CURRENT MISSION

Opening our doors to honest fun folk from every corner of the world

ABOUT ME

All CS's - please note if you are going to request to stay with us, take the time to read our entire info as you will form a picture and then know if this is where you would like to stay.

We belong to other accommodation clubs and having travellers coming to stay with us has been great fun as when we are at home we feel that the world comes to us. Some of our visitors have been like a special gift that we have been given and a pleasure to have in our house - some others have been interesting. We have some comments to make if you are reading our profile and say that if you wish to ask to stay with us and if you come to NZ to use the hosts just for free food and accommodation, and if you have no interest in respecting our surroundings or our generosity, then we are not interested in having you in our house. If you are interested in sharing your travel experiences with us then we like to hear about them. If you are honest, fun people interested in art, world music, culture, environmental issues, theatre, hiking, history and having fun, then we would love to have you stay with us. We enjoy fun times, good food, good wine and we welcome visitors travelling around our beautiful country who are not just wanting to merely sleep and eat their way for free with generous New Zealand hosts. These comments have come about after experiencing, thankfully just a few visitors, who have an attitude to take and not give and have not been thoughtful with the generosity that we offer at our little piece of paradise - we live on 20 acres just a little south west of Napier where peace and quiet & beautiful views reign. We will provide very comfortable accommodation and ask that you take note and make a food contribution in return. If you enjoy cooking, you are welcome to my kitchen as we love to taste different food. Lastly we ask that you are upfront and honest with us and come to our home to experience the country kiwi way of life.

We travel lots - both our son and daughter live overseas - our son Sam & daughter in law Celia have lived for many years in Australia and just recently bought a house and land in Mullumbimby, northern NSW. Sam is an aircraft engineer and works contract on helicopters & aircraft. Celia is very informative with all things against GM, she's a vegan and a great cook and both her & Sam love their vege garden & chickens. Our daughter Laurinda & son in law Scot, currently live in Indiana, USA. Laurinda is a large animal veterinary surgeon and last year completed her masters at Purdue Uni in Indiana then sat and passed her "boards" exam, much to her delight. Her "honeybun" husband is also a kiwi and is a rural financial analyst as well as a good ole kiwi dairy farmer! The live in Carmel, north of Indianapolis and have a precious bundle named Caitlin Margo, born to Laurinda & Scot on 22 Sept. This is their first babe and our first grandchild - so very cool. If you have facebook you will see photos of Caitlin there! We spend as much time as we can travelling back and forth to Australia & United States to visit with our kids and Caitlin.

PHILOSOPHY

Honesty, laughter, use & act on intuition, kindness, observe...........

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Helping travellers feel comfortable in our country by opening up our house to enable an experience for us and them. We have spent many years travelling and many times we have had wonderful experiences with other kind folk who have opened up their doors to us. Travellers need to also take note that we are not expected to entertain you - that is - if we sit quietly with a book and read, it does not mean we are not happy with you in our house, what it does mean is that we are comfortable if you also just want to sit and read a book and quietly relax. We are also comfortable with silence and sometimes we even disappear for a siesta. We will tell you if we don't think it is working for you to be in our house. Likewise, feel free to change your plans if you wish, if you need to ask us questions, please do so as it is not healthy to ever assume or think scenarios when they are not there.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

If you think you are the type of people we love to have in our house, come and read our wonderful guest book - it tells all!

Interests

good earthy world music, good wine, good food, books, books and more books, spirited folk, tramping/hiking, poking around off the beaten tracks, veges & fruit from our own patch - organic of course, siesta's in the afternoon, travelling, travelling, listening to others dreams & passions

• animals
• chickens
• arts
• culture
• books
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• vegan
• clubbing
• gardening
• reading
• traveling
• music
• world music
• hiking
• engineering
• history
• law
• medicine

Music, Movies, and Books

Far too many to list - come see our library, music pile, african, arabic, irish, latin, french, 60's, 70's, current. Big list of movies yet to see

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

1973 travelled overland in a bus from London to Nepal - taking 3 months thru places now hard to travel. An amazing trip.

In 1988 we took our children aged 12 & 14 to live in Denmark for nearly 2 years - such a memorable and unforgettable place with very special people.

We immigrated to canada in 1971, married and spent 3 wonderful years there, working on a grain farm during the summer and temping in the winter. Then in 2007, we went back to the grain farm, still the same family, but next generation and worked a season there again, david driving combines and mel cooking for the crew as we did in '71. Very cool.

Teach, Learn, Share

Honest good folk

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