CURRENT MISSION

Keep a car alive across Canada. Take as many detours as possible. Leave the car behind regularly. Make it to Montreal and speak in a new language. Finish off that long lost BA then go for a job in something completely different.

ABOUT ME

I have green thumbs, minor mechanical skills, big plans, and a backlog of journals. I like cooking cakes and eating salads and fermenting whatever else I can find. I've spent the last few months driving, hiking, canoeing and paragliding my way around Australia. I have a tendency to acquire too many books. I'm surprised at how much happier I am in the bush. I like open fires, horizons, red wine and idle speculation. I have an ambition to take up more high adrenalin activities, including getting more regular airtime in the paraglider. I'm a great (vegetarian) cook, intrinsically interested in working things out, eco-minded and independent. I like a fair bit of downtime to absorb the world. In person, I can be a little shy.

PHILOSOPHY

Sometimes, it seems like life doesn't have a point. This is a gift - it means you get to make the point.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Most of the houses I've lived in have had couchsurfers (friends and friends of friends - we're friendly people), but never via the website until late last year.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My favourite recent story would be: I was visiting a friend on a mountainous little island called Tasmania. A group of backpackers at the airport didn't really know where they were, so we took them out to the block and hung out in rural splendour for the week.

Interests

bushwalks, overnight hikes, sedges, scrambling up and to a lesser extent down (trees cliffs, escarpements, gorges, big rocks in the middle of rivers, whatever), really well written literary books and really fat speculative fiction books, paragliding, crafternoons, old cultures and their stories. Community gardens. Community in general. Stories in general. Bikes, especially those I have made go. Dancing to live music, particularly when more than five people are making said music. Getting caught up in a conversation and talking deep into the night. Circadian rhythyms (whatever happened to the second sleep?). Fun with people who aren't going to judge others and have diverse backgrounds and identities.

• culture
• books
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• red wine
• vegetarian
• running
• music
• live music
• hiking
• backpacking
• canoeing
• kayaking
• soccer
• paragliding
• beaches
• rivers

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Recently:
Hiking the chilkoot trail, especially the kilometre or so of 40 degree rockslide they call the golden stairs. The wind was whipping up behind and everwhere was snow and mist and you are an ant in a backpack crawling up the shale. High points for insanity.

10 days kayaking in Haida Gwai - visiting old village sites with mortuary poles, learning about the Haida culture, being spouted on by whales, running into bears, stalking the intertidal zone and going 150-160km pretty much the first time I ever went out in a sea kayak.

Spending three months driving around the backroads of Australia. in a dodgy little low clearance 4WD. I lost five tyres on the way.

Pretty much anytime I make it into the air paragliding, but particularly one fligh off a mountain and over a river and a lake and a national park and to land on a beach right next to a campground full of giant floppy lizards and happy kangaroos.

Teach, Learn, Share

Freeform crotchet, anyone? Various delicious and allergen-sensitive food making processes. How to keep things growing.

I will be learning French. Anyone who ignores my bemused expression and sudden silence and carries on talking to me in french will be much appreciated. Also, my friends and I were teaching each other soccer. I'd love to keep doing that, especially with those who are neither fleet nor sure of foot.

Countries I’ve Visited

Czech Republic, France, India, Indonesia, Ireland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, United Kingdom