CURRENT MISSION

To be happy - and spread a little happiness along the way!

ABOUT ME

I'm trying hard to resolve my love of adventure with an ever-growing desire to firmly root myself in the one place in my small community in Australia, and spend my days watching my three chickens scratching around the perimeter of a lush veggie garden! As a result, my travel itineraries of late have been an attempt to discover the best about small communities, permaculture, alternative means of living, small-scale food production (and the eating that ensues!) and handcrafting for what I guess I can call "life research" in preparation for the day that I do finally settle down in my own place!

As an aside, I'm an ex-newspaper journalist/sub-editor, turned masters student and for the past six months, a researcher with Friends of the Earth Middle East. I'm now in career limbo, hoping that it will waver in the direction of starting my own business when I get back to Australia...

PHILOSOPHY

Personal success for me is nothing more or less than being happy. I think personal relationships are more important than any material possession one could ever own.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hope to meet some new people (for coffee even?) during my stay in the UK this year, and then when I return to Australia, I look forward to repaying the immense kindness I've experienced during my own travels, and offer my spare room to other travellers!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've couchsurfed my way around the UK, and have loved meeting new people with similar interests - it's a fabulous way of making travel into something more profound than just looking at sights and observing other cultures.

Interests

Gardening and permaculture, long-distance hiking, foreign languages, learning to play the banjo-mandolin, making things, reading.

• chickens
• festivals
• dining
• cooking
• coffee
• vegetarian
• gardening
• reading
• traveling
• music
• folk music
• hiking
• business
• journalism
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

One of each, perhaps - Amelie; anything by Mumford and Sons; "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver (who I hope one day sends me a couch surfing request - I'd love to host her!)
Movies I could watch 100 times over: High Fidelity; Into the Wild

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hiked the 1200km Shikoku henro over 53 days; lived and studied Arabic in Jordan for 18 months; founded a folk music festival!

Teach, Learn, Share

Foreign languages, vegetarian cooking, permaculture, bookbinding, sewing, breadmaking.

Countries I’ve Visited

China, Egypt, Japan, Jordan, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Japan, Jordan