Freya & Robbie

Travel information

We are currently

Description

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

We have moved to Italy so that we can properly immerse ourselves in the culture and improve our Italian language. We have been living in Sicilia for two months and are heading to Toscana in late September.

Our focus is on living simply while finding meaningful ways that we can contribute and give back to the community - we have love and appreciation for animals and the earth.

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.
• 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.
• We love to socialise but can still read a room and know when to give others space.
• Being outdoors and camping – we like to ditch the phones and go back to nature where we can.
• Physical activities - whether that be playing sport or going for a hike, we like to keep our bodies healthy.
• Music and dancing – we are goofy dancers but that’s ok, we enjoy ourselves :)

Freya's interests/hobbies:
• Teaching and helping others. My biggest motivator is helping others to grow and gain confidence in what they are doing.
• I enjoy working with my hands and building or creating something – I love working in the garden, making clothes, help friends renovate their houses and furniture, host lunches and dinners, motorbikes (I used to own 4)…my list of hobbies goes on.
• I come from a background in organisational psychology so I love doing research and understanding about how different things work.

Robbie's interests:
• Engineering and building things. He's a great problem solver and likes working with his hand too.
• Football – Robbie’s a Manchester United fan but we won’t hold that against him ;)

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 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 been performing for previous Workaway hosts:
• Taking care of animals - horses, chickens, quails, dogs, and cats
• Housekeeping and guest services duties for a B&B
• Household and deep cleaning
• Gardening (weeding, pruning, harvesting etc.) and minor landscaping
• Rental car cleaning

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.

Freya:
• An exceptional level of warm customer service and communication skills after working 17 years in the hospitality industry. I spent many years working for a prominent coffee roastery in Melbourne as their head coffee trainer, coffee roaster and café operations manager. I now do freelance work assisting cafes in improving their processes with the aim of increasing customer and employee satisfaction, and reducing costs and waste.
• I spend my free time helping friends renovate their houses and restore furniture. I can also make clothes, do business administration, gardening, cleaning, cooking, and event planning. I have not done labouring as a profession but I can still pick up the tools and do basic tasks (I'm also happy to learn).
• 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.

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

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What we would love to learn:
• Anything and everything about Italian culture – from the lifestyle through to family recipes.
• Agriculture - we are especially interested in permaculture and close-loop techniques but are open to learning about other agriculture topics.
• Anything to do with wine or olives. Whether that be growing, producing or tasting; we are happy to learn.
• 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.
• Sustainability practices – we had a compost and worm farm back in Melbourne. It felt good to reduce our waste but we are keen to learn more.

Age

31 & 31

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