Badges (2)
Profile information
Travel information
I am currently
At home
Description
Hi, I am 63, retired, and live in a rural part of Australia. I have visited France twice and Italy once in the past and am really keen to visit both again. My next trip will be in October 2024, for a month. During this trip I hope to have my first workaway experiences, and then plan a longer 90 day stay from March to June 2025 to incorporate longer workaway stays.
I am fit, healthy, enthusiastic, keen to learn, happy to help and enjoy working hard to accomplish a task or create a project. I am interested in travel, meeting new people and experiencing new cultures. I am honest, reliable, conscientious and trustworthy. I am also calm in a crisis, competent and practical, with a good sense of humour and I make friends easily with animals and people of all ages. I am a non smoker, but I do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner.
What motivates me
* Learning a new skill or discovering new information.
* A project or plan to design and/or create something.
* Helping others and solving problems.
* Planning and organising, I love spreadsheets and folders.
* Physical activity - I can sit in front of a computer for a few hours, but then I need to go
outside and weed or mow or just talk to the cats or go for a walk.
What brings me happiness
* Spending time with family and good friends. I now have 3 grandchildren and I just adore being with them, playing, making up games and stories, going to the park or the café.
* Being outside, either for a walk, working in the garden or just sitting having a coffee and reading a book.
* Watching a good series or movie – Rom Com or mysteries. I enjoy watching French, Italian or Nordic series with subtitles in English, also travelling cooks like Rick Stein.
* Cooking and trying new recipes, especially desserts and cakes.
* Planning my dream holiday which has always been to be able to stay in one place for a month or so and live like a local, get to know people and really experience the wonderful lifestyle and culture.
Interests
Carpentry
Gardening
Nature
Cooking & food
Writing
DIY & crafts
Books
Architecture
Languages
Languages spoken
French: Beginner
Italian: BeginnerMore details about my language interests
During Lockdown I completed my CELTA Diploma, so I am qualified to teach English as a second language.
Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
Charity Work
Being an elderly companion
Eco Projects
Animal Care
Life at a Farmstay
Helping around the house
Some knowledge of:
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Hospitality/Tourism
Helping with Computers/ Internet
Able to teach about:
Languages
More details about your skills
Expertise
Office administration and computers – competent with Word, Excel, Publisher
Customer service and communication
Hospitality
Teaching
Experience and Abilities
Three years before COVID I started a small café/ coffee shop from scratch in our local town. I did everything myself for the first two years – cooking fresh cakes and pastries daily, making coffee and other drinks, all marketing and publicity and all administration and computer jobs, as well as ordering supplies and clean up. I enjoy cooking, especially cakes and desserts, often I would make French or Italian cakes and tarts for my shop.
For over ten years before COVID I was a private or personal tutor, helping Primary and Secondary students with Literacy and/or Numeracy after school several afternoons a week. I love teaching for many reasons, but one of the best must be when you see the look on your students’ face as they realise something new or finally understand something they have been struggling with.
Before starting my own tutoring business, I worked at local Primary and Secondary schools as a Teacher's Aide or helper in the classrooms, assisting those children who needed extra help to understand and/or complete tasks. My first job after leaving Secondary School was working in a large library, in the main library for three years, and then for 20 years, driving the Mobile Library or Bookmobile around rural areas, stopping for half an hour or longer at small villages so that people could borrow library books and other items. I enjoyed that job so much, and I did it for about 20 years. I am very friendly and like to help people, so I would put aside books I knew certain people would like, and find dinosaur, pirate or fairy books for kids so they would keep reading because I believe reading is so important for our kids.
I Have also worked for our local Council doing administration tasks, answering phones, assisting managers, writing letters and other computer tasks including spreadsheets.
I enjoy simple carpentry, painting and decorating and am always keen to learn new skills around a building site. I like physical work, my garden is about half an acre which requires a lot of mowing, brush cutting, planting, pruning etc.
Age
64
What else ...
I enjoy playing cards and golf.
Some more information
Smoker
Driver's licence
Allergies
Special dietary requirements
Wheat intolerance
