Hi there!

We are Ivanka (42), Kuba (35), Richie (4) and Robin (5m), a family from Christchurch, originally from the Czech Republic. We have been to New Zealand for eight years. We have traveled the whole country many times before kids and now we travel more slowly. We are keen to any sport activities-hiking, biking, skiing, SUP, paragliding....our kids love being outdoors and so do we.
We love to meet new people and make connections. Our boys are raised respectfully and with respect to the nature and orher kids.
We'd love to meet your family and children and share a joy of traveling with kids.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing is our holiday way of traveling and meeting new families.

When we started to travel in New Zealand, we did a lot HelpX Exchange (working for food and accommodation). We have found this way of traveling and staying with people enjoyable, interesting, helpful and rewarding. We have met many people and families that became our friends. We have learned a lot from local people and their way of life. We have seen various places and experienced many new things, tasted unknown meals, been to places where tourists would never go, tried new exciting activities!
On the other hand, we are happy to talk about the country we are from and proud of. The Czech Republic is a beautiful country in the heart of Europe, we have a rich history, lovely countryside, friendly people and great sense of humour.

Interests

• paragliding
• kitesurfing
• trailrunning
• eating and drinking
• all kind of sports
• skiing and snowboarding
• hiking in the mountains
• camping/tramping
• multi-day trekking

Music, Movies, and Books

We listen to the music usually when we travel by car. We share the passion for rock and metal music but can also appreciate other styles. In the summer we enjoy music festivals the most.
We do not watch movies much because there are so much else to do! All the sport activities and being outdoors is much better than sitting in front of the screen or watching a match or race. However, we have seen a couple of NZ movies recently and it was not a waste of time!
Of course, we can read! But we are still saving all the exciting books and novels for the time when we have "more time for reading books"!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

There are so many amazing things we are proud of:
- raising two boys

- hiking in the Ile-Alatau National Park in Kazakhstan without any marked trails among wild horses

- racing in halfmarathon races with results faster than 2 hours (Ivanka) or 1 h 45 (Kuba)

- paragliding (Kuba) in the Alps (Europe) and New Zealand (Queenstown, Wanaka, Takaka, Christchurch)

- tandem paragliding (Ivanka) in Queenstown
and also first solo flight!

- multi-day hiking beyond the Arctic Circle

- traveling and living in a campervan in New Zealand for 6 months

- bivvied on the steep ridge in Mt Cook National Park with icicles above our heads

- Kuba understands computers well

- Ivanka worked as a flight attendant for 10 years

- we are both ski instructors

Teach, Learn, Share

In the time of our traveling we have been taught a lot about variety of landscapes, animals, plants, weather and people.
Traveling does not only open our eyes but also our mind. Traveling is inspiring, motivating, soothing and enriching activity that teaches us something new with our every step. We have learned new things about themselves and things around us.
There is nothing so exiting as well as educating for us like traveling.

What I Can Share with Hosts

On top of all the photos from our travels, we can share funny stories about our hiking in the countries we have been so far.

Jakub is a paragliding pilot and can show you his exciting videos.

As we live in New Zealand now and love hiking, we know many places and hikes to recommend.

Despite being big eaters we can prepare a delicious meal, too! We can cook Czech meals and introduce our cuisine and culture to you a little bit.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Serbia, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vanuatu

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, New Zealand