Abby

& Alexander

Travel information

We are currently

Activities we are interested in:

Hiking, sustainability, second hand shopping, conservation, recycling, animal welfare, vegetarian cooking, baking, art, electronic music, festivals, politics, and much more!

Description

Hi! We are a couple from Manchester, UK. We met at university over 5 years ago where I (Abby) was studying Fashion Marketing & Alex was studying Chemistry. Since graduating, we dreamt of travelling, gaining new perspectives and invaluable experiences through volunteering. Both with ultimate career goals relating to environmentalism and sustainability, we thought volunteering is a great way to work towards this.

In January 2024, we left to travel Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia then in October moved to New Zealand on a WHV to save up more money. Some of our favourite memories in SE Asia were interactions with other people & just spending moments in nature.

The best part was definitely the month we spent volunteering on a fair trade farm through Workaway where we planted trees, binded durian fruits, gardened, fertilised, weeded, helped with water systems, cooked family meals and more.

As a couple, we are very similar but have some different unique interests.

We’re both motivated by nature, sustainability and the environment. We'd love to help contribute towards making the earth greener & a better place. Sustainability is something we've studied at university & I (Abby) volunteered in sustainability back at home.

We love hiking, walking, swimming in the sea and exercising outdoors, and would love to try more things like yoga & meditation. This helps us feel at peace, and is a good place to connect with each other.

One of our passions is animal welfare & we especially love dogs, so we visited some animal shelters in the past. Alex is always trying to make best friends with every stray dog we see! We're also vegetarian because of our love for animals and the environment, and we enjoy healthy eating & cooking.

We love experiencing new cultures and meeting new people. We find this easy because we're very sociable. We love listening to people's life stories and meeting people from different backgrounds. We think it's fun to do simple things with people like going for walks, enjoying food & playing card games, because you can learn more about people this way. We're occasional social drinkers but nothing too crazy, and we don't smoke.

We also love music of all different genres including electronic music, rap, alternative, rock and more. In the summer we like to go to festivals with friends or as a couple.

I am more of a creative person and love drawing, painting and fashion. As well as this, I love taking photos, using technology, social media, graphic design and marketing. I also recently launched a blog about sustainability. Being creative makes me very happy & new cultures inspire me a lot.

Alex is a more logical person and loves history, geography, chemistry, physics and maths. He likes learning new things, especially about the history of other cultures. I can always find him watching educational videos at night.

Since arriving in New Zealand we've been working and saving up in Auckland, enjoying the nature and planning a trip to travel towards the South Island. This involves catching local buses, hitch hiking, house sitting and volunteering along the way as we love to meet new people, learning about New Zealand/Maori culture and having a slow pace of life.

If we sound like a good match for your volunteering opportunity then please reach out to us & we can organise a call!

We're leaving Auckland in April to head towards the South Island & will be travelling back to Auckland by around July.

Interests

Gardening

Movies & TV

Photography

Writing

Self development

Yoga / Wellness

Politics / Social justice

Sustainability

Pets

Music

Nature

Mountain

History

Hiking

Fitness

Fashion or beauty

Culture

DIY & crafts

Drawing & painting

Events & social

Cooking & food

Charity work

Blogging

Vegetarian or vegan

Beach

Astronomy

Art & design

Architecture

Animals

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent

More details about my language interests
We would be happy to teach English language to others where we can. We are interested in learning local languages too.

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn

We're interested in:  

Charity Work

Animal Care

House sitting

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Some knowledge of:  

Art Projects

Eco Projects

Gardening

DIY and building projects

Life at a Farmstay

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping around the house

Hospitality/Tourism

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Able to teach about:  

Languages

General Maintenance

Helping with Computers/ Internet

More details about your skills

As well as our full time professional jobs, we have both worked in hospitality and retail for many years - a lot in bars and shops. So we're good with numbers, taking payments, customer service, helping people, organisation, and working quickly. When in hospitality, we worked together a lot so work as a great team.

We love animals and the environment. We are both very comfortable with animals, especially dogs, so we're good at looking after them & have also visited some animal shelters before which was great.

I (Abby) has volunteered for some sustainable businesses before helping with their social media, marketing & helping them educate people on how to shop sustainably. When at university, we both gathered a lot of knowledge on sustainability and the environment too.

In terms of personal skills, we are both very chatty and sociable. We are good at understanding other people's needs. Also, we're very organised and always on time. We're motivated to do well in everything we do, so we always try our hardest.

We also have some strong general domestic skills like cooking, cleaning, organisation. We specifically love cooking for other people.

I (Abby) have previously worked in marketing full time. I’ve helped to market sustainable businesses, tech businesses & fashion brands. This has involved copywriting, website writing, social media, email marketing and more. I can help businesses get a wider customer base and become more known. Because of my practise in copywriting, my English writing skills are great. I’ve managed a lot of projects from start to finish too.

I am also very creative, have strong art skills & can paint, draw, sketch, make digital illustrations and graphics. I’ve done lots of drawings in the past both big and small and would love to create some more for businesses & homes, or help decorate! I have a degree in fashion so can be very creative & have an eye for colour.

Alex has worked and volunteered in a laboratory full time. He developed a lot of analytical skills like record keeping, spreadsheets, being accurate with numbers. When he works in a lab, cleanliness and organisation is very important. He learned how to use a lot of lab equipment very quickly which shows how well he can pick up skills & new processes, and can be very hands on.

We both got the highest grade possible at university, so we are very hard workers! Whilst studying, we also worked part time which shows our work ethic.

Above all we both have a passion to work with people, learn new skills and collaborate!

Age

25 & 24

What else ...

We love hiking & the outdoors, and would like to learn more yoga & meditation and anything similar!

We also enjoy going to museums & learning about local culture, art & history which is something we do a lot at home and also when travelling.

Back in the UK we go to a lot of music events and festivals - especially electronic and rap music. We love music, enjoy talking about different types of music & learning about everyone’s favourites.

In the evening, we play board games or card games (any will do!) whilst chilling with other people, and the occasional drink.

When at home, we cook together every night & enjoy trying new cuisines. We're not picky at all!

We both have lived together for over 4 years & have worked together previously so we know we are a good team.

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies

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  Special dietary requirements
  Vegetarian but will eat fish if necessary