From caring for elephants in Sri Lanka to volunteering at The Star Regent Theatre 24-Hour Book Sale, life has been interesting lately for Lily Margreiter (19).
The young Austrian has been travelling the world under the Workaway cultural exchange scheme, in which young people exchange volunteer work for food and board.
In recent months, she has spent time in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, and she is loving every minute of it.
‘‘Through Workaway, you get to experience each country in a completely different way.
‘‘By staying with local people, you get to learn the language much better and see places you would never get to as a tourist,’’ she said.
For the past month, Miss Margreiter has been staying in Dunedin with Astra Heywood and Gabriel Rowcliffe, looking after their horses.
After being introduced to The Star Regent 24-Hour Book Sale co-ordinator Alison Cunningham, she decided to put her hand up to volunteer for the entire 24 hours of the sale, which starts tomorrow at noon and finishes at noon on Saturday.
‘‘We have nothing like this at home. I feel very lucky to be here,’’ Miss Margreiter said.
‘‘I love books, so I will try and take some with me when I move on — hopefully I can share them around.’’
Mrs Cunningham said preparations for the 24-hour book sale were going well and there were ‘‘as many books as ever’’ ready for sale.
The Regent Theatre board had agreed to use the proceeds of the book sale to fund the development of an intimate, flexible, ‘‘black box’’ performance space on the first floor of the theatre, she said.
‘‘We know that there is a need for flexible small spaces in the city, and we are working with the Dunedin City Council to make that happen.’’
