Hello new friends! My name is Zander.

If you are looking for an active, curious, silly, extroverted Kiwi then I am your kinda fella. I'm all about meeting interesting, strange, funny, lame, happy people from all walks of life.

I have just been bike packing from Canada to the Gorge Amphitheater for a concert. Currently in Bellingham for a short while until my best bud picks me up in a van and takes us south!

I was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Because meeting locals through couch surfing is much better than staying in motels alone, or camping at this time of year, brrrrr

Interests

• design
• tattoos
• drawing
• drums
• snowboarding
• skateboarding
• cliff jumping
• hockey
• rugby
• swimming
• diving
• trampolining

Music, Movies, and Books

I love all music!

Top 3 Bands
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Gorillaz
Tame Impala

Top 3 Movies
The secret life of Water Mitty
Goodfellas
Spirited Away

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Slovakia!

After spending all day hiking in the mountains of northern Slovakia, I had a bus to catch to Zakopane, Poland. The bus ticket was really hard to read and I ended up missing the trip. Sunset was about 2 hours away so I decided to give hitchhiking a go. Back home it's a pretty stress free way to get a ride so I gave it a crack.

I got the first ride super quick, and it was great. An English speaking couple who had travelled in NZ before dropped me off at a common hitchhiking spot en route to Poland.

It took until sunset to wave down my next ride. 3 local Slovakians picked me up in their car and floored it up into the hills. We managed to communicate 3 or 4 sentences to each other. They were blasting their music and speeding round every bend. I was almost shitting myself, thinking this is how I die. But we made it to a small town in the hills and they dropped me off before returning home.

Now it was dark and freezing. I was standing outside a closed restaurant contemplating sleeping in the seated area. A group of men riding motorbikes offered to take me with them, but I had a 20 odd kg bag on my back and no helmet. Yeah, fuck that. Finally, a Hungarian man who had been driving all day pulled over and welcomed me in. He looked exhausted but I was pretty desperate and it was late. He was a nice guy though, and drove me all the way to Zakopane even though his destination was Krakow. Victory!

Teach, Learn, Share

I have been living in Canada for the past 2 years working mostly as a carpenter. My background is in design. If you have any projects that need building/designing/photographing, let me know and I would be happy to help!

Keen to teach and learn new board/card games.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Plenty of Bike packing tips and tricks as I have just recently finished my first trip!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Fiji, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United States, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, France, New Zealand