Hi there!

My name is Ashleigh, I'm 22 and currently live in Christchurch, New Zealand. I grew up in South Africa until I was 12 which is when my family immigrated to New Zealand.

I studied architecture for a couple years before changing my mind and now I'm almost qualified to be a primary school teacher! But....don't know if I want to teach straight away. My dream is to host wellbeing/conscious living/creative retreats for young adults. But first I want to travel! And while travelling I still want to encourage and inspire people to live their best life so I've just started a YouTube channel called A Purposeful Venture (that's one way to see a bit of who I am and what I'm like if you're curious).

I love love love exploring new places and being outdoors. Although I enjoy doing these things alone I enjoy travelling and experiences way more when shared with wonderful people, thus am keen to meet local people wherever I go. I do like doing touristy things but also want to get to experiences the places I go through the people that know the areas, culture, languages and secret gem spots.

The things that I enjoy are reading, surfing, anything at the beach really, painting, playing guitar badly (but improving), hiking, yoga, eating yum food, and learning new things.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Being a student on a budget and wanting to meet local people makes couch surfing a prefect option for me. I really enjoy meeting new people and seeing how diverse and beautiful our world is. Plus it's a little scary for me so I want to push myself out of my comfort zone.

Interests

• arts
• architecture
• music festivals
• yoga
• reading
• painting
• music
• hiking
• surfing
• sculpture
• swimming in the sea

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:

From Ben Howard to Flume to Lana Del Ray to Florence and the Machine to Daughter to Imagine Dragons to Taylor Swift to alt-J to Glass Animals. I love alot of music, depending on my mood or what mood I want to put myself in.

Movies:

I like movies with very beautiful scenary or clever filming. But enjoy horrors and also romantic comedies. No favorites really but saw A Quiet Place and loved that.

Books:

Harry Potter
Anything by Jodi Picoult
Memoirs of a Geisha
Farenheit 451
The Girl with the Pearl Earring
How to be Here

Alot of books...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Booked flights to Bali spontaneously without any plans of where I'm going to stay or do when I'm there!!

Roadtripped from the east coast of South Africa to Cape Town along the coast and then returned through desert land with my Best Friend and 5 guy friends. This trip included staying in an Elephant Park and seeing baby elephants with their herd at a watering hole and driving through a herd with elephants on either side of us (about 3 meters from the car!). We also saw lions!

Caught a little wooden bus from one side of Samoa to the other by myself to stay at the well known beach fales there.

Roadtripped the South Island of New Zealand seeing the most amazing places including Fiordland, Milford Sound, Franz Josef Glacier, and the Catlins (where we saw seals on the beach up close).

Teach, Learn, Share

I can speak some Māori and Afrikaans. Play guitar at a very basic level. Cook pretty well. Can kind of use premiere pro for editing videos. Some tennis skills..... And can give advice about travelling in South Africa, New Zealand and Samoa.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories from my other adventures.
Advice about travelling in South Africa, New Zealand, and Samoa.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, South Africa

Countries I’ve Lived In

New Zealand, South Africa