I am from Spain, Mat is from Western Australia and Lorreine is from Hong Kong, but Mat and me have been living in Melbourne for the last few months, and we have made sure that we know good places in the city! We usually go out a lot especially on the weekends, and we like to have lunches and dinners with friends. We meet quite a lot either at our place or at some friend's place, cooking together and enjoying good food and drinks. That means that if you are staying here you may be overwhelmed with propositions about going out and meeting new people or having meetings at home.
The apartment is situated in Middle Park, right in front of the beach. The tram stop is around 2 min walking from our front door and it takes around 10min by tram to arrive to the city center and 10min walking to go to St Kilda. It is a top floor with a spectacular view of the city.
We have a big couch and a little one. There is plenty of carpeted floor space as well and we have a lot of camping mats and a couple of sleeping bags.
The both of us are non-smokers, so please smoke outside.
There is a bottomless list of things to do in Melbourne. A good way to start or end the day with is to go for a walk or a run along the beach (just in front of the apartment) and see the amazing sunrise/sunset by the water. The city is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Great parks, art galleries, live music, pubs, coffee shops, graffiti avenues, great people, good parties. The cs group here in Melbourne is very active as well, with at least a couple of meetings a week.
So... if you like what you just read, and you are coming to Melbourne to meet lots of people, have lots of meetings and spend a great time send me a cs request and don't forget to say in your request " We are happy little vegemites!". This way we know that you know what to expect surfing with us!
Mat Saraullo 23, Male Perth, Western Australia Australia Friends since January 2009 "Met in Melbourne, traveled Tasmania and camped at Confest..." Friendship Type: Best Friend 30+30+30+
Aaron Schultz 30, Male Melbourne, Victoria Australia Friends since October 2007 "Originally met for a Free Hugs Campaign in Barcelona and then travelled together and now we are enjoying each others company as much as possible..." Friendship Type: Best Friend I vouched for Natalia Eiriz 30+30+30+
Pau and Anne Sophie 26, Several people Albertville, Rhone-Alpes France Friends since September 2007 "we contacted by net and met in person to talk about travelling" Friendship Type: Close Friend I vouched for Natalia Eiriz
Hernan Fioravanti 24, Male La Paz, La Paz Bolivia Friends since February 2009 "I met her in Melbourne" Friendship Type: Close Friend 510
Michael Straßburger 26, Male Regensburg, Bavaria Germany Friends since July 2008 "human-needs-sticker-investigations and tram hugs! and an awesome time in singapore and while hitchhiking OZ's east coast!" Friendship Type: Close Friend I vouched for Natalia Eiriz 1130+
Aleix Oriol 35, Male Barcelona, Catalonia Spain Friends since December 2007 "through several CS meetings" Friendship Type: Close Friend
Alberto Ramirez 29, Male Santiago de Queretaro, Queretaro Mexico Friends since July 2008 "We met in a Selina's bday party!" Friendship Type: Good Friend
Vlad Buxton 27, Male Bristol, Bristol England Friends since January 2008 "muchos good times!" Friendship Type: Good Friend I vouched for Natalia Eiriz 7
Eric Tan 29, Male Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Malaysia Friends since August 2008 "Hosted her for a week!" Friendship Type: Good Friend I vouched for Natalia Eiriz 7
Travelling around the world, being away from home meeting locals anywhere I go and their cultures, learning about the different kinds of life and meeting all kind of people. I think it is important to know about other's thoughts, ideas and stories to spread my own mind and meet myself better.
Since I hit the road for first time 3 years ago I haven't completely emptied my backpack yet and it has been a bottomless of new flavours, friends, roads and experiences.
I like to find joy and bright in big and little things and I am always taking last-minute decisions, curious and upright.
I like to have an active life. I try to make every day something different that the last one.
I am trying to live my own life following my dreams and thoughts. I think that it is important to listen what people think about what you are going to do.. and let them to help you, but it is more important not to let that their words, especially the thought that we learn in the school and that most part of the society thinks, get harder than your interior voice. What I am trying to say is, if you have a dream, althought it can seem very difficult to achieve, not let it dissappear, go for it, it will be a really big achievement when you attain it!
If you host me I will always leave everything like it was when I arrived! :) I like to do things all the time, and do not be sitting in the sofa without doing anything (well... actually I kind of enjoy to sit on the sofa just doing nothing, it is great to do nothing sometimes :P), but if you need any help just tell me! It will be a pleasure help you or work with you in any job! I have heaps of time while travelling so I will do the dishes and some meals as well :)
How I Participate in CS
One month after listen about CS I joined in a Free Hugs Campaign in Barcelona. I enjoyed it a lot with the people that I met there and just two weeks later I started to travel around Europe. I am now addicted to travel!
I organise meetings while I am travelling and spread the word to those that I think that have a CS spirit!
Interests
I like to go by bycicle everywhere I can and I enjoy playing any kind of sport. Roller skate hockey, swimming, rock climbing, surfing, table tennis and skiing are on top of the list.
Juggling, playing with the diabolo and firetwirling.
I like to party till the next morning, have breakfast and then sleep till the evening.
I love meeting with friends and have long conversations. I like to talk for hours about nonsense stuff and enjoy listening about different points of view. Discussing ecological issues, cultures, social issues, environment, astrology, physics, how different stuff affects our world and the believes and actions of people. I like to make new theories about what happens around us.
I like playing with kids, listening to music and walking without knowing where I am going.
I'm into photography and can spend hours sitting on the road taking photos of anything happening around.
I love reading and enjoy myself being with a good friend enjoying a good view or some relaxed time in silence.
I like to have a dynamic life, doing all kinds of different things.
Philosophy
Do not sprout in a place, so you are not a tree.
I think that some people only know the way of life that there is where they live, I believe that is important to move around, learn about other people, cultures and countries to not deceive ourselves about how we want our life to be and what we need to be happy.
Types of People I enjoy
I like natural, simple and open-hearted people. Those who are not afraid to express themselves and talk with strangers. Those who are not worried about what the others are going to think.
I like people who does random things, and that have stories to share and some rad theories about life.
Warm, curious, good laugher and honest.
Teach, Learn, Share
I think that everyone can teach and learn things from another one. What I really like is to extend my and your knowledge just with spontaneous and unpremeditated things, conversations, actions..
However.. I can teach you playing with the diabolo, roller hockey technics, cooking spanish meals, get into trouble,...
I like to learn whatever! Maybe I will "bombard" you with questions about your life, experiences, feelings around the world, philosophy and that you show me your point of view about different issues to learn about it. I will be pleased if you do the same :)
I would love to learn how to play diabolo with two diabolos at the same time! Since I am into fire-twirling it would be great some new movements and tricks!
One Amazing Thing I've Seen or Done
Heaps of them! Travelling for four years around SE Asia, Europe, Australia, Japan, New Zealand... sharing my experiences with locals and meeting interesting people every single day!
Opinion on the CouchSurfing.org Project
CS is a great way to meet open people, and to live your travels as a local. See the places with different eyes, with another point of view than the normal traveler sight. With the view of the local people. Discovering secret bars, streets and stories..
It is awesome host, surf or join to a meeting and appreciate how much you can trust in a person that you have met only a few hours ago!
This summary is not a replacement for reading references; it's a quick summary to help you get started. At a glance, you can see how many references a member has, and how many of them are positive, neutral, and negative.
In the second line, you'll see how many references came from people who hosted this member, surfed with them, and traveled with them. These numbers won't always add up to the total: some references are not categorized, and some may be categorized as more than one thing.
When viewing this summary, don't jump to conclusions! Things that are negative for one person may be positive for another, and vice versa. It's important to read references carefully and evaluate what that information means to you.
This girl is so dangerous, if you don't wanna go out, you have to run away on time because she will use her smiley skills (and ojosdechinilla) to convince you, once she starts there's only one destination... the club!
And apart of silly stories she's the kind of person I could get along very well =D and I hope to get embushed again
I liked her "alternative" style and positive way of life. I met Natalia during a CS Saturday meeting at La Ovella Negra Bar in Barcelona, then headed all together to Boulevard Club to dance for a while and really had a great time.
I was absolutely impressed by her australian adventures. Easy-going, very funny and positive, ... it's really worth getting to know Natalia, so hope to see you soon again.
p.d.: Since me too I also want to move sooner or later to Australia, I'll start asking her for a lot of tips and useful information hehehe!!!
From Janna Kremez Brisbane, Australia May 15, 2011
Natalia, a fellow Nomadic Amb is a real sweety girl. I was pretty busy to move in and already with five guest and it's a pity that I cannot spent more time with her and Mat. Happy Surfing & Safe Travel :)
From Darren Kearney Walton on Thames, England Oct 13, 2010
Positive
Natalia is like the drummer for my band that I never had....cause I didn't. Nevermind that, Nat is such an enthusiastic person that it doesn't matter what you are doing, if it sounds even remotely fun then she'll be up for it. Not only that but she'll bring along her amzing personality, always ready with a joke, always smiling and a great laugh to boot :)
natalia is wonderful. always good conversation, always surrounded by good people, and always smiling. i look forward to further encounters across the globe :)
I met Natalia after replying to her post about going surfing with her friend Del, as they had two spare seats in their car. Myself and fellow couch surfer, James Brown, joined them and had a fantastic day of surfing. Both Natalia and Del were really friendly and both very talkative interesting people. Hopefully, we will get the chance to do it again soon.
23 
BCN nightlife
Barcelona
30+ 
30+ 
30+ 
