Mark - New Zealand Regional, and poly kiwi correspondent

47 - STR8 - Married (Jane)

Where do you call home? – Wellington region, New Zealand

Been to Burning Man before? When?
Yes - '94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’00, ’02, ’03, ’04 , '05, '06, '07

Camped with PolyParadise Before? Yes

Why Burning Man? - It has taken a grip on every part of me, right from that first moment I discovered it by accident while out in the desert in ’94. Has changed my life and continues to do so. I still feel so lucky to have been able to live life in the full as a result of my freak discovery in the desert over a decade ago.

Volunteer on the Playa? – Lamplighters, Greeter at Kidsville, Regional's Caberet performer, Burning Bellies drummer

My Life:
I am a married kiwi with two lovely young boys and wonderful wife (Jane). We live in Upper Hutt New Zealand, where I work as a seismologist and Jane works as a medical librarian. We lived for a time in Reno, allowing us the luxury of discovering Burning Man by accident way back in 1994. My job brings us back here to the US on regular occasions, which allows for regular Burning Man attendances. I am the New Zealand Regional for Burning Man, and have organized the two “Kiwiburns” in our green southern outpost of BM.

Burning Man is the one event that continues to get better and better for me. After 11 of them I can see that I will never tire of the event. My BM experiences get bigger, better and ,more enriching every time, and with them, my wonderful international BM community. I am particularly drawn to the openness of human interaction that comes with BM. My dream is to create the radical breadth of BM in New Zealand, a conservative country originally built of stiff upper lip British stock!