Hi, I'm Ellis! I was born in Sydney, grew up in Darwin, and now live in Sydney again. I've always loved travelling! When I'm not too busy with my research, I like to explore new places around the city, at least when I don't have friends over for board games. For interested parties, my research concerns a intranasal vaccine for tuberculosis that is so exciting because it shows great potential in fighting a deadly disease that has plagued humanity as long as we've existed. I will be travelling with my significant other, Laura, about whom I have no words so she can tell you on her own (she made me write this):

Hello! Call me Laura. Ellis & I share many interests: the board games (which he got me into), the video games (which I got him further into), the outdoorsy stuff in nature, the fight for equality, travelling, of course, and so on. Unlike Ellis, a scientist, I am a writer of poetry and fiction, and much of my time is devoted to art. I'm currently trying to write a novel about the internet--specifically, about the intimate, interpersonal connections that can be formed over the internet, much like Couchsurfing facilitates! You'll quickly notice that I love to and live to create, whether it's stories, clothes, recipes, drawings, paintings, soft sculptures, or even party decorations! I am also an avid reader and cinephile. And I love making new friends. I can talk all day about almost anything, and I hope we do! It'd be a pleasure to meet you.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

(Ellis, here!) Every single place I visited I love. I travel because there is so much to see and learn about the world, and everywhere I've been, the people are so nice! And of course the local food is always amazing, and I miss it every time I leave (when I can't get it anywhere in Sydney, that is). I know through Couchsurfing I'll be able to make some great memories with people I might not have otherwise met and befriended.

The latest, greatest trip I've taken was in Sri Lanka with Laura last year. I've done a lot of traveling, but this trip was the best. The people were all really lovely, and there are so many incredible things to see in Sri Lanka! On our very first day out of Colombo, we took a drive to Panduwas Nuwara. No one seems to know about it (it was deserted!), but it's a massive archaeological site, with a small museum and hundreds of meters of ancient walls and building foundations. We also saw the locals wrestling a crocodile into a car!

The whole trip after that was fantastic. We saw hundreds of elephants and the most beautiful landscapes on Safari, and explored the most incredible ruins and temples I've ever seen. There are two massive ruined cities that you can wander through at your own pace, not to mention the ruined palace of Sigiriya, built 200 m above the ground on a massive rock and surrounded by beautiful gardens. Sri Lanka is a wonderful country like no other.

Centres d'intérêt

• animals
• cooking
• video games
• board games
• swimming
• science
• travel
• food
• nature
• social justice
• bushwalking
• quack-busting

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

MOVIES:

We have a lot of overlap in taste. Just a small selection includes Gattaca, Lord of the Rings, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Isle of Dogs. We notably adore most of the Ghibli movies: Castle in the Sky, Whisper of the Heart, Kiki's Delivery Service, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbour Totoro, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Pom Poko (perhaps the most underrated), Spirited Away.

Ellis has an especial love for The Castle, an Australian classic. Laura turns time and again back to the works of Wong Kar-wai and Hirokazu Koreeda (I feel like everyone should go and watch After Life).

A few of our guilty pleasures: The Room, Neo Yokio, Naruto.

MUSIC:

Ellis never had any music on his iPhone until Laura synced some onto it, but he sure loves his video game soundtracks. Laura listens to everything, but she is partial to putting dream pop tracks on repeat. She favours lyricism, the unexpected, and originality. She loves hunting down unknown artists, so please tell her of them!!!!!

BOOKS:

Ellis: His Dark Materials, the Edge Chronicles, Flatland, Deltora Quest, Artemis Fowl (only the earlier books), Roald Dahl books, Animal Farm, Gulliver's Travels, and anything Laura has written (she's really good!).

Laura: ANYTHING by the late, great Ursula K. Le Guin, especially the Earthsea cycle, which was a fixture of her young adulthood; The Little Prince; The Last Unicorn; Under Milk Wood; Dream of the Red Chamber; Voyage to the Moon; No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency; Lud-in-the-Mist; some Jules Verne; anything by Kenji Miyazawa, Patricia McKillip, Lord Dunsany, Rabidranath Tagore, among many others. Some recent reads she has loved include Man with the Compound Eyes, The Animators (she even met the author!!!), Equilateral.

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

Early this year, Laura and I adopted Bobbin, an Australian terrier/schnauzer cross (we think). He was a lovely boy, 12 years young, with whom we fell in love at first sight (within 5 minutes he was in Laura's lap!). We were so happy to have him, and we brought him to picnic in parks with us all the time. We even took him along to see Isle of Dogs at the Moonlight Cinema, surrounded by hundreds of other doggos that howled along with the movie, a... doggone... CATch! He was such a happy dog, despite evidence that he experienced hardship in his long life. His tail was always wagging when we were together and we spent every moment we could with him. We have hundreds of photos of him doing cute things that we can show to any fellow dog lovers! Tragically, his health declined rapidly for two weeks in July, and he died of heart failure, but he will live on forever in our hearts. Those five months he loved us were some of the best days of our lives.

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

Ellis:
I'm happy to talk anyone's ear off about immunology and vaccines, and I always love to talk about any other field of science as well. I also have a great love of board and card games I am always happy to teach. I also can teach you how to cook a bad casserole as well as some delicious dishes Laura and I devised ourselves. I'm happy to learn about just about anything, especially about local customs and culture when I'm abroad.

Laura:
I can teach you various skills, including:

♥ Sewing, whether you want me to show you the basics of making a garment, or how to repair clothing. I sew what I want to wear, and that is usually vintage patterns; I have an especial love of 50s and 40s clothing.

♥ I can teach you how to make cuddly animal dolls by poking roving wool with a special needle.

♥ Along with Ellis, I can teach cooking--I've devised some mean recipes in my time, such as apple pie, peachy spare ribs, and the to me ideal cheeseburger.

♥ I am also happy to teach English (Australian accent) and Mandarin (mild Beijing accent) as well as learn more Mandarin, as I can always add to my vocabulary.

As for learning & sharing:

♥ I would also love to learn any local language that I can.

♥ I would be extremely excited and eager to learn the traditional arts and crafts of the countries I visit.

♥ One of the great pleasures of life must be to have someone open up to you; I would be honoured to listen to the gift of all your life stories and dreams. I too have stories to share, as well as all the secrets of Sydney.

♥ Maybe we could even write a story together?

Ce que j'aimerais partager avec mes hôtes

♥ We can share stories of all the places we've been, illustrated by photos, of course.

♥ We can also cook people our favourite meals. We will help clean it up, too!

♥ As aforesaid, Laura can help you sew a garment if you have a sewing machine. She can teach it without one, as well, but the skills learned might be more limited.

♥ At least, she can help you repair clothes even with just some basic tools, courtesy of us.

♥ If you would like Laura to teach you how to needle felt, she will! What's more, if you have a local crafting store or Daiso, all the materials you will need for a small project or two will be our shout. As felting needles are sharps and thus cannot be brought onto carry-on luggage, if we cannot get a hold of the tools, we may not be able to help you with the hands-on experience. Learning how to needle felt is easy! Most likely you will have a small project done by the end of our stay with you.

♥ We have great taste, and can show you new music, movies, video games etc. you might like!

♥ Laura has a particularly good eye for spotting hidden foodie gems! Maybe we can go hunting together?

♥ Laura has lived in Sydney for almost eighteen years; she would love to tell you about the secret spots she haunts and all the great yearly events in not only Sydney, but the gorgeous surrounding regions in NSW that are just a day trip away.

♥ Ellis can tell you all about all the best places to visit in Darwin, and more interestingly, the places you can drive to and camp in!

♥ We three can write or bounce ideas together!

♥ We will always have some board games on hand that we would be love to teach and play with you.

♥ Ellis can teach Dungeons and Dragons games, in fact, why not write a new scenario with us?

♥ Love and friendship! ♥_____♥

Pays que j'ai visités

Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Australia