Kathryn
& Dean

  • United Kingdom
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Profile information

  • Travel information

    We are currently

    Travelling

    Activities we are interested in:

    Currently in Martinborough region on New Zealand's North Island

    Our next destination:

    New Zealand - from Nov 2023 until May 2024
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  • Description

    * UPDATED - 1st MARCH 2024*

    Married couple seeking new adventures, new skills to learn, new people to meet, and to break away from the conventional way of life.

    We began our Workaway journey in October 2023 with an amazing experience in Melbourne, Australia. We spent four weeks with an adorable Workaway community mainly undertaking garden and landscaping duties. Since then we completed another Workaway in Arrowtown, NZ South Island before moving on to a house and pet sitting job in Dunedin, NZ. Our current Workaway role is cleaning, gardening, house maintenance, and hospitality on one of New Zealand's most spectacular private multi-day walking tracks in the South Wairarappa. This role will keep us busy until May 2024. We are looking for a new adventure during the months of May and June ideally in the Taupo area but we are very flexible and open minded.

    It wasn't until 2018 when we took the plunge and emigrated to New Zealand from the UK for where exploration and travel became our new way of life. Whilst we adore our family and the plethora of nieces and nephews in the UK the wanderlust within has called us back to Aotearoa where we are looking for a different way of life from the conventional one we had before.

    We had to return to the UK for a family emergency in 2021. That experience, and the loss of a nephew reaffirmed the importance of living life as full as possible and near on two years later we have returned to our second home. To embrace change and the unknown: to "live life" to the full and inspire others despite turning forty!

    We are at a unique juncture in our lives to embrace this opportunity. After over 20 years as a couple we cannot wait to see what the next chapter holds!

  • Interests

    Self development
    Videography
    Team sports
    Technology
    Plant care
    Photography
    Pets
    Outdoor activities
    Nature
    Mountain
    Movies & TV
    Music
    History
    Hiking
    Gardening
    Fitness
    Farming
    Events & social
    Drawing & painting
    DIY & crafts

    show more
  • Languages

    Languages spoken
    English: Fluent

    More details about my language interests
    Learning any language is useful, Kat spoke rudimentary French, German and Spanish that she wouldn't mind up-skilling in if the opportunity arose.

    Find a language buddy

  • Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn

    We're interested in:  

    Eco Projects

    Some knowledge of:  

    Being an elderly companion
    Art Projects
    Teaching
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Animal Care
    Life at a Farmstay
    Babysitting and creative play
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
    Helping around the house
    Hospitality/Tourism
    General Maintenance
    Helping with Computers/ Internet
  • More details about your skills

    Kathryn - has held a few different career choices and have experience in teaching (anatomy and physiology and exercise fitness), I worked in a pub /restaurant from the age of 13 (front of house and kitchen) learning different skills at a young age which led onto different varied roles: lifeguard, restaurant manager and exercise therapist in mental health).

    Currently I am a Cardiac Physiologist (don't worry not many people know of it) - I am a medical device specialist and invasive cardiac cath lab physiologist. I do very good CPR!

    I have worked hard to earn two First Class Honours Degrees, and I guess you would label me as an academic.

    One thing I have missed in the travelling years is my adored garden nurtured over 15 years. I loved learning to grow and use the gifts of my garden, being in nature is my favourite space, which has been substituted with hiking, strolls on gorgeous beaches and snow-capped mountains.

    My other passion, prior to a scientific medical career taking over, was art. Any and every form was a source of great relaxation, and pride when I actually did something good. So that's me other than I love sport, I am a spectator these days but I am fine with that.

    Dean - has been employed in various roles over the past 20 years also. Again starting out in the fitness industry, but quickly found myself diverting into sports coaching in schools and communities. This work developed my skills with children and young people, event management, and project coordination. I would later move into roles specifically to manage health and well-being programmes funded by the National Health Service.

    While living in New Zealand I took on a communications role that allowed me to develop my skills with digital marketing. I also progressed with my project management skills in leading a "Friendship Programme" in the disability sector.

    I have some skills with photography and videography as well as design. I have an Adobe Creative Cloud account which allows me to create and publish. We have been able to trade my skills in producing promotional material in exchange for free stays in holiday houses while traveling in New Zealand. This is something we would like to explore further. I have recently completed my first digital marketing qualification.

    Having bought a house at an early age, I quickly became adept with DIY (after a few initial disasters I might add) and landscaping outside space (including paving and decking).

    I am a keen guitar player and have written songs for my touring band in my mid-20s. I also developed the ability to record and produce.

  • Age

    40 & 40

  • What else ...

    Music and sport are the things that bound our teenage school relationship and resulted in our long-standing marriage, though Dean is an Arsenal FC supporter he can be forgiven... We both played competitive sports through school, Dean basketball to regional level and badminton to All England level. He is still annoyingly good at every sport, except ice skating which he only does with the nieces and nephews using them as a balance aid.

    That leads to the most important and inspirational feature of our lives - family. Whilst we do not have children of our own the nieces and nephews are our pride and joy and we LOVE being an Aunty and Uncle, we love getting together as a family and going camping, doing day trips and teaching them the games of "our youth". Although travelling to the other side of the world means we wont be able to see them too much, we also do this to inspire them and show them that they can do anything.

  • Some more information

    • Smoker

    • Driver's licence

    • Allergies
      No

    • Special dietary requirements
      Dean-No / Kathryn-Vegetarian (but will eat fish)

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