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.

We moved to Italy almost a year ago on a working holiday visa which is sadly coming to an end. Our aim was to experience different ways of life and change the way we perceive the world. We are not done with our travels though and plan to keep kicking on for a few more months.

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/hobbies that we both have:
• Agriculture particularly permaculture, closed-loop, and related techniques. Our dream is to eventually own our own self-sustaining property.
• Learning about other cultures and languages (German and French are of particular interest to us).
• Working with our hands - gardening, building, painting - and all of the problem-solving that comes with it.
• Eating and cooking - we enjoy cooking for others and learning/sharing different recipes/techniques. Although we both eat everything, I (Freya) especially enjoys cooking vegetarian meals. I like to get creative with finding a million different ways to cook whatever is in-season and from the garden.
• Food and beverage production. From the growing practices right through to the fermentation and preserving. Whether that be beer, wine, kombucha, cheese, sauerkraut...we want to learn it all!
• We love to socialise but can still read a room and know when to give others space.
• Physical and mindfulness activities - whether that be going for a hike and connecting back with nature, doing yoga or a breathwork session, we like to keep our minds and bodies healthy.

Freya'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 for hospitality business management. It is a massive passion of mine and I can talk with people all day about it.
• 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.

Robbie's interests/hobbies:
• Engineering and building things. Back in Australia Robbie 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 partner

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:
• Construction - digging, pouring concrete, painting, sanding, removing and building. We prefer to use upcycling 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.
• Operating a bed and breakfast - reception, attending to guest queries, checking-in/out procedures, housekeeping, and cleaning.
• Working in a bar/restaurant - taking orders, making coffee and cocktails, food preparation, dishwashing, and most importantly...gasbagging with customers.
• Wine and cider production - sorting, pressing, filtering, bottling, taste evaluation - our favourite part ;)


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.

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 in relation to our interests/hobbies mentioned above.

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