CURRENT MISSION

Loving Life, seeing the world and trying to be the best person I can be.

ABOUT ME

I'm me, 6th kid of 7 so I'm good with people and think I can talk to most people and find common ground and build friendships.

I have travelled extensively and have been fortunate to meet alot of kind people on the way so I am happy to extend that kindness back to others.

I believe in Karma, you do reap what you sow in life so plant kindness.

I love photography,i read, i run, i surf badly but I love it, I do yoga, I meditate, I like great food. I love dogs and a few special cats. Like walking barefoot and love the beach.

PHILOSOPHY

Live and let live. Be the change you want to see in the world. Not my words but good words to live by. I think we need more kindness in the world and I also think if we all could travel and see how other parts of the world live the world would be a much better place.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm happy to share a couch in my house and just give a visitor a few pointers on how to travel well and safely and to have a great time.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

This will be year 4 of hosting couchsurfers, but over the years travelling in Europe Australia and NZ I've been hosted by many great people and know what it takes to be a good host, and a good guest.

Darci's Rules - The Do's and Don'ts

Things you need to know before sending me a request. Sorry if the list is bit long but I've learnt some stuff in the past year and just putting it out there so we're all on the same page :)

Read my profile, if I see you haven't taken the time to read through it I most likely will decline your request. I will know if you haven't read it, trust me I'm psychic.

I don’t accept third party requests please don’t ask me to host your non couch surfing friend who has no profile.

Have a profile for me to read - if you don't take the time to write a profile you're not buying into the whole couch surfing culture which is about sharing and not just getting a free bed to sleep in.

BUT If you're staying here feel free to ask me anything I'm happy to help and if you need something researched for you we can arrange that :)

Couch surfers are not expected to "hang out" I want you to be comfortable, safe and happy doing your thing, but without obligation. CS's are considered part of the family during their time here. You wanna hang out and watch tv and have a cup of tea, great. Cook and eat a meal with us ,great, wanna do your own thing that's fine too. I’m in this to be "good people" to "good people". I’ve made some amazing friends through hosting and want that to continue. I do believe couch surfing should be reciprocal my house is not a hotel so you will need to offer something to the house, offer to help, cook a meal etc

I have a cat, his name is Kato he is crazy, awesome, lovely, friendly and cuddly (once he knows you) and he rules the house. If you don't like cats or are allergic to cats my house is not the place for you. He's a very cute cat, I'm always gonna choose the cat, telling you that right now.

Please don't ask to stay at my house for more than 3 days. The fact is we don't know each other yet, and committing to long stays is a huge investment of time and obligation on both our parts. I automatically decline request for more than 3 sleeps/nights because guess what?....the CS’er requesting didn’t read this profile :) because then they’d know there was a 3 day limit:). I’m soooo sneaky...and psychic :)

So...I'm happy to accept couch surfer requests for up to 3 nights initially, extension after that may be possible but the decision is made once we know each other and see if we're compatible.

Please work around the house schedule. There are 3 of us here and it's a busy place.

During the work week everyone usually leaves the house by 8am ish. If you're here you'll need to be up and ready to go by 8am unless we've made other arrangements. Weekends sleep as late as you want and feel free to laze around if you're so inclined.

I prefer to host 1-2 travellers at a time 3 is a squeeze but doable. If you are a group of 4 or more my house is not a good choice for you as I live downtown and have no yard to camp in. I have one room available to couch surfers so it needs to be shared. There is no extra parking at my house or on the street near my house so if you have a vehicle this is problematic and you’ll need to park it elsewhere.

Everyone in the house is busy and our hours are all over the place. We do not keep regular meal times. If we are making a dinner and you're here you are welcome to join us but if not please be prepared to cook for yourself and supply your own groceries (the kitchen has every gadget and spice known to man which you are welcome to use ) I don't as a rule eat much meat, but the cat and the flatmates do so if this bothers you again this may not be the place for you.

Please take the time to leave a reference after your stay. I write references for all people who stay at the house and it bums me out when people I’ve hosted don't do the same.

Be tidy

Be kind

Have fun

the end

Code word: Katothecat

Interests

photography photoshop yoga surfing knitting cooking running coffee drinking music art languages techno gadgets music

• cats
• dogs
• arts
• culture
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• coffee
• yoga
• running
• meditation
• walking
• drinking
• tv
• traveling
• knitting
• music
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• languages
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Foo Fighters - all their stuff, Cat Empire, Ben Harper, Tyler Lyle, Passages, The Orishas, the Civil Wars, Muse, Adele, Paloma Faith, pretty much everything except gangsta rap...cannot stand that stuff

Movies
Bohemian Rhapsody - amazing cast and I don’t care they took creative licence with some parts of the story
Wonder ( my favorite movie of 2017 loved it completely)
Out of Africa
Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile
The Secret life of Walter Mitty - loved this
movie so much
The Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Bill Cunningham New York
Life of Pi
Joy
The Shape of Water

Books
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Hundred Foot Journey
The Alchemist
Daring Greatly
Lord of the Rings
Life of Pi
The Prophet
a million more
Shantaram

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Way more than just one......

Befriended a friendly Orca whale while living on the west coast of Vancouver island.

Studied photography with Brooke Shaden in NZ 2015 and upcoming in Australia check out her amazing work brookeshaden.com

Scuba diving on Great Barrier Reef

Grew up seeing the northern lights they are pretty amazing.

Also swam with phosphoresent plankton in Australia way before Life of Pi made it cool lol.

All of these things I've been able to do were incredible and life changing

Teach, Learn, Share

I would like to work on my spanish and my french. I have a smattering of both but need to learn more.

I love learning how to cook traditional meals for other parts of the world.

I'd be happy to teach people how to take better pictures, or use the manual setting on their cameras. Happy to help people who want to work on their english.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Me :) my house friendship, space, a few stories and tips on how to enjoy Wellington

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, England, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, New Zealand