CURRENT MISSION

To show you that Melbourne is the greatest city on Earth! :-)

ABOUT ME

"I think zucchini is the last thing on your mind at the moment."

- Bart, to me (Johnny), as I sit hung-over on the couch updating our profile.

So. Hi! It's been a while since we've been able to host as we moved house, and in fact even the "we" has changed; it's still Johnny here, but now I live with my best mate Bart. He's Belgian, which makes him automatically funny. I'm English originally, and an Australian now.

We just moved back to the city, which I have dearly missed. We never left Melbourne but lived in the suburbs for a while; now we're back, and we live on the most central, most lovely street in town. When I walk out of my front door I feel like I'm on holiday in Paris. It's magnificent.

We're two normal, pleasant people who love meeting similar humans. Come and say hi!

PHILOSOPHY

"Don't Panic"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Melbourne is a strange city, in a way - on the surface, it can seem quite dull. It doesn't have the obvious charm of, say, Sydney: no glamorous beaches, no picture-postcard iconic buildings. Dig a little deeper, however, and you find the most glorious, friendly, quirky little town. Bart and I came here on holiday ten years ago and we both ended up staying ... this place is just magical.

I love couchsurfing because I love showing people the city that I've grown to call my home. I love giving people the same appreciation of this beautiful city that I have ... love showing them the weird bars down little alleyways, cheap little dumpling restaurants ... the spots that you'd never find on your own, and without which this city doesn't make sense. When people leave with an appreciation of Melbourne, it makes me really happy. :-)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosted a bunch of times a few years ago, when we lived in the city - then we moved, and couldn't, but now we can again! Yay!

Interests

Things! And stuff!

We love all sorts. Johnny is a bit of a physics nerd ... I'll talk your ear off about stellar nucleosynthesis and special relativity. (It's REALLY INTERESTING.)

Bart is a nurse so he has lots of terrible stories about people with objects stuck in the wrong place.

• nursing
• physics
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Good lord, these people ask a lot of questions! I feel like I'm at a job interview.

We both love reading. And we really do, we're not just saying it to sound clever. My (it's John doing all the typing) favourite book is Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" and I don't know what Bart's is. He's gone to get another jug of beer so I can't ask him just now. Ask him yourself when you meet him.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

John: being evacuated from Kosovo in to Macedonia by the British embassy because of the civil war.

Bart: gave Martina Navratilova a lift in a Mercedes in Monaco ... and she actually said "oh hi, you must be Bart". True story.

Teach, Learn, Share

Ask me about the origins of the universe. :-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Japan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Nigeria, Norway, Senegal, Sweden, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Belgium, Thailand, United Kingdom

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