Before you read further, if you're curious, here's some links to my latest album/music video/social media etc: https://smarturl.it/WastedWonder

NOTE: These days I'm a touring singer-songwriter-musician and haven't nearly been as active on here as I used to be (when music was more incidental to travelling for the sake of it - seems to be mostly the other way around now), but I still love and stay true to the CS spirit and am grateful that the community is still going. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time and space to host much at all over the last few years, but I hope that will change soon. Also, this profile was mostly written about 10-14 years ago when I was a bit of a Kerouac-wannabe and the photos are all very old too (you can see more current photos on my instagram). I can't bring myself to update it, because I see it as a bit of diary, a snapshot in time, and it's nice to look back at every couple of years and have a little laugh at myself and how green I was...or still am? hahaha...

CURRENT MISSION

finding my own way

ABOUT ME

Up to now in a nutshell (ahhhh! I'm in a nutshell, what kind of nut could possibly have a shell this big!)...

I was doomed after coming back from South America in 2007, having taken a year out of uni being disillusioned with the 9 to 5 and society's notion of success and progress, and have been more or less on the road pretty constantly since then. Besides a year-long stint of hosting 100s if not over a 1000 couchsurfers while in my last year of uni in the notorious couchsurfing sharehouse, social experiment and (up until now) the only place that's got close to feeling like 'home', The Forest, which doesn't even count for being back in Brissy, because it was a crazy and chaotic international community of people in a bubble. Sadly, all good things must pass, and even though it was an ongoing joke when or if the Forest would ever end, it did end, in demolition. But it's spirit lives on amongst all the people who's presence graced its walls and made it the completely unique and irreplaceable place that it was. Anyway after uni, I hit the road again but this time, didn't come back for about 3 years. Before leaving, I ended up hitch-hiking around Australia, as I stopped for a few months at a time in Melbourne, Perth and Karratha wherever I got work to save the dough for my travels. Finally had a stash, booked a one-way ticket to LA, did Burning Man 2010 (you have to do this at least once in your life!), had some amazingly beautiful connections and experiences that sparked from that, ended up living, working, travelling and playing music around the Americas for a year and a half, and then over to Europe, etc etc, there are too many stories to tell, I sometimes get a bit jaded about it all, but if we hang out long enough, you'll hear a few, and you'll probably be telling me to get to the bloody point! (I tend to go off on tangents, a lot haha).. So yeah, I've traveled around a lot, 6 continents, 40-something countries and an innumerable number of roads hitch-hiked later, I have come to realise, even though I always have constant desire to be everywhere at once, I will never be able to see and experience everything (I just updated this now and looked at the description I'd written 5 years ago saying stuff like 'I wanna go everywhere' and laughed at myself!), so now it's more about trying to appreciate everything that's going on right in front of my nose...having said that, I still have proper itchy feet, and I've been on the road so much that the most 'at home' I feel is when I am roaming around, as opposed to feeling like a stranger in my hometown. It's something I need to work on, but til that time comes when I figure out the meaning of it all and where I should call home, I'll just keep on kickin it wherever I am and let the good times roll.

Also, music is a big deal for me, it's pretty much the one thing that drives me and keeps me going. I don't know where I'd be without it.. I play guitar, harmonicas, muck around on piano and a few other instruments and sing, write songs, and love to jam with other musicians, it's the only way to get better and really hone your style. If you're reading this and you play music, let's jam! I've played gigs all over the shop, from Alice Springs to Nashville, to Guatemala, to Montreal to Berlin and northern Spain, and have been busking everywhere in between too.. winter busking on the streets of Reykjavik was pretty crazy!

Well that's a bit of an overview, you're probably better off having a look at my references anyway.. I'm very chilled out, apparently funny and easily likeable, and really just wanna get along, have fun and make the best of whatever situation I'm in. If you're an open-minded character, a little mad for life and you don't take yourself too seriously, it's gonna be very hard for me not to like you..

PHILOSOPHY

Live the life you love, love the life you live... I think I saw that written on a combie van at this Japanese dude's shack on an island in southeast asia... not really profound, but simple and true.

And here's a couple of quotes I dig by various notable folks:

"I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive." - Henry Miller

"Strangers on this road we are on,
We are not two; we are one." - The Kinks

..."For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us." -€ Charles Bukowski

"If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is." - Charles Bukowski

"A hobo is a man who will work when he can get it, at a decent wage, but insists upon the right to beat his way from town to town to better his condition... men of character, not yeggs, crooks or bums." - Jeff Davis

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes " - Jack Kerouac

"A pain stabbed my heart as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world of ours." - Jack Kerouac

"Most vagabonds i knowed don't ever want to find the culprit that remains the object of their long relentless quest. The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending, the pursuit you see and never the arrest" - Tom Waits

"I was born in the back seat of a Yellow Cab in a hospital loading zone and with the meter still running. I emerged needing a shave and shouted 'Time Square, and step on it!'" - Tom Waits

"This is about all the bad days in the world. I used to have some little bad days, and I kept them in a little box. And one day, I threw them out into the yard. "Oh, it's just a couple little innocent bad days." Well, we had a big rain. I don't know what it was growing in but I think we used to put eggshells out there and coffee grounds, too. Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me. Choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothin'. They're your days. Choke 'em!" - Tom Waits

"You know there ain't no devil, that's just God when he's drunk..." -€ Tom Waits

"My kids are starting to notice I'm a little different from the other dads. "Why don't you have a straight job like everyone else?" they asked me the other day. I told them this story: In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, "Look at me...I'm tall, and I'm straight, and I'm handsome. Look at you...you're all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you." And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, "Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest." So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day." -€ Tom Waits

"People pay to see others believe in themselves." - Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth)

"One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing." - Socrates

"But where were the Brahmans, where the priests, where the ... wise men or penitents, who had succeeded in not just knowing this deepest of all knowledge but also to live it?" - Herman Hesse (Siddhartha)

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk being called sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk being called naive
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair, and to try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greastest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, and becomes nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.
Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave, he's forfeited his freedom.
Only the person who risks is truly free.

- Leo F. Buscaglia

"All you need is love." - John Lennon

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hosted hundreds or maybe even over a thousand CSers in the couchsurfing and social phenomenon, The Forest, in our uni sharehouse in Brisbane and am excited to host again when I find myself in a position to be able to do so. I've also couchsurfed in Brazil, Japan, Thailand, all over Australia, USA, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and I hope to make connections with couchsurfers all over the world. I spread the word about CS to all the good folks I meet on the road. I help out on the group forums and join in on gatherings when I can. I'm real open-minded and will give anyone a fair go!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Unofficially started couchsurfing in Brazil, where I had a great time meeting local students, partying and experiencing things I never would have, had I been just another 'tourist' in a hostel. I first officially couchsurfed in Japan for 2 weeks and again had the same unique and unforgettable experiences. I also couchsurfed, met up with CSers and went to a few group gatherings in a few places on my last trip to Southeast Asia. Then I hosted hundreds if not a thousand couchsurfers in the notorious Brisbane couchsurfing dig, The Forest throughout 2009. Now I'm currently travelling and couchsurfing around the world meeting more amazing people and catching up with everyone I've met so far! Don't know where I'll settle next, maybe Latin America or Europe, but wherever it is, I can't wait to get back into hosting!
visited 34 states (15.1%)Create your own visited map of The World or jurisdische vertaling duits?

Interests

travelling obviously, all the wild adventures on the road and meeting people from all over the place
experiencing different cultures, attempting to learn languages, MUSIC! guitar/song-writing, film, hitch-hiking, dumpster-diving, festivals, house parties, beer, politics/global issues, nature, philosophy, cycling, camping, hiking, beaching
cooking, eating good local food (wherever local happens to be), urban planning and sustainability, history, couchsurfing!

• writing
• singing
• festivals
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• coffee
• running
• partying
• drinking
• house parties
• boating
• shopping
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• guitar
• piano
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• scuba diving
• boxing
• paragliding
• history
• languages
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSICNeil Young, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Van Morrison, The Band, Crosby/Stills/Nash/Young, Wilco, Ryan Adams, Rolling Stones, Beatles, David Bowie, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Bon Iver, Bonnie Prince Billie, Mississippi John Hurt, Ray Charles, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, Johnny Cash, Townes Van Zant, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Tracey Chapman, Lucinda Williams, Joan Armatrading, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Flaming Lips, Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket, Pixies, Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Miles Davis, The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Bob Marley, Cat Stevens, Leonard Cohen, The Who, T-Rex, Frank Zappa, The Clash, Brian Jonestown Massacre, RHCP, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Muse, Joy Division, The Cure, The Smiths, The Jam, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads, Weezer, U2, REM, Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Doves, BRMC, Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Polyphonic Spree, Elliot Smith, Ben Folds Five, Beck, Bright Eyes, M. Ward, Mason Jennings, Tallest Man On Earth, Sufjan Stevens, Powderfinger, Nick Cave n The Bad Seeds, The Vines, Midnight Oil, Architecture In Helsinki, The Living End, The Panics, Something For Kate, The Sleepy Jackson, Angus n Julia Stone, The Waifs, You Am I, Custard, Bob Evans, The Middle East, Duke Baritone and the Swampy Dogs, The Cruel Sea, Crowded House/Split Enz/Tim/Neil Finn, John Butler Trio, Xavier Rudd, Modest Mouse, Sigur Ros, Air, Feist, Bjork, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Violent Femmes, Belle and Sebastian, The Strokes, Band of Horses, Kings of Leon, Jose Gonzales, Colin Hay, Marvin Gaye, Bruce Springsteen, The Shins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, old Green Day, Libertines, Babyshambles, Zwan, System of a Down, Queens of the Stoneage, A Perfect Circle, old Coldplay, Stooges, The Go! Team, The Dandy Warhols, Gotye, Cat Power, Beth Orton, The White Stripes, NIN, Okkervil River, MGMT, Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Felice Brothers, Dr Dog, Railroad Earth, Ray LaMontagne...I'm pretty open to all styles of music, old and new, from wherever..FILMFight Club, The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel, Into The Wild, Dr Strangelove (and most Kubrick films), Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou? (and most Coen Brothers' films), Sling Blade, Monster's Ball, Michael Clayton, Crash, Amorres Perros, High Fidelity, I Heart Huckabees, Apocalypse Now, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull (and most Scorcese films), On The Waterfront, The Hurricane, Amelie, Butterfly Effect, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Grindhouse, Groundhog Day, Annie Hall (and most Woody Allen movies), Ace Ventura, Austin Powers, Wayne's World, Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary, Edward Scissorhands, Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, Vanilla Sky, Almost Famous, The Lives of Others, Two Hands, The Castle, Chopper, Batman, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, There Will Be Blood, Y Tu Mama Tambien, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Evil Dead series, The Spanish Apartment, Godfather series, Lost In Translation, Chumbscrubber, The Insider, The Take, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Constant Gardener, Thumbsucker, Last King of Scotland, Galipoli, Factotum, JFK, I'm Not There, Across The Universe, Control, Dig!, Blue Velvet, Mystic River, I Am Sam, Indiana Jones trilogy, Blade Runner, Alien, Goodnight and Good Luck, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Life Aquatic, Rushmore, Being John Malkovich, Colour Me Kubrick, The Truman Show, Rocky, Lock Stock, Snatch, Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream, Down By Law, Coffee and Cigarettes, Night On Earth and many many more... BOOKS/AUTHORSJack Kerouac, Henry Miller, Alexandre Dumas, Hunter S. Thompson, William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Leo Tolstoy, J.D. Salinger, Khalil Gibran, Herman Hesse, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemmingway, Chuck Palahniuk, Gregory David Roberts, Richard Brautigan, Douglas Adams and Bill Bryson but have a habit of reading several books at once and only finishing some of them! etc.. my desert island books at this stage would be The Dhamma Bums, Tropic of Cancer and Count of Monte Christo...maybe also Shantaram, The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto "Che" Guevarra and The Phrophet

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hosted and befriended hundreds of couchsurfers from all over the world living in The Forest (see in my friends list) throughout 2009, while I was finishing my degree in Brisbane, what an awesome year!

Hitch-hiking all over Australia, over 16000km. By travelling in this way I've gained a much different perspective on my own country and its people. Can't wait to do it all over the world...
EDIT: From 2010-2012, I hitch-hiked tens of thousands of kilometres around Australia, USA, Mexico, Canada, Morocco and all over Europe etc.. I still do it every now and then when I have enough time up my sleeve..

Perito Moreno Glacier, near El Calafate in Argentina, was pretty amazing, especially when we got right up close to it its face on a boat, hearing the ominous bellowing sounds of ice cracking, looking up towards a crystal white-blue monolithic feature spanning 5km across and towering above over 100m high - it felt pretty surreal, like the prehistoric era maybe..

This would tie with mountainbiking down Death Road in Bolivia and the Salkantay trek to Machu Pichu in Peru, amongst the beautiful backdrop of the Andes, as well as paragliding over Medellin, Colombia (where I was hungover at the time and didn't really know what I was getting into "What? So we're gonna run off a cliff? I seeeee...", otherwise I usually don't have the balls to do crazy stuff like that..)

Teach, Learn, Share

Hmmm, we can have in depth conversations, in which we can learn about different things, share knowledge and ideas about everything, eg. life? In terms of practical stuff, I could help out with practicing english, and I play guitar, so could pass on some basics there... I just want to meet people from anywhere and everywhere around the globe and open my mind maaaaaaaan, and specifically, it would be great to learn and practice Spanish, and have a crack at some other languages too...

What I Can Share with Hosts

My songs, other people's songs and recommendations on what to listen to (I am a music nerd, big time!)... My crazy long-winded stories that go off on several tangents at a time, but still somehow end up at a punchline... My cooking skills - I'm very good at improvising and cooking up something great out of nothing... My general good vibes. I like to listen and learn and take things in and am very comfortable just being and going with the flow of life...

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Thailand, United States, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Germany, Guatemala

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