CURRENT MISSION

To make the most of every opportunity, enjoy life to the best of our abilities, and share what we can with others.

ABOUT ME

I was born in the States, and my family moved to New Zealand when I was 7 years old. We always traveled a lot and I have continued this habit - mostly through the sports I've grown up with (skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing). I've spent a lot of time on couches the old-fashioned way, pre-internet. In the last 5 years I've settled somewhat, and built my home in the small surf town of Raglan. My life at present seems to revolve around surfing... My early interest in snowboarding resulted in starting NZ Snowboarder magazine back in 1993, something I'm still involved with today (editor). Have visited many snowbound destinations (USA, Canada, central Europe, Japan) but prefer the beach these days!

PHILOSOPHY

I believe staying motivated and true to yourself is one of the keys to a happy existence. It's amazing what you can achieve when you're in this frame. I have trouble understanding how some lives/worlds can end up so twisted, when all I see around me is basically good people. So yeah, just be nice, and stay happy!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I figure after all the years of being lucky enough to experience the world the way I have, the least I can do is become a member of couch surfing, and perhaps extend the same opportunities to others. I finally have a couch that I own, so why not share it a bit!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Well, to date, nothing through this website as I'm just signing up now. But I've spent whole winters living on couches (or under tables) in Colorado! More recently, I've had a variety of friends come and stay at my place - usually when the surf is good!

Interests

Despite always claiming not to be politically minded, I'm afraid I am - even if only in small, baby steps. The problem, I feel is that no-one is in a position to make comment until they understand the history and all issues at hand - and how can I ever do that? I'm certainly interested in the environment, and minimising our impact on it, which isn't easy with the way we live today. My biggest interest is going surfing!

• environment
• surfing
• snowboarding
• skateboarding
• sports
• olympics
• history
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

My music taste covers an eclectic mix of old-school, pop, rock, etc, etc. Never really got into the D&B, trance stuff, sorry. For movies, I'm a sucker for just about anything, but rarely seem to go - usually end up seeing things on TV or sometimes DVD. As for reading, I don't do nearly enough!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I was assistant Head Judge for snowboarding at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics in 2002. The level of organization and infrastructure (and consumption!) was truly astounding! On the other end of the scale, I've hiked in the Andes at age 10 with my family, and spent weeks in small villages where they'd never seen white skin people - let alone a blonde-haired kid!

Teach, Learn, Share

Have you ever taken the Great TP (toilet paper) Challenge? Assign every person in your household a roll of toilet paper and see how long you can make it last, then compare notes. Do you economize, or do you wrap a mitt around your fist for each swipe? Of course the places in the world most onto it don't even use toilet paper...