Alan Preston

  A bit about me....  ( October 2025 ) 

 I'm a 65 year old New Zealander originally from Henderson in West Auckland.

I bought this house -which was built in 1914 way back in 1994  when I was living in Japan and I came back to Mangawhai to live here in 2009.

My parents first brought us up to Mangawhai on holiday in 1968 and they moved here to live from 1980 - 2000.

I spent short periods here as a young adult and spent a year living out at Mangawhai Heads for a year in 1984  while working at Marsden Point Oil Refinery to save money for my first big O.E. ( overseas expeience )  during which I  travelled overland through Asia and Europe to the U.K - then back again - and then hitch-hiked around Australia.

I went to Japan in 1990  and ended up living there for 6 year during which I also travelled in China and Korea, the West Coast of the  U.S.A., Mexico , Kenya, Madagascar, Isreal and Egypt.  I learned to speak Japanese and Indonesian and am qualified to teach English Language ( 16 years experience ) . 
After teaching in Queenstown for 6 years ( 1996-2002) I spent another 4 years in Kyoto. 

 I now teach music through guitar . I play guitar and percussion and paint/draw and do a lot of writing and am involved in a variety of political advocacy groups. ( environmental/human rights/energy / sustainable transport etc.

I'm a non-smoker, vegan, a utility cyclist and a body-surfer.

I enjoy being around other people who are out travelling the world, and with other progressive thinkers.