deploying AI-driven restructuring face real pressure to support departing staff in ways that matter. Away is a genuine alternative to conventional outplacement — more human, more memorable, and increasingly requested by employees directly.
Relevant for AI disruption, redundancy support, burnout recovery and leadership reset pathways. When change needs care, there is Away.
Financial Services
Legal
Government
Media
Technology
Professional Services
The Away content flywheel
The more people try Away, the more people find Away.
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away.au builds audience
Editorial content about land-based lives across Australia. Pre-qualified readers already asking the right questions.
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Away offers a first step
A structured, supported, premium working holiday. Low risk for the guest — high signal for Away's matching engine.
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Experiences create stories
Every stay produces authentic content. Participants share. Guides share. The cycle feeds itself.
4
Deeper paths open up
Stage 2, employer partnerships and government pathways follow naturally. That's where the real unit economics are.
From Past Participants
What it actually feels like.
"I'd been in financial services for eighteen years. I thought I needed another course. What I actually needed was a week with my hands in the soil. Away gave me that — and something shifted that no webinar ever could."
S
Sarah M.
Former Senior Analyst · Now market gardener, Hunter Valley
"My company offered this as part of my redundancy package. I went in sceptical. By day three I knew I was done with the office. By month six I was working on a regenerative farm. I'm not exaggerating."
J
James T.
Former Project Manager · Stage 2 graduate
"The evenings were as important as the days. Sitting around a table with people who had made the switch — not selling it, just living it — was the thing that finally made it feel real and possible."
L
Lisa K.
Former Marketing Director · Currently in Stage 2
Common questions
Things people wonder before they go Away.
Is this a holiday or a programme?
Away is best understood as a structured working holiday. It is designed to feel restorative and low-pressure while still giving you meaningful exposure to a different kind of future.
Do I need to be ready for a career change?
No. Away is designed for exploration. Many people simply want perspective before making any decisions — and some leave their stay returning to their current life with a clearer head.
Do I need farming or land experience?
Not at all. These experiences are designed for people who are new to this world and want a safe, supported introduction. The stays are designed to feel grounded, not overwhelming.
Is this physically demanding?
Experiences vary, but the intention is exposure and insight — not overexertion or performance pressure. These stays are designed to feel restorative, not demanding.
What happens after the stay?
Some people leave with fresh perspective and return to their current life with more clarity. Others choose to explore the Deeper Programme. There's no pressure either way — the stay itself is complete.
Is this only for people worried about AI?
No. Away is for anyone rethinking the pace, meaning or sustainability of their current working life — whether that's driven by technology, burnout, a midlife threshold, or simply a quiet sense that something more meaningful is possible.
You just need a better way to explore what else might be possible. Away gives you the space, structure and setting to try a different rhythm of life — before making any big decisions.
