Hi! I'm a long-term journeywoman who originated (this time round) in beautiful Australia. I grew up with a love of the natural world around me: bugs, birds, and all things furred, and a keeness to know more, to challenge myself, to find faith without religion, wisdom without age, and ancient knowledge in the everyday.

Struck with a desire to travel, gain skills in the environmental field, and seek the 'bigger picture' I let go of the shore (quit my job as a research and development scientist) and took my McGyver skills to the open ocean and the Amazon. Two years volunteering in Latin America just had me thirsting for more. Next came Europe, specifically Spain and the UK, back to roots that were laid somewhere in my mitochondrial DNA long ago.

*** UPDATE: Now returned to that beautiful sunburnt country, to visit family, friends and new babies. Am housesitting when i can to get my fix of furred and feathered friends whilst also fixing up my townhouse in the northern burbs (which is where i might would be able to host surfers, depending on its current state) If you've professional skills in building/construction or landscaping (especially small courtyards) please do let me know, i need all the help i can get!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To be welcomed into a home, and to a table, as a friendly stranger, and to say fare-thee-wells as a strange friend (or if YOU'RE really strange, we can flip for the title)

To know people and places from the inside out.

To connect with and meet:
* new people with similar interests - so we can laugh and share, and feel like we are not alone in our craziness!
* new people with different interests - so we can laugh and wonder, and maybe learn from or be inspired by!

To make meaningful friends, who will want to visit ME when I finally settle long enough to put roots down.

AND but certainly not exclusively, because, lets face it, saving $ on hostels allows me to continue all of the above for longer!

Although hostels themselves are plentiful of the above, sometimes its exhausting fending off the same old 'travel small-talk' - you know the type "where are you from?" "where are you going?" I understand it puts things in a frame of reference, or gives perspective, but I prefer to blow perspective so far out of the frame that we have to have 'soft eyes' - the kind of eyes when you are walking through a forest looking for animals, the kind of eyes where you have to see Everything all at once. With these eyes, lets talk about what you find strange, magical, or incomprehensible, about Life, the Universe, and Everything. Lets talk about your deepest fears, greatest lessons learnt, and proudest accomplishment. Lets sit down at the table and talk about the things that amaze us, challenge us, change us. Lets talk about how this changes the world. And lets have some cake while we're at it too! :) If in your request to stay with me, you tell me what is your greatest mistake and what is your greatest accomplishment, then even if i cannot host you, i will try to set you up with someone who can. Plus, i will take the time to tell you some of the coolest (to me) things to do in Melbourne that only the locals seem to know about.

Interests

Am interested in anything that grabs my attention either visually or mentally. Love to work with my hands and my brain. Love to learn new, especially eclectic skills, or 'lost trades' skills such as shoe-making and blacksmithing, tanning hides and fletching. My philosophy is to try anything three times (the first time; to get over the fear of doing it, the second; to learn how to do it, and the third; to see if I love it or not)

• culture
• recipes
• meditation
• flying
• traveling
• hiking
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• sailing
• martial arts
• languages
• volunteering
• horse riding
• learning new things
• playing music
• learning new languages
• meeting new people
• acroyoga
• ruins
• exploring nature
• acro yoga
• birdwatching
• drumming
• irish music
• kundalini yoga
• indoor plants
• alternative therapies

Music, Movies, and Books

Waaay too many to even start a list so i shan't try. But if you're familiar with The Four Agreements, or Initiation by Elisabeth Haich.. well, that would stand you in good steed :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Just one?

Lived*

*Seriously, this encompasses so many amazing things, some I can say in a sentence, others I couldn't explain if I was given a book to do it in. Ask me in person and I'll pick one I think you'll get a kick out of the most :)

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach:
How to sail (you bring the boat, I'll bring the brains)
How to tan a hide without chemicals (roadkill or natural causes only!)
How to play the irish tin whistle
English (practice speaking or improve grammar)

Share:
Dinner and a wine
Conversational spanish chats
Conversational Life chats
Guided meditation
Reiki

Love to learn:
Spanish (improve my grammar!)
Recipes
Any language
Anything!

What I Can Share with Hosts

awesomest chocolate cake ever (and its vegan too!)
stories of travels across oceans and through jungles
Reiki
Tin-whistle jam sessions,
'tarot' readings
How you too can sail a tall ship in Melbourne, volunteer in Latin America,
or housesit around the world.
Endless great wit
charm!

Countries I’ve Visited

American Samoa, Canada, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Samoa, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru, Spain