CURRENT MISSION

To make the most of life, to take the path less travelled by, and to leave the world better than you found it

ABOUT ME

I got the travel bug when I went away on exchange to Germany after finishing high school. Since then I've been to outback Australia, Sweden, Helsinki, back to Germany, Rarotonga, and recently Buenos Aires and the south of Brazil... Not enough though! I have been able to travel heaps within New Zealand, especially hitch-hiking (my Dunedin-Auckland personal best is 28 hours), which I love for the same reasons I love couchsurfing - that is, you get to meet lots of interesting people, and it always restores my faith in humanity, and in myself.I kinda got sidetracked by studying medicine too, then working as a doctor... But now I've got a real job: teaching in Dunedin med school! Love it, and hopefully I'll be able to see the world a bit more... I went to Brazil this last summer to see my brother - so good!!And I love Dunedin!! Beaches, penguins, sealions, albatrosses, music, students, mountains, real weather... Love it :-)Dunedin's a RAD city, but I think couchsurfing is definitely the best way to see it - a lot of the best things, like the peninsula, beaches, wildlife, nightlife, etc, need a car and/or a little local knowledge.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

By trying to show off all the magical things about this town and country that make me love it so much! Not just the landscape, but the people and the life and what makes NZ NZ. (especially the more secret, local or hidden things you might not normally see if you were travelling on your own)
And of course giving people a place to stay :-)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I heard about couchsurfing in 2009 from my German flatmate, so I started to host surfers - which is great! It's a little like travelling but without having to leave my job and house, and makes me feel like a traveller exploring Dunedin for the first time every time :-)
I haven't really managed to surf anyone else's couch yet...

Interests

Live music
Photography (chasing birds)
Coffee
Theatre
Cooking
Running, tramping, swimming
Travelling (of course), mostly just within NZ at the moment, so I can give you heaps of advice on how and where to travel, the best backpackers, hitch-hiking spots, sights to see, etc!

• wildlife
• birds
• photography
• cooking
• coffee
• running
• nightlife
• traveling
• music
• live music
• hiking
• camping
• swimming
• medicine
• hitchhiking
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Authors: Louis de Bernieres, Terry Pratchett, Haruki Murakami, Ben Elton, Samuel Shem...

Music: Fat Freddy's Drop, Black Seeds, Gomez, Vampire Weekend, Mamaku Project, Nick Cave, Cat Empire, Whitlams, Minuit, Delgirl, Supergroove, Living End, Iron&Wine, Raskolnikovs, Decemberists... Pretty eclectic, but anything interesting, independent, idiosyncratic and fresh. I think? Oh and seeing pretty much anything live is awesome.

Films: The recent Latin American Film Festival was a bit dark and serious for me, but the Italian one was a bit insubstantial, so... looking forward to the German one! I liked Layer Cake and Snatch, Nine Queens, Shortbus, Boondock Saints, and I actually liked Lord of the Rings (scenery),

Don't really watch TV apart from the Simpsons, but I LOVE Black books, and Blackadder, Monty Python, etc.'s pretty cool too :-)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hitch-hiking to Kaikoura for new year's eve, camping on the beach and waking up to a spectacular sunrise with the bay full of Hector's dolphins playing and jumping.

And bungy-jumping's pretty hard to forget too.

Teach, Learn, Share

I could give an introduction to didgeridoo to anyone interested

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, New Zealand, Qatar

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