CURRENT MISSION

Travelling through SE-Asia.

ABOUT ME

We - that is my partner Daniel and I - have been living together for several years now. In 2008 we left Germany to visit Australia for 2 months and spend a year in New Zealand. We came on a Working Holiday Visa and ended up staying for four years. We travelled the country for seven months, then lived in Auckland, moved to Christchurch and back to Auckland. It's been fantastic and we love New Zealand, but it was time to move on. We left in late October and are currently travelling through SE-Asia before returning to Germany (at least for a while).

PHILOSOPHY

Learning and enjoying are the two main components of a happy life.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We were hosting and meeting people in Auckland for a short period since we became members. We surfed twice during our travels through SE-Asia. We would like to start hosting in Düsseldorf in the near future.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We hosted two times in Auckland and it was a truely great experience. We also met other members for a chat and went to the weekly Auckland CS-drinks. We surfed in Singapore, which was our first experience as guests and it was a really good one. Our second surfing experience was in Kuching, Borneo, which was also nice. We plan to do some hosting in Düsseldorf and surfing during future travels.

Interests

Besides travelling, we're interested in music, food (cooking and eating out), movies, art, photography (here's Daniel's flickr-stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pie4dan/), reading and computers (mostly Daniel). We also did quite a lot of tramping/hiking in New Zealand.

We enjoy good company and interesting conversations. We very much like going out for dinner, drinks, movies etc., but we are not really party people. We love the great outdoors just as much as a cosy night at home.

• arts
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• partying
• drinking
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• eating out
• socializing
• music
• guitar
• piano
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• surfing
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Mostly Rock and Metal. Some of the many bands we like: Dream Theater, Opeth, The Haunted, Muse, Porcupine Tree, Russian Circles

Movies: We watch a lot of films. Don't really like blockbusters, though. A favourite director is David Lynch. But we enjoy a lot of different genres from comedy to horror. You can check out our profiles on Letterboxd.com, if you want to know more: http://letterboxd.com/pie4dan/ and http://letterboxd.com/nicoledietze/.

Books: Crime novels, especially scandinavian ones (Nicole), non-fiction, German literature

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The whole time in New Zealand has been pretty amazing. Leaving home with the intention of being away for a year and not returning for more than 4 years is something we really didn't see coming.

Teach, Learn, Share

Regarding languages, we can teach German and English. Daniel is a computer expert and a keen photographer. We play piano and guitar, so could teach a bit of that as well. Also, we can share our knowledge of New Zealand - we've been everywhere and have done a variety of things, so definitely can give qualified travel advice as well as advice on working and living in NZ.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Czech Republic, France, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Laos, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, New Zealand