CURRENT MISSION

To boldly go where no man has... oh wait, that's James T Kirk. Our mission was to settle down, find work and somewhere to live... but travel was getting in the way :-D

We have made many great friends through couchsurfing.

We like to travel. In times BC (before Cynthea and children!) Tony travelled to Fiji, Tonga, Rarotonga, Noumea, and Australia (East coast). Cynthea lived in Sydney, Australia for a time.
Our children are now in their late thirties.

We have both travelled a lot through NZ, Tony is an immigrant from the North, but should now qualify as a naturalised southerner.

Some years ago Tony was made redundant from the bank where he worked, so we decided to take the kids to Disneyland, but the trip sort took on a life of its' own, with detours to Sydney and Hawaii on the way, then continuing to Vegas, Grand Canyon, San Diego, Tijuana, Seattle, Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Calgary via the Rockies, Uk, Paris, Amsterdam, Toronto, and headed home via Hawaii, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland. Then a kiwi road trip from Whangarei in the far north to Timaru on the centre east coast of the South. We traveled just over three months with a 6 and 8 year old in tow. If we had known that we would cope travelling with kids as well as we did, we would have stayed away longer...

We managed some significant travel in the past few years. 2011-2012 we were based in the UK, visiting China, Turkey, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, Belgium, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Mallorca, Tenerife, Iceland, Canada, USA, Fiji.

We left home again at the end of March 2019 and spent time in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Spain, Andorra, Portugal, Morocco, Ireland, UK, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, USA, Canada, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.

In 2024 we spent three months driving around Australia in a variety of vehicles, travelling 16000km Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney.

We like to spend time in the garden, love to cook, swimming and go walking to explore. Tony is a parkrun addict... but he does as fast walk rather than run it. Join us on Saturday mornings 😁

PHILOSOPHY

We like to be happy, enjoy friendships and take advantage of opportunities that come along.

We like to help others if we can.

Whatever happens, "It was meant to be", although we may not always understand the reason...

"You only live once. But, if you do it right...once is enough" - Mae West

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
We are pleased to have hosted some of our international hosts who have since visited New Zealand, which has been great.

We have enjoyed staying with other CSers, we met some wonderful people.

Happy to meet for coffee/drinks, etc, where ever our travels take us.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We have been hosts and guests, the experience has enriched our lives, we really enjoyed the experiences. It was far beyond our expectations.
We would like to thank our guests and hosts - we have met some wonderful 'surfers, at home in Dunedin and abroad. We look forward to many more positive experiences.
Now that we have experienced being hosted in Greece, Spain, Scotland, England and USA we truly believe that CS is for us.

Interests

We are involved in local predator free organisations and a local predator proof eco-sanctuary at Orokanui, north of Dunedin.

We are not into sports, (except parkrun which we enjoy every Saturday morning. Join us, you are welcome to walk or run!). Not into heavy, indepth political/religious discussions.

We like travel, funnily enough... We have recently purchased a small campervan.

Previously involved in scouting. Both are JCI Senators (Junior Chamber of Commerce, Jaycees) and past members of Dunedin astronomical society (strictly beginners!). Cynthea belonged to a cake decorating guild.

• gardening
• astronomy
• travelling
• walking in nature
• food and drink

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies - Keep the tissues handy for the soppy movies that Cynthea watches (Tony watches them too, he just doesn't cry as much).
Too many to list all the favs... Marvel movies, Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit were filmed on our doorstep. Harry Potter, Forrest Gump, Star trek, Star Wars, Die Hard, Indiana Jones, Shawshank Redemption. ...and if it stars Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise, Adam Sandler, Hugh Grant, or Tom Hanks then there is a good chance we will enjoy it.

Music - well there is Abba, Queen, Eagles, Cliff Richard, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, and Elton John to name a few. Like a lot of the stuff from the 70s and 80s. Tony will have a radio going in every room as well as with him outside, Cynthea would sometimes rather have the quiet...
Rock, country, Musicals - Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rocky Horror, Mama Mia and Priscilla (there's Abba again!), Grease, Saturday Night Fever. A bit, but not a lot, of opera (Amici, Three Tenors) as long as it doesn't screech.

Not into rap or the head banging stuff, nor are we into noisy clubs where you can't hear yourself think and have to yell at your friends to be heard.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

We surprised our friends (and ourselves) when we scared the sh*t out of ourselves by walking around the outside of the Auckland SkyTower, some 200m above the ground, woo hoo. They reckon that the platform is 1.2m wide, Tony reckons they could be dreaming, but wasn't keen on getting down to measure it.

We have climbed the Great Wall near Beijing, and had a balloon flight in Capodoccia, Turkey, been to the 125th floor of the Burj Khalifa and numerous other wonderful experiences.

Walked on the glass floor of the CN Tower in Toronto, and Tony even got on a rollercoaster at Disneyland. The kids also tricked him onto one in Australia, so no more theme park rides for him, haha.

Teach, Learn, Share

Today we learn, tomorrow we teach...

Basic astronomy, calligraphy, cake decorating and cooking New Zealand dishes if there is time.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We love to cook, we will help around the home. We love to talk and be social.

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Cyprus, England, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Tonga, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vatican City State, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

England, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales

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