CURRENT MISSION

To be content and live a fulfilling life through travelling and sharing meaningful experiences with family and friends. I like to be spontaneous, and I remain ready to experience any new opportunities.

I have travelled extensively over the years, I enjoy meeting locals and experience life as they know it. I have a burning desire to travel to Cuba and Central America. I could return to South America at the blink of an eye, each and every day when I was in South America was an amazing experience.

ABOUT ME

My burning desire to travel was fueled at a fairly young age. When I was just a little tacker I was given a globe of the world, and I also found out that my Great Grandfather was a Swede and jumped ship in the 1880’s. He settled in the Grampians in Victoria raising sheep and 10 kids! I was shown old letters dated 1905 sent from several of his Swedish relatives that were addressed to my grandmother when she was just a young girl. There I was no more contact between the countries over the next 80 or so years. Determined to track down my Swedish relatives I headed over and succeeded in finding them. I was lucky it was a small farming community and the local church kept accurate records.
Having family and friends in Sweden allowed me to experience Swedish life as a ‘local’ and not as a ‘tourist’. I have now been to Sweden 5 times. I really value the chance to experience a place from a local perspective.

I have four kids, they live next to my house. I spend a fair bit of time there helping out. I really enjoy the chance for my kids to meet surfers. As a Dad I see my role is to plant seeds for my kids, one of these seeds is travel. If my kids decide to travel as they get older, and having already experienced couch surfers they will understand the wonderful opportunities that exist when meeting locals compared to staying in a sterile resort environment.

PHILOSOPHY

42 We just don't know the question yet!!!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

AT THE MOMENT I'M NOT HOSTING. CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS AND YOU'LL SEE WHY.

SO I RECENTLY MOVED MY HOME , YES LITERALLY MOVED THE WHOLE HOUSE. IT WILL GET A FULL RENOVATION OVER THE NEXT YEAR AND WILL BE PRETTY COOL ONCE DONE.

IN THE MEANTIME I'M STILL HAPPY TO MEET UP, GIVE TIPS ABOUT THE LOCAL AREA. I'm happy to give hinterland tours to the National Parks with a chance to hike and swim in water holes.

I message travellers giving tips about places that are off the usual 'tourist' trail.
I also create meet up ‘Events’ at festivals such as Woodford Folk Festival, Big Pineapple Music Festival and Caloundra Music Festival.

I try to live as simply as possible, whatever is in the fridge or cupboard I’m happy to share. I enjoy a good stir fry or curry and will likely make one to share.

I am on an eternal quest for a good coffee

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I couchsurfed in Norway and Dubai in 2011. I have travelled extensively over the years, well before the Internet and concept of couchsurfing. I have always travelled like this. I have an uncanny knack of meeting cool people who would offer me their couch / floor for the night. I have made some great friends that I still keep in contact with, some have even visited and stayed with me.

Interests

Travel, Urban Design - "Placemaking", Photography, Camping, Hiking, seeing live music and a good coffee.

Music, Movies, and Books

Wide range really, always interested in reading about urban design, photography and sustainability.

I’m a bit of an old metal head, but I enjoy a varied range of music such as Dead Letter Circus, A Perfect Circle, Anathema.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- Hitchhiked to Berlin in 1988, got a day visa to enter East Berlin, got detained by Police for climbing into a construction site to take photos over no-man’s land back towards the West. There was no sign that the wall would ever come down, yet less than a year it was down.
- Played golf at both the world’s highest altitude golf course in La Paz and the world’s most northerly course in Sweden.
- Travelled through Yugoslavia only couple of years before the Balkan wars
- Hiked to Machu Picchu, Peru
- Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina
- Northern Lights in Tromso, Norway
- Glacier walk in Norway
...... plus lots more

Teach, Learn, Share

As a traveller I would often arrive in a new place at first light. I’d sit back and observe as the place woke up and come alive. Waves of people would pass through the same space starting with street cleaners, bakery deliveries, joggers, workers, parents taking kids to school, shoppers & visitors. You can appreciate a place by observing these interactions. These observations form an important part of urban design.

I left my Commercial Banking job (a happy victim of the GFC) and commenced a Degree in Regional & Urban Planning. I completed a semester studying in Norway & Germany, an amazing experience. This Town Planning Degree has provided the theories behind my interest for places and spaces.

I’m passionate about bringing communities together to create great places through collaborative community engagement. I’m interested in seeing how public transport like Light Rail Transit can reinvigorate a place.

The whole 'sense of place' of why someone is drawn to a particular place through some intrinsic emotional connection is fascinating and really evokes how I live my life.

This aspect is surely worth sharing with other like minded travellers.

I have just commenced a Diploma in Building Design, this course will provide the technical skills in CAD and Adobe Creative Suite to design and prepare plans for great places.

What I Can Share with Hosts

A good stir fry or curry
A good yarn and laugh about travel experiences

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Peru, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Germany, Norway, Sweden