Freya & Robbie

Travel information

We are currently

Description

We are a bubbly, empathetic, and energetic couple from Melbourne, Australia. We love to help others, work with our hands and are hungry to learn new skills and embrace different experiences.

We already have our have permesso di soggiorno and codice fiscale.

We moved to Italy 9 months ago so that we could properly immerse ourselves in the culture and improve our Italian language. We lived in beautiful Sicilia for 3 months, Arezzo for another 3 months and are now living in the vineyard-covered hills of Piedmonte.

Our focus is on living simply while finding meaningful ways that we can contribute and give back to the community. We are not looking for free accommodation with no work in return. We have a strong work and community ethic, our priority is to ensure that our hosts feel that we provide them with value too.

Interests that we both have:
• Learning about Italian culture and the language – we have been learning Italian for over a year now. We are getting better but still recognise there is still so much to learn.
• Wine and olive production. From the growing practices right through to the bottling and preserving.
• We love to socialise but can still read a room and know when to give others space.
• Eating and cooking - we enjoy hosting dinner parties and bringing people together.
• Permaculture and closed-loop agricultural techniques. Our dream is to eventually own our own self-sustaining property.
• Working with our hands - gardening, building, painting - and all of the problem-solving that comes with it.
• Physical and spiritual activities - whether that be going for a hike, doing yoga or a breath work session, we like to keep our minds and bodies healthy.

Francesca's interests/hobbies:
• Hospitality and business management - I have worked in the hospo industry my whole life because I love what I do! I enjoy serving customers and giving them a unique experience that they will remember. I also enjoy helping businesses to make improvements and find it rewarding to be a part of their growth journey. In my spare time I go to restaurants and bars or host dinner parties and love the feeling of bringing people together.
• I have a degree in organisational psychology which I utilise a lot of frameworks from for hospitality business management.
• I also enjoy working with my hands and building or creating something – I love working in the garden, making clothes, helping friends renovate their houses and furniture, ride motorbikes (I used to own 4)…my list of hobbies goes on.

Roberto's interests/hobbies:
• Engineering and building things. Back in Australia Roberto worked mostly on commercial construction sites and high-rise buildings. A major part he enjoyed about his work was the problem solving aspect with clients. He is a collaborative problem solver who prefers a hands-on approach rather than telling people what they should do.
• Football – Manchester United is his go-to team but AC Milan has been piquing his interest. He also enjoys when I host dinner parties because it means he gets to eat and drink delicious food (I must say though he is a great kitchen hand.)

Interests

Winter sports

Politics / Social justice

Pets

Events & social

Sustainability

Culture

Self development

Farming

Charity work

Plant care

History

Music

DIY & crafts

Books

Art & design

Languages

Gardening

Cooking & food

Drawing & painting

Yoga / Wellness

Team sports

Nature

Fitness

Camping

Mountain

Dancing

Beach

Outdoor activities

Hiking

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Italian: Beginner
Vietnamese: Beginner

More details about my language interests
This workawayer has indicated that they would be interested in sharing their language(s) or learning a new language. You can contact them directly to discuss this.

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn

We're interested in:  

Charity Work

Languages

Art Projects

Eco Projects

Gardening

Life at a Farmstay

Animal Care

House & pet sitting

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Able to teach about:  

Teaching

DIY and building projects

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping around the house

Hospitality/Tourism

General Maintenance

Helping with Computers/ Internet

More details about your skills

These are the types of tasks that we have both been performing for previous Workaway hosts:
• Operating a bed and breakfast - reception, attending to guest queries, checking-in/out procedures, housekeeping, and cleaning.
• Working in a restaurant - food preparation and dishwashing.
• Wine and cider production - sorting, pressing, filtering, bottling, taste evaluation.
• Construction - digging, pouring concrete, painting, sanding, removing and building fencing. We use sustainable methods such as a project where we removed concrete from a wall and re-purposed it into a brick footpath.
• Yard work - such as minor landscaping, brush clearing and disposal.
• Agriculture - watering, weeding, pruning, planting, harvesting but also improvement projects such as creating a lattice for green beans and zucchini to grown vertically.
• Taking care of animals - chickens, quails, cats, dogs, pigs and one cheeky horse. This included feeding and giving them lots of love, along with cleaning their stables/pen. We utilised closed-loop farming techniques like recycling the horse manure and hay back into the garden.

Additional skills we both have:
• We are a couple of sponges – ready to soak up any information you give us. We are quick and self-sufficient learners, if we do not know how to do something we take the initiate to find out.
• Optimism, resilience, and persistence – we can always find the silver lining in negative situations and we keep working through a task until we get the job done.

Francesca :
• I have 17 years of experience in hospitality and business management. I started off as a waitress and barista before transitioning to be a coffee roaster, barista trainer and operations manager. I now do freelance work partnering with bars and restaurants to improve their processes, and reduce costs and waste.
• I can use basic power tools safely, I am self-taught but I am proud to say I still have all 10 fingers and toes ;) I have experience in basic house and furniture restorations, and can also make clothes.
• I'm also a novice ethical bow hunter (mostly deer) where I only catch what I am going to eat and ensure that the animal's pain is minimal. I have safe skills with a knife and got into ethical hunting as a way to connect back with the land and have a better understanding about the symbiotic relationships of where food comes from.

Roberto:
• An excellent handyman and good on the tools – Robbie holds 5 years of experience as a construction engineer and 3 years experience as a labourer.
• He also has great people skills after spending 5 years in sales and retail positions.

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What we would love to learn:
• Anything and everything about Italian culture – from the lifestyle through to family recipes.
• Anything to do with wine or olives. Whether that be growing, producing or tasting; we are happy to learn.
• Agriculture and sustainability - we are especially interested in permaculture and close-loop techniques but are open to learning about other agriculture topics.
• Mindfulness practices – we have learned how to take care of our bodies and get the nutrition we need but now it’s time to focus on how to take better care of our minds. We are curious about meditation and breathwork but are open to other activities too.

Age

32 & 32

What else ...

We hope that we have covered everything but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out :)

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  No

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  Special dietary requirements
  No