Australian CS Newsletter August 2008
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August 2008
Welcome to the monthly Australian CS Newsletter!!
Your one-stop-shop to all things CS in the Australian community. News from around the states, Aussie CS and general CS updates, stats, opinions, hints and tips. READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Done something fun yourself lately with your fellow CS members and guests?? Wanna boast about it and get your photos seen?? Then help in the making of this newsletter each month and let your CS community shine!
We are always looking for people who would like to contribute to the newsletter.
This could be on behalf of your local area, for the State News section - especially in Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin, and outside the capital cities. Or, it could involve writing a couchsurfing stats summary or an overview of media on CS from the month, etc. Join the Aussie Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested. Just join up and post something or email the moderators.
News from around the Australian States
The following news is brought to you by your Aussie Newsletter Production Mob
Australia Wide
Macalla watch - Our Aussie CS mascot, Macalla is jet-setting the Planet !!!
Just last month she travelled to Korea and is now in the USA under the watchful eye of Mike. So far on this journey she has beeen treated to white water rafting, kimchi, bungee jumping and long flights.
Macalla accompanied Mike to his conference in Seoul and even managed to appear in the after-photo shoot of Mike receiving an award . In the next issue of the CS Aussie Newsletter keep an eye out for Macalla at the mudfest in Boryeoung and then follow her to Los Angeles, and all the big sights in Washington DC.
And who is Macalla?? - read more here or have a look here.
Ambfest '08 - Introducing AMBFEST!! An annual week long festival for the gathering of Aussie CS Ambassadors and the chance for local CS members to meet their Ambassador team. This year Brisbane hosts the first attempt at the event, with hopes for many helpful and informative workshops, lots of brilliant and enlightening communication, absolute dancinerating amounts of fun and a day in the park on the weekend with local media. Watch this space for more and please hit Beni MC up if you would like to help with organising!!
Check the Ambfest event post on CS to see who's already coming. Get represented!
Queensland
(Your Ambassadors are Ninja, Beni, Geoff, Sally and Darren)
We would be extremely happy to get some CS news from regional Queensland. Please join the Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested in helping out.
July in Brissy rocked!!
It all started on the 3rd with a get together at the Press Club in the Valley for drinks and laughs. Initially just Tommi and Beni it soon blossomed into a night of names and accents I didn't quite catch. I did get to meet Amber and Bojan and Denis and....? Seemed to be a lot of French people!
On the 4th we had a going away party for Daniela who shall be missed in the Brissy CS scene. Take care Daniela and come back soon!! Check out the amazing and inspired photo shoot of the night! Creative genius by Ninja.
Daniela leaving, Adrian still away and Irene just gotten back.
Brissy CS ended up with an article in the Courier Mail on the 8th. Thanks to Laetitia and Simon for being photographed as guests, Robert for writing the article and the Courier Mail for being interested!
12th - CS picnic at Mt. Coot-tha Gardens before Ninja and Beni went and watched the Roar take on Palmeiras (from Brasil). We beat Palmeiras 3-1, could've had more goals, look good for the new signings in the new season and have some great pics of the CS picnic right here. What a day!!!!!
The initial planning meeting for the upcoming Brisbane City Romp was held on the 20th in New Farm Park. Attended by Emma, Ninja, Beni and Andrew we had a discussion about possible team names and uniforms, deadline for team entries and are holding another meeting soon. Keep posted in the Brisbane group if you're interested and for more info see the new Boxing Kangaroo awards below.
21-24th - Whirlwind tour by Aussie Country Ambassador, Alisdair. Alisdair stayed (along with his friend Rosalie) at Beni's on the Monday night and then we all went up to Maleny to stay with our newest local Ambassador, Sally and her daughter Bella at the Maleny Hideaway. A good time (in the rain) with great people and more Australian Ambassadors having the chance to meet and chat.
Brissy CS Collective Meeting at Nicole's place on the 27th. About 15-20 members and guests attended with post-meeting shenanigans at the Royal Exchange Hotel in Toowong.
coming up in August
- Park Day (with Winter Woolies the theme) at New Farm Park on the 9th. We will also be discussing Ambfest and the Brisbane City Romp so if you're interested in helping out for either event (or both of course!!) come along. Otherwise just come with your Winter Woolies and join the fun.
- The Ekka!!! - 7-16th. Get your fairy floss, show bags and a cold!
- Beni's inevitable 2nd housewarming party! Probably on the 30th - yet to be confirmed. Keep watch for the announcement in the Brissy group.
- Plenty more....always more.... the Brissy group's right here - come join us!!
Western Australia
(Your Ambassadors contributing to this newsletter are Renae and Dhugal,Matt and Charlie)
Once again, its been a very eventful month in Couchsurfing Perth.
July kicked off with the inaugural Couchsurfing Perth Quiz Night. We had a sell-out crowd of over 100 Couchsurfers and friends, at the Carlisle Bowls Club. The night saw us enjoy 8 rounds of quiz questions, socialising, cheap drinks and fun games that somehow lead to *near nudity*!! See photos of the night here. Congrats to Couchsurfer Rory and his table who took the grand prize. The great news -- we raised $750 that will go towards promo costs for the Where On Earth Is Perth? Festival. Thanks CS Perth - you rock!!
Winning table of the clothing chain game 
The quiz night crowd
Our regular Couchsurfing Zone Meet Up at the Brass Monkey was rather quiet at the beginning of the month (read: less than 40 people!). But for good reason! The day after the Quiz, 12 CS'ers, from 7 different countries, crammed themselves into a minibus and took off on a 10 day Camping Road Trip from Perth to Broome. Mad? Perhaps but they pulled it off, saw amazing things, camped Aussie Bush style, did lots of crazy fun things and had a really awesome time. Read about the trip here. Check out Blair's fantastic photos here. This road trip is something we really want to do again, so watch out for the 2009 Perth to Broome CS Road Trip!
ROAD 
TRIPPERS 
In mid-July, our Perth Ambassador, Matt greeted a radio personality who joined up to Couchsurfing, and as a result, was interviewed on air on ABC radio. Nice work, Matt!
There was excitement at our last Zone Meet Up -- in the form of a fire at the Zone and firetrucks! Evacuation could kill a party... but not a Couchsurfing one! Takes more than a lousy kitchen fire to put us off socialising!! The good news is the Zone - at Brass Monkey - is totally fine, so see you there for the next Meet Ups - Weds 6th and Weds 20th of August. Upstairs, outside on the balcony couches (don't worry, you really can't miss us!).
The Zone's on FIRE!
Coming Up in WA
- Dates have changed for the upcoming WA BurningCouch party at Matt's farm. Its now on Saturday 16th August. Keep an eye on this thread on the Perth Group page for details. Be ready for a bonfire, couch burning and - to make up for the carbon emissions - planting of locally native trees on the farm.
- Come to the next fortnightly Wednesday meet ups at the Zone - at the Brass Monkey, upstairs, on the couches on the balcony, from 6pm to 11pm. Next meet ups are Wednesday 6th and Wednesday 20th August.
- Fortnightly Monday meet ups in Fremantle kicked off at the end of July. Next meeting will be 11th August. Details will be posted in the Freo Crew Group and the Perth Group.
- The Wave Rock Weekender music and camping festival is on 27-29th September, and a group of rock-lovin' CS'ers (pun pun!!) will be heading there to camp out and party to some great Perth bands. Keep an eye on this post.
- If you live in Perth or are coming to visit, sign up to the Perth Group so you can stay up to date on events. There is always a movie outing, a skating adventure or a camping trip to go on.
Where On Earth Is Perth? Festival, 2008
Did you know that the week starting 20th Oct is Western Australia Week?! Well - now you know! What better way to celebrate the lead up to WA Week than with the Couchsurfing Where On Earth Is Perth? Festival - our local Perth CS festival, on 10th to 20th October. The Festival will be a week of activities, day and night, culminating in a 2-day music festival of our favourite Perth bands. Fun City!!
We have a website! And a groooovy logo! Check out www.whereonearthisperth.com.au
We invite EVERYONE across Australia and internationally to come visit Perth for the WHERE ON EARTH IS PERTH? Festival.
We want to promo the festival as far and wide as we can. If you are in rural WA, interstate or overseas and want to help us spread the word , send an email to csperth@gmail.com and we'll let you know how you can help us, with a poster and sticker campaign.
Do you live in Perth and want to get involved? Sign up to the website and send us a message to let us know you'd like to volunteer to assist in promo/events/other, just go to: Where On Earth Is Perth? AND come along to the next Where On Earth Is Perth? planning meeting, on Wednesday 13th August, at the Zone (Brass Monkey, upstairs), at 7pm.
Finally - if anyone has news and photos to contribute for the next newsletter, email csperth@gmail.com. Or if you'd like to be regularly involved in the newsletter production, join the Aussie Newsletter Production Mob group. We'd especially love some news from regional W.A. Bunners, Exmouth, south west - tell us about your CS hijinks.
New South Wales
- Sydney CS news. (Your Ambassadors contributing to this section are Quynh ,Shoaib and Lynette
For all the details on what's happening, keep an eye on the Sydney Group
The month of July started with the Aroma festival - celebrating coffee, tea, chocolate and spice in the beautiful surrounds of the Rocks. Amy then organised a film get-together for "Hancock"...... There was fish and chips CS Style at Bondi Beach and Troy conducted one of his excellent Sydney tours.
July also saw Mike one of Sydneys busy CS Ambassadors head south to Melbourne. All the best with the move Mike and thanks for the efforts you put in to making CS in Sydney what it is today !!
Jane has been hard at it again with the very successful Foodies nights. Moving through the alphabet one letter at a time they have eaten African, Brazilian and Czech. July 26th saw D as being Do-it-yourself at Janes home in Bondi with over forty attending !!!! Little wonder that Jane has been nominated this month for a Boxing Kangaroo Award.
Manning just completed his first Sydney CS Motorcycle tour. If you are interested in talking to Manning about it here is the link.
Lastly for the month Michael organised a movie outing to see The Dark Knight @ IMAX with a dozen CSers rocking up.
Coming up in August:
The Sydney Foodies are talking "E" for the August yumfest - maybe Espanol ??? hola...anyone for sangria? Stay tuned.
Hot on the heels of Sydney's successful Foodie's Group ... another social group will be established for all CS'ers and friends to enjoy. Our main goal will be to savour and sample many of the fine drinking establishments in and around Sydney all for the sake having a great time and 'research'. As a slight liberal rule.. Quynh is hoping to make it a fortnightly event.. alternating between fancy and casual. For more details go to this link
So as not to miss out on the constant parade of CS Sydney join the Sydney Group and register for an RSS feed to keep you up to date.
This months Featured Sydney CouchSurfer is Troy Jankowski
Troy gives us an insight into the evolution of his wonderful Sydney CS Tours:
Over many years I have had many people visit me from lots of different places from around the world. Most of these people were friends I had made over a 3 year period working at a summer camp in Connecticut in the USA. Each time I showed these people around the city I discovered something new or learnt something that i did not know before. This along with my natural interest in history meant over time I have accumulated an enormous amount of knowledge about the City of Sydney.
In an effort to know more I looked at the tours that were on offer in the city. All tours I could find were 2 hour tours focusing on a specific aspect of the city. Tours in the rocks, Tours of movie sites in the city, Tours of the botanical gardens. There was no complete tour of all aspects of the city. This was a surprise as I remembered back to a tour I did in Berlin (in my opinion the greatest tour I have ever been on - so good in fact I paid to do in twice and would do so again). This tour (website here) started at 9 in the morning and went til 6 or 9 at night and took people all over Berlin showing everything. Not only did it provide you a with an understanding of key buildings and historical sites in Berlin it also gave you an idea about the layout of the Berlin, how to get around, and what it was like to live in the city and to be a Berliner.
Sydney had no such tour. There was no Sydney tour which completely covers its amazing history, that shows people the site of the only military coup in Australian history, explains the names of the streets and parts of the harbour, showed were prostitutes were used to lure sailors to slavery, or spoke about how the guy who was the inspiration for the opera house was refused entry back into Australia because of a bag full or porn. There was no tour in Sydney that gave people a sense of what it means to be Australian or the role Australian history played in the development of the Australian character. There were lots of little tours that touched on lots of information but no tour that brought them all together in a way that equalled that incredible tour in Berlin.
So I made that tour for sydeny. I spent several months supplementing my current knowledge reading historical documents, downloading and printing historical Photos (which are shown on the tour), talking to people and walking the city with the express purposes of finding points of interests that I had not known about before. Over these months I would add little bits to the tour and show them to people as they popped in for a visit. As I offered the tour to CSers that stayed with me I decide to make a general announcement on the Sydney group to see if other people were interested. This has made the tour what it is today. but it is constantly expanding and been added to.
Announcements of Troys upcoming Sydney CS Tours appear in the Sydney Group
- Regional NSW News. (Contributing to this section are Lei and Jono)
It has been fairly quiet in regional NSW however the number of hostings have been consistantly increasing and the level of enjoyment for international CSers seeing rural NSW first hand more so. There were quite a few hits on the South Coast CS Wiki page proving that there were also a few passing CSers. The wiki has been a huge sucess for passing CS travellers and we recommend other regions of NSW to follow suit.
Australian Capital Territory
- (Your Ambassador contributing to this section is Alice)
Another great meetup was organised by Alice at Tilley's Devine Cafe & Gallery. With 363 members now registered in the Canberra Group it is alll coming on line to being a good social contact point for local CSers and travellers alike. A very big Thank You to Alice for bringing it all together, the group, the meetups and the Canberra wiki page. Alice will be very much missed by those in the Canberra community as she heads home. Travel safely and we hope to see you back this way soon.
Though the ACT tends to become a little quieter in the winter months there has been some great surfing happening as members stop over in Canberra as they head towards the snow.
Feel free to participate in any of the meetups that are always posted to the Canberra Group and if you have a flair for wiki page publishing have a look at the excellent Canberra wiki that Alice has left us with; there might be something you can contribute.
Victoria
(Your Ambassadors contributing to this newsletter is Alisdair,Peel, Ai,Stu, Lyndes and Ruth ,Craig and Selina)
Saturday 19th July saw the first CS Snow Trip rocket away - downhill, mostly. Three carloads of Melbourne based Couchsurfers struggled out of bed in the wee hours, and tackled the drive to Mt Buller for skiing, boarding and tobogganing fun.
There were several cameras so have a look here and here for photos of the day
The skiers and boarders had a pretty good day on the snow, despite the fact visibility was down to about a meter up the top. There was wind, there was snow, and lo and behold, there was sun at the end of the day. The local skiers took charge of some errant CS boarders, and took them "over the other side" for some uncrowded runs. It was a great day! And please, remember, don't ski over your own hand.... A big Thank you to Jay for organising this !!!
Keep in mind that Ski Trip #2 Cross Country & Tobogganing on Sat 16 Aug is already being organised. More info here
Sam (aka Nightfell) organised a huge night of food at the hotel metropolitan on July 7th with 25 hungry and happy Surfers meeting up for an evening of fine dining !!! A massive post of 90 threads to organise the logistics of it all. Melbourne does it again !!!
Keep in mind the Belgrade Foodies get together on the first Friday of Every month - see this link for more info. Also set for August 1st is a get-together at Little Creatures Dining Hall! - more info on the night [1]
Coming up on August 10th in Melbourne is The Chocolate Rush festival - more info here
Free
Huggers
.... and to show once again that Melbourne has an incredible depth of CS Spirit they were all out there in the cold giving Hugs on the 26th of July - a big applause goes out to those who were there and to Aaron for organising it. Some more photos here
BIG NEWS !!! Melbourne CS Zone - Each Tuesday from 7pm, one or more of Melbourne's City or Nomadic Ambassadors will be on location at Don Tojo (164 Cardigan St, Carlton) to welcome new & old travellers and help out where possible. for more info read this
With so much going on in Melbourne the only way you can keep up with it is to join the Melbourne Group or book mark the Melbourne CS Calendar - Happy CS'ing !!
Tasmania
(Your Ambassador contributing to this newsletter is Jillianin Hobart
We are pleased to announce that Tasmania has a new CS Ambassador. Jillian is from Cygnet and has signed up to be your supporting Ambassador on the Apple Isle so please make her welcome and know that she is there to help out where able.
Tasmania is stunning this time of year however not so many travellers venture to these parts in winter and days are very short -which means nights are very long and ideal for sitting around in front of open fires talking travel with your new Tassie CS friends so take advantage of it and organise a long night of good food, good company and throw in some of that famous Tassie spirit.
We are always looking to improve the Tasmanian CS Wiki page so if there are any Taswegians who would like to contribute please contact Jillian
Many thanks to Humdrum for her efforts in bringing CS up to speed in Tassie. It is Tasmania's loss that she is leaving it's shores but it is South Australias gain. Happy travels and thank you !
South Australia
(Your Ambassadors contributing to this newsletter are Claire and Letti)
There are now over 600 CS'ers in South Australia !!!!
With two City Ambassadors the upcoming summer looks like it is going to take off for Adelaide and the State as more and more Overseas Travellers head that way.
Please keep in mind that you do not need to wait for an Ambassador to set up a social event. Most of the events set by Ambassadors are also to allow a question/answer opportunity for members. Feel free to announce your own get-together, be it a BBQ or a few drinks at the local pub or cafe. This is probably even more crucial now as the referencing system changes make it harder to obtain references and it is your References that people will use to determine if they wish to provide you a "couch" when you next travel...
So please "get out there" and meet each other and build those profiles, friendships and references !!!!
... and keep an eye out in your Adelaide Group for upcoming events !!
Northern Territory
(Your Ambassador contributing to this newsletter is Steven Pearce)
With so many new NT CS members coming on board (there are now over 150) there is a spot available for anyone wishing to apply to be an Ambassador for Darwin. So if you are interested in helping Steveout and learning more of how the CouchSurfing organisation works have a look at this link.
For everyone else, feel free to use the groups to meet each other, to develop friendships and references and maybe even gain vouches that will definitely improve your own opportunities of being hosted when you travel.
The Darwin Group now has 120+ members and is a perfect place to start to socialise and if you are heading down to Alice there are a whole lot of local CS'ers down there ready to say g'day.
2008/09 is building up already to be a huge year for CS travellers coming Downunder and the destination on everyones lips is Kakadu and Uluru. To all you NT mob .. can you please have a look at your NT Wiki page along with the Darwin and Alice pages and see what you can add with your local knowledge and passion for the North that might inform other CS'ers coming into your country.
Australian Couchsurfing Org News.
- - BIG NEWS - You are reading an historical piece!! This IS the first Australian CS Newsletter to be distributed through a system the CS Communications Team is trialling. Apparently we are so cool in this country that we are paving the way for new avenues of communications on CS and our newsletter is providing an example of what CS can do for its members at a national level.
- - There is now a one-page comprehensive Australian Wiki Pages Index. If there are any pages you know of that are missing please email your local Ambassador.
- - We have finished the New Australian CS Members Welcome Kit also - check it out.
- - The linking of Australian CS google accounts is underway with the Australian account now displaying a link to Perth and Brisbane's photo galleries as well as some of the Calendar's being linked. We hope to have all major CS populations represented here in the future for easy access to information for hosts and guests alike. Speak to your local Ambassadors about getting your area's own google account (and all that goes with it) up and running.
The Boxing Kangaroo Awards
Each month, the Aussie Ambassadors like to bring attention to the efforts of other CS members who have made a decent contribution to the CS community in their area. It's our way of saying thanks and of bringing attention to some of the great work being done around the country.
Don't forget if you want to become an Ambassador you can do so easily through applying here - we could use the support and extra hands. Get on board, it's all about participation!
"Ever since I first heard about Couchsurfing, it has definitely become my passion thus this award is an honor for doing something that I love doing!!" Emma has been involved in organising a CS team (or two?) for the Brisbane City Romp, an event which raises funds for the Burnet Institute. For details check out their website and, if you're in Brissy in September and want to be involved check out the events post. "I look forward to becoming even more involved in bringing Couchsurfing into our community through hopefully volunteer work and various events and getting to meet more of its members! Moving to Brisbane, and getting involved over here has been a fantastic way to meet new people as well as finding my way around this awesomely awesome city!" Thanks Emma!
Over the past few months Jane has been the driving force behind the Sydney foodies' group. She has also organised a number of other fun events and has helped the Ambs plan Sydney meetings (including hosting a Amb dinner). Her endless enthusiam is keeping the Sydney Groupand travellers more than active.
Lena has been tirelessly promoting the social aspect of CouchSurfing in Melbourne with her wonderful Foodie Get-Togethers, the magical and very much appreciated Mornington Spa weekend along with her dedication and input into all things social on the Melbourne Cs Scene. The Melbourne Cs Community and the Melbourne group are all the richer for her boutyful enthusiasm and her smile.
Our newest Ambassadors
A very warm welcome to two new Aussie Ambassadors!!!
from Melbourne we have Selina joining us and from Cygnet, Tasmania please welcome Jillian
To know who your other Australian Ambassadors are have a look at this link.
Meet your Aussie Ambassadors
Our ongoing series introducing some of your Aussie Ambassador team. See the archived newsletters for earlier G'days
PEEL from Melbourne in Victoria
I joined CS on a whim, in an attempt to "do some good" after being hosted spontaneously by a Spanish family in San Sebastian in 2003.
I'd missed the night train to Paris (too busy looking at art in the Guggenheim Bilbao) and was wandering the dark streets of San Sebastian at 11pm. Somehow I managed to trust a funny looking Spanish man who happened to speak decent English, and followed him back to his apartment, where the door was opened by his elderly mother with a shock of thick, white hair and a welcoming smile. She insisted on feeding me supper while he made the bed. After a very comfortable night's sleep I woke to a yummy home cooked breakfast at 4am and was walked to the train station and put on the train with a giant home made Spanish tortilla sandwich. I munched on the delicious meal as I watched the Spanish countryside go by and thought I need to repay all that good karma somehow. This Spanish family obviously couldn't afford to host me, let alone feed me, but they did it without expecting anything back in return and it became a highlight of my trip around Europe.
So becoming a host on CS became my "karma outlet". I also got involved in Melbourne dinner nights and count many CSers as good friends. For reasons I still don't quite understand, the legendary Mock-Turtle encouraged me to apply to be an ambassador. This was in late 2007, and miraculously I am still here, chugging along in my own small way and making my mark on the Melbourne scene.
PEEL is a team of 2, my gorgeous husband P and me, L, the public face of PEEL. My ability to give to the CS project is very much thanks to P, who keeps me sane, fed and inspired. Because I don't drink alcohol I'm not into the party scene, so my aim is to drive all the "behind the scenes" stuff, like safety, CS Zones, support for hosts, putting regulations and guidelines in place and discussing and brainstorming CS matters and networking with local ambassadors.
My travel dreams include walking the Camino de Santiago, visiting good friends around the world, travelling overland from Singapore to Cape Town and re-visiting Nepal and Hong Kong.
Once I wanted to visit every country in the world. Now, thanks to Couch Surfing, I just lounge around at home and host someone from every country instead. I think Ke from China is my 50th surfer. Saves on airfares too.
I am passionate about Australia and being Australian (being from, among other places, New Zealand - oops) and CS is this great way to discover Australia and Australians. It really is! Like people tell me all the time "Craig you're in Australia now." No sense of direction really.
But mostly I love Melbourne and having the yellow, for me, means working to make CS the best possible experience for both Hosts and Surfers. Mostly it's working in the background, then suddenly getting together for a wild trip that makes it all worth while. Like lemmings really, only with flammable couches.
I also love the references people have given me. I really do! I don't however think it is me though; sadly everyone else does. Oh well.
But most of all - tell me what's WRONG with Couch Surfing - it is only new and it is still having growing pains. I am here to do YOUR bidding! And it is amazing what can happen when we all concentrate. It really is.
Cheers, Craig.
New Australian Groups
Craig has created a new group - Jobsurfer.
Job Surfer is designed as a starting point for those looking for employment in Melbourne, Australia and wider. It has information about job search engines, websites, books and Health and Safety, workplace bullying, how to ensure your rights at work and of course getting visas. There is information to avoid the "standard pitfalls." Job surfer also aims to indicate 'emergency employment' for those in financial distress.
Within a few weeks of its development Jobsurferhas 13 sections. It needs a lot more, including sections for other parts of Australia.
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Working in Australia: Visas and Regulations Applying to Non-Citizens
- 3 Your Rights at Work, Bullying and Sexual Harassment
- 4 Career Advice
- 5 Work Training
- 6 Job Search Web-Sites
- 7 IT Work in Melbourne
- 8 Call Centre Work Inbound / OutBound
- 9 Waiter, Dish Washer / Kitchen Hand, Bar and Cafe Work
- 10 Artist Models
- 11 Work for Surfers with Limited English
- 12 Rural and Agricultural Employment
- 13 Employment in Victorian Ski Resorts
- 14 Teaching English in Other Countries
But more than just the practical stuff, Job Surfer's intention is to help develop CS'ers own vision of what work in Australia could be. From earning a lot of money in the outback in a short time, doing something completely new and unexpected or starting a career change. This wiki aims to empower to find what is ultimately possible.
So please contribute! There has been a lot of interest in the site, so now Job Surfer needs to grow from its Melbourne origins. All information, ideas and contributions gratefully appreciated! Or even just make a link to your own groups page with Jobsurfer.
Cheers, Craig
Australian Politics might interest some of you as well. The group's been there for a while but it's just Beni screaming at himself so far.
The Aussie CS Suggestion Box isn't really a new group; it's an old one renamed and modified but it's worth a mention. If you have any ideas or suggestions for CS in Australia join up and post away.
Aussie CS Safety
Hot off the presses from the CS Collective in Homer, Alaska:
The CouchSurfing community is now growing by over 10,000 members a week. With so many joining this community, we'd like to take this chance to offer all our members a few tips on how to make the most of CouchSurfing and some common safety tips.
From our own Aussie Safety Crew this month: Security.
"I can go for a walk in the middle of any city in the world and get mugged, raped or killed. I can chose to get to a different place of that same city and have the blast of my life. My decision will be based on the info I got from those places or due to the lack of knowledge....."
Enter the member´s references...... You may have noticed a recent change in the reference system designed to make it safer still. If not here is the link to the changes.
"Choices are out there and we can only learn how to make better ones by making as many mistakes as possible" is one personal philosophy.... what is yours?
Security, in the end, is a state of mind and while we can place ourselves at risk by choosing a wrong host/guest, we can have the time of our lives as well.
For any new members there is an Australian CS Safety Wiki with lots of good tips, links and advice.
Australian Statistics
If you are interested in how many surfers there are now in Australia and where they all are and what they are all doing go and have a look at the Statistics pages - it is all quite facinating and you get to check out the rest of the world at the same time ..... ever wondered how many Couches there are in Bermuda???
International CouchSurfing News
CS Website Technical Developments
For a complete list of all the latest Technical developments and improvements to the CS Site havea look here.
NEWS FLASH: You can Now Increase choice in how you can receive CouchSurfing group posts - You can now use RSS to stay informed of group posts!
Don't understand what RSS is? Click here for a basic introduction
Click here to change the setting of any group you are a member to receive notification of new posts by RSS
Do you havea brilliant idea for CouchSurfing ??
" We have been working for a while now on a system codenamed 'The Project Matrix'. It is a system where ideas get listened to and team efforts involved get analysed. The idea is then formed into a Project, and in the end we can track exactly who on which team needs to do what next for the Project to be completed.
The Matrix Project is in early beta-stage and it will go live hopefully later around September. For now only the Alaskan Collective participants have access to start filling it with ideas, so it can be determined where the system still needs more work. They are the so-called testing group :) regards Walter"
If you are interested in following the Tech developments you will find what you are looking for here.
CouchSurfing Collective News
The Alaska Collective has now been underway for some time and have been releasing blogs of the developments that they have made to the CS site. If you have missed out on seeing these that can be found here. The Collective are also inviting CS members from around the world to send them a postcard to:
Couchsurfing, PO Box 1983, Homer, Alaska 99603 USA
Feel free to send them some feedback via the Contact page on your CS experience, some suggestions for improvement or just a good old "G'day!".
For more info on the Alaska Collective use this link and for the roles of the Collective participants you can find out more here.
and... they have set up a Alaskan Collective: Frequently Asked Questions link here
In case you missed it the CS Thai Collective wrapped up their time with this newsletter that links to this report
This Months things of interest from the corridors of CouchSurfing
Every year there is a gala paella party held in Zurich. This is the
Sleeping arrangements! for your Couch There's a new section in the "Couch Description" part of a profile which gives members more detailed information about the sleeping arrangement that surfers can expect. Please fill it out when you next log in - here is the direct link to the section.
As we said above there have been some changes to the Reference System so it is well worth maiking yourself familiar with the new look and feel of the References and know what it all means.
Couchsurfing in the Media
International:
"Møttes som sofasurfere - nå er de gift" You probably don't know Norwegian but essentially Pedro og Cerioli met through CouchSurfing and hosted eachother, fell in love and now they're married:read on
From Istanbul here is a great Couchsurfing video and from San Francisco this one
..... and from Venezuela this masterly made video
In Australia:
This month saw the Sydney Morning herald and The Age run this following story entitled - "Meet locals and get laid"
On a far better note from the uninformed dolt who wrote the article above is a great story piece from Brisbane's Courier Mail
From Andy Gale comes this article he wrote for TravelBite UK.
......and finally for this month here is a video that shows you what you might come to expect from the Next Generation of CS Nomadic Ambassadors.
What is the current Status of your Couch?
As you know you can edit the status of your couch from Available to Coffee to Travelling and to Not Available.
Did you know that if you have your Couch unavailable the "Request to Couchsurf with" button is removed?
So as not to be pestered with CouchSurfing request whilst you are Travelling or presently unable to Host, make sure the Status of your Couch is what you want it to be. It will solve a lot of unwanted emails. Just on that, did you know that for every "CouchSurf Request" you don't answer it decreases you Replied to % percentage, which then places you towards the back of the queue when someone does a CouchSearch of your town/city?
So easy peasy, if your couch isn't available change the icon !!
Adios to Aussie CS members who didn't log in in the last six months
Over the last month Australia has lost 28 or so CS members who have not logged in to CS in the last 180 days.
The process is that these members receive an email from CS and should they fail to log in as advised their profiles are frozen and can't be seen by other members. The profile will however be unfrozen when they next log in so fear not for your profile info if you choose to take a break from CS. The best option if you do want a break is to alter your profile Privacy settings here making a change to the "Hide in Search" field
Remember to log into CouchSurfing periodically (there are always new things being developed so at the least read the main menus after you log in)
Tips and hints for better CouchSurfing
DID YOU KNOW that you can select whether you see your group posts in either Threaded or chronological order. Have an experiment here under "Group Posts - Threaded?"
DID YOU KNOW that when searching by name for "Super Max", the search now only returns users called "Super" AND "Max" instead of "Super" or "Max". Now that has to help :) !!!!
DID YOU KNOW that some of our Aussie CSers are working on a wiki called Aussie links to help direct travellers to info they would otherwise spend days trawling the net for. Do you have any useful links you would like to add?
For more tips and hints to improve your profile or your experience of Couchsurfing go to: Australian Tips Hints and links to better CouchSurfing
Other Helpful Links at a Glance
Other CS areas that might interest:
- A new overview of Couchsurfing has been provided called the Cheat Sheet
Aussie Newsletter Archive
As you can see below there is a wealth of other Aussie CS Newsletters to look back on if you wish - enjoy !!
- Australian_CS_Newsletter February 2008
- Australian_CS_Newsletter_March_2008
- Australian CS Newsletter April 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter May 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter June 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter July 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter August 2008
Should you wish to NOT receive this Newsletter link via your personal email address please login to CouchSurfing and go to this link and answer YES to the question "Disable CS Newsletters?"
