Robin

Travel information

I am currently

Activities i am interested in:

You may reach out if you are a host and need any help. I'm willing to travel to your place and stay for a bit.

Description

Hiya! Welcome to my profile. As of the 28th of November I am in Tasmania, Australia. I have an accepted WHV 417 for a year and I am currently working as a volunteer in the Tasman Peninsula. After about the 5th of January I would be available again for Workaway in Australia. Please do not hesitate to contact me via Workaway or sending me an email via robincoopmans@hotmail.com.

Shortly about me and why I chose this path:
My name is Robin, a (almost 31) 30 y/o lady from the Netherlands. Since February 2017 I have been working indoors in a pharmaceutical company (Genmab B.V) as a lab technician after finishing my Life Sciences degree. I did like my job, but ever since I was little I also feel myself very connected to the outdoors. I was always running in the garden and building huts, and at a later age I really enjoyed hiking and other outdoors activities. Being outside in nature, it is very good for me. It allows me to deal with (sometimes complex) emotions and to put my thoughts into order. I don't think I would be happy for a very long time if I continued working indoors at my laboratory job.
That is why I wanted to change my daily life and routine, and go on a big adventure. Do something completely different from what I used to do. Learn about the world, about different cultures, different people and about myself. I am grateful about learning new (life) skills and take new knowledge to me. And I think this is one of the best ways to do it! Via Workaway it is possible to live with other people in a different country than my own, see what their daily chores are, doing new projects, learning a ton of new skills and connecting with new people around me.

So, to make all that happen I stopped working in March 2022, sold my car, rented out my apartment in Utrecht (the Netherlands) and said goodbye to family and friends. A small overview of my journey you will see below. In between places, I mostly enjoyed travel time.

~ Scotland, 01-Apr till 17-Jun 2022
Isle of Arran, 3.5 weeks
Isle of Lismore, 4.5 weeks

~ Canada, 17-Jun till 09-Dec 2022
Family holiday, 3.5 weeks
Quesnel, 9.5 weeks
Merritt, 10.5 weeks

~New Zealand, 09-Dec 2022 till 27-Nov 2023
Darfield, 6 weeks
Leigh nearby Goat Island, 3 weeks
Omarama TOP10 Holiday Park, 7 months - paid job
Christchurch, 4 weeks

~Australia, 28-Nov 2023 till today
Eaglehawk Neck, 2.5 weeks

I find that I am mostly passionate about doing stuff in the outdoors, preferably something with animals. I enjoy learning about all sorts of animals (although I am not super happy with flying bugs haha) and see how they fare in their lives. Furthermore, almost any outdoor job I am willing to try or would like to know more about. Especially gardening and growing food has my interest. I find it really cool to see how everyone does it in their own special way. I am not the most skilled person out here but thats why I am here, learning, observing, trying and enjoying.

Interests

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent

More details about my language interests
I'm interested in learning other languages

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Life at a Farmstay

Eco Projects

Languages

Hospitality/Tourism

Helping with Computers/ Internet

General Maintenance

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Some knowledge of:  

Animal Care

DIY and building projects

Gardening

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping around the house

More details about your skills

You might wonder, why would I be a good candidate for your place? Well, I hope I can convince you with the following information!

~ I would like to describe my qualities as follows: hard working, motivated, social, open minded, precise, flexible, reflective and creative.
~ I have worked in several multidisciplinary environments which has ensured that I can work independently as well as in a (small) team. Usually, I prefer working together with someone as to not feel too alone.
~ I will try & do almost any job, even if it is new to me. I'm not afraid :)
~ I understand the concept of earning money.
~ I can work in various weather conditions, although my hayfever likes to be present there as well. Indoor jobs are also welcome, but prefer good balance between inside and outside.
~ I like to be challenged (in a good way) and learn new skills as it is a way to develop myself and explore.
~ I can work with pressure and deadlines, but would prefer not to have loads of that in Workaway.
~ I know my boundaries and how to handle specific situations related to these boundaries.
~ I am well travelled and thereby mostly self sufficient. I have taken multiple solo trips to several countries like Fiji, New Zealand, Canada, Scotland, Italy, Budapest, Greece, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Examples of countries I've travelled to with others are USA, Thailand, Indonesia, Finland, Spain, Austria, Czech Republic and Curacao.

When I started my big adventure, I didn't have a lot of skills related to mostly working outdoors as I didn't learn much about that when I grew up. But I'm happy that I've learned so many new valuable skills along the way. Allow me to mention some noteworthy skills below.

Beginner skills
~ Carpentry > Building patio, sanding, drilling, chainsawing, knows how to hammer down nails, bit of knowledge about how to handle carpenter machines
~ Fencing > By hand (in Scotland) and with help of tractor and other equipment (in Canada)
~ Animal care > Sheep (lambing, general knowledge), horses (general care > cleaning paddocks, grooming, feeding), chickens, cows (milking with machine)
~ Working & cooking alongside a chef > Preparing, processing, preserving, canning and storage of food products
~ Landscaping > Planting trees for bank & river maintenance, digging gravel from river to move to dry land to help in water drainage
~ Tractor driving > Learned to drive 3 different tractors (in Canada)

Intermediate skills
~ Painting > Painted a deck (Canada) and living room & kitchen (New Zealand)
~ Serving dinner/lunch guests > Polishing, table setting, ironing and hospitality
~ Quad driving > With trailer

Good skills
~ Babysitting > Animals & humans (have been left in charge multiple times of farms in Canada and New Zealand)
~ Gardening > Planting seeds, flowers, vegetables, trees and plants. Watering garden. Harvesting several fruits and vegetables. Mowing grass. Fertilize garden. Spray weeds.
~ Household care > Cleaning, cooking family meals, vacuuming
~ Brush cutting / weed eating

Excellent skills
~ Weeding > have done in all my Workaway places
~ Making beds > learned during my time in a holiday park

My interests of learning and operating are mainly in the following subjects
~ Carpentry
~ Animal (health)care
~ Garden activities
~ Food related activities, like processing, storage and usage
~ Running a household
~ Planning out projects
~ Almost any practical skill

I hope I've convinced you by now, otherwise have a look at my received feedback for more information 😀

Age

31

What else ...

I like sports! Field hockey (16 years), badminton, surfing (although not very skilled), swimming, hiking and biking. Hiking is my go to sport when I'm away. We don't have any hills or mountains in the Netherlands so mountain hiking is challenging for me, but I will try and do it anyway. Furthermore, meeting with friends, cooking, relaxing with tv and books, music and festivals, small creative projects, travelling, sauna and massages, puzzling and playing (board) games are also my personal interests. When watching TV I prefer seeing movies, but I'm also interested in reading books!

As a person, I enjoy my time off work and prefer to have downtime to relax and explore. This is mostly done in my own company but you are always welcome to ask me for joining, I welcome the company most times as well. Mostly I just rest or go out and do stuff like a hike. Thereby, I prefer making or having a schedule to work with.

I am in a fair condition but slightly overweight. This makes some (physical) jobs hard for me sometimes, especially when working in a super hot environment or an environment with a lot of grass pollen (hayfever). But I am open to discuss any possibilities. Please do not hold this against me, I really do like to do physical jobs as it keeps me healthy! I'm willing to discuss tasks that can or cannot be performed due to this, either while I'm at your place as a Workaway or beforehand.

Reach out to me via: robincoopmans@hotmail.com or via Workaway message. Also you can find me on social media via instagram at @robincoopmanss. My profile is open so if you want a peek, go for it!

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  I have hayfever. Symptoms still pop up and I hope that they will fade away over time, but thus far it is still present (very annoying). This causes me to sneeze a lot and have a running nose, which in turn costs me some energy which I need for working.

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  Special dietary requirements