Australian CS Newsletter June 2009
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JUNE 2009
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
Macalla watch - Our Aussie CS mascot, Macalla is jet-setting the Planet !!!
Last word had Macalla somewhere in Austria - have you seen Macalla on her travels? Let us know in Macalla's official group.
And who is Macalla?? - read more here or have a look here.
Queensland
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.
Brisbane in May
A few of the adventurous CS’ers in Brisbane did a night kayaking tour of the Brisbane river, which was followed up by food and drinks as part of the package, not a bad way to spend a Friday night.
Brisbane had another 2 fortnightly meets at the Plough Inn in South Bank, the colder weather seems to be attracting more people to the idea of having a few drinks on a Thursday night – there have been quite a lot of new Hosts and Surfers showing up.
Ninja, Tim and Blair headed down to the Gold Coast to ambush one of their regular Tuesday night CS Meets at Waxy’s in Surfers Paradise, it was a nice place, great food and the singing security guard was….. ‘Interesting’.
Taco Tuesdays at the Alibi Room are continuing to be popular; $2 Taco’s and $4 drinks are a good enough reason for CS’ers in Brisbane to keep going there.
Coming up in June -
Over the Queens Birthday long weekend, there is a camping trip planned at Mt Warning National Park which has generated a lot of interest, we will hear all about that in the next newsletter.
For more info and to keep up with what events & activities are happening; check out the Brisbane group here.
Victoria
We would be extremely happy to get some CS news from rural Victoria. Please join the Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested in helping out.
Melbourne in May
In May, Cameron Hill hosted a hugely successful African-themed dinner with over 20 ravenous couchsurfers coming along. Almost everybody brought some great delicacies which disappeared quickly, including a lot of hummus and felafel, some delicious faux-egyptian pizza, and tasty almond and pistachio couscous. He is currently planning his next dinner, this time with a Libyan theme. Thanks for the great effort, Cameron!
Free films for couchsurfers
Buddhistguy continued to organise complimentary passes for Couchsurfers to various events. This month, events included several screenings taking place as part of the Spanish Film Festival, with more than 30 Couchsurfers attending each screening. The highlight was the Festival Screening of "Los girasoles ciegos" where couchsurfers in attendance got to meet and chat to award-winning Spanish Actor Javier Cámara (star of the Pedro Almodóvar film, Talk to Her) after the movie. Buddhistguy also organised a free preview screening of the German film "The Baader Meinhof Complex", with over 25 couchsurfers attending the movie and the traditional post-film drinks.
Eurovision party!
Though a day later from the rest of Europe it was not too late for us to hold a Eurovision party. Thanks to the coordinated effort of Sean Prior and Osnat Longman, the Melbourne CS group of over 20 CouchSurfers came together for an awesome night of eating, laughter and catching the delayed telecast of the Eurovision 2009. The Sunday night event ended a brilliant weekend for many and we'll be looking forward to Eurovision 2010!
Vegan Potluck Part 2
The vegan potluck involved a lot of eating and very little talking as inquisitive carnivorous (and herbivores alike) sampled various arrays of yummy vegan dishes. The day ended on a good note and a round of applause to TIMMY_TOFU and CHLOEBOWIE for another successful vegan potluck.
Coming up in June
Don't forget, the Melbourne CS Zone - Every second Tuesday from 5:30pm. One or more of Melbourne's City or Nomadic Ambassadors will be on location at our new winter venue - Sister Bella (Sniders Lane, Melbourne) to welcome new & old travellers and help out where possible. This is getting to be a bigger and bigger event each fortnight! For more info read this and check the Melbourne CS Google Calendar to see when it's on.
Couch Burning Mark II
Cold Erin is wonderfully arranging Couch Burning Mark II, plus working bee. So bigger and better and colder than ever. So far we have offers of cooked food, home brew beer and a couch to burn. Last year 40 odd people turned up and a very good time was had by all. For more details see the posting at the CS page for Melbourne.
Buddhistguy is currently in the midst of helping to organise festivities for the Melbourne Couchsurfing Community to mark International Couchsurfing Day on June 12. Click here to follow the thread.
Happy Surfing !!
Western Australia
Perth!
- With the change of season come some exciting times in Perth! A lot of fresh new faces and energy are showing up to each meeting!
- Daniel has returned after his time in Turkey and has helped organise many picnics, sunset adventures, a trip to the Pinnacles,Rottnest Island and generally being a great support!
However we have to say some sad goodbyes to some of the much loved members who are off on their own adventures! Remember we will be thinking of you here in sunny (or windy) Perth.
-Freedom Festival -
- Dhugal The king of house parties held his freedom festival on May 16 which was the talk of the town. Hat lovers, Hippie haters, Hippie lovers, Cake lovers, and lovers in general joined together for a night of madness, pleasure and freedom! - some say however that there was a price to pay and than a few heads were still hurting at the Coffee club the following Wednesday!
- The Coffee Club met on the 6th and 20th May with both having big turn outs! Watch the board for the next meeting!
- The 40+ group had their first Dinner Club meeting on May 8th which was a roaring success - check out the group for more details.
- The Perth Spanish Speakers group holds a weekly Monday night meeting from 7pm onwards at Valentinos restaurant in Northbridge, feel free to come along and practice some espanol!
- Many other meetings, dinners, drinks, birthdays, conversations were being held around town! Thanks to all who organised events this month!
- The regular fortnightly Wednesday night Perth CS Zone meetups at the Brass Monkey are still as popular as ever, with many travellers in town enjoying the sunny Perth weather. Keep an eye on the Perth group for all our meetups, parties, hijinks and adventures.
Fremantle!
- The unofficial Fremantle CS Zone Meetup was held at Clancy's Fish Pub on Thursday 21st May. It was a great night with new and old CSers joining up for fish and friends.
- On May 16th Capture the Flag Freo style was held with many CSers and other friends joining up for an afternoon of running and ambushing!
- Also held in Freo this month was a massage exchange and wellness day. Several new CSers joined up on Saturday the 2nd May to share massages, tea and good company. This is expected to be the first of many so keep an eye on the Freo Crew for details about the next bigger and better wellness day!
- For more in and around Fremantle keep an eye on the Freo Crew group for upcoming details for next months meet up and other events
Coming Up in June
- 40+ group Dinner Club
- Coffee Club
We would love to get some CS news from regional Western Australia. Please join the Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested in helping out.
New South Wales
CS activities in Sydney!
Snowy Mountains Jazz Festival Trip - Bryon organised a great trip to the Thredbo Jazz Festival. This involved 12 hardy CSers taking a bonus long weekend and going on a road trip down to the Snowy Mountains. Highlights included great jazz, free swing dance lessons, picturesque alpine walks to Mount Kosciuszko, and some very tasty group meals & mulled wine. Challenges included some unexpected scaffolding, a very slow heating system and almost finding out exactly how much petrol fits in a Honda CRV’s tank...
To boldly go… CS Star Trek – For 12 keen CSers, the opportunity to see Star Trek on the world’s biggest screen at group prices was too good to pass up, and a gathering collected at the IMAX in Darling Harbour. Michael organised the tickets and is already thinking about both Transformers 2 and Harry Potter in 3D. Keep an eye on the Sydney Group for details of these forthcoming events.
Barrington Tops 4wd & Camping Trip - Take one super organised CSer cooking and camping enthusiast; Art, 2 4x4s, fill those with 11 CSers, a few tents, plenty of food and drink, and that was the makings of a fantastic weekend away in Barrington Tops National Park. The weather may have been chilly but the company was warm. Woodsmoke in the eyes round a windy campfire, walks in the woods spotting brumbies and wombats, topped off with some wild manouevres in the dunes at Stockton Beach. Thanks to Art for organising and to he and James for skillful 4x4 handling!
CS social at 4 Pines, Manly - This has become a regular social gathering for those on the Northern Beaches; but of course all are very welcome to attend. We even had a few from Newtown turn up last week! The 4 Pines is a micro brewery across the road from Manly Ferry Wharf, above the cinema. We meet on Thursday evenings from 6.30pm, so why not come along and meet some friendly couchsurfers for tasty beers? Look out for the event meetings or contact Amy for more info.
Sydney Italian Festival – Wine, pizza, pasta, lashings of cheese tastings and even more cheese in the form of a faux Italian wedding were order of the day for the CSers who gathered on Sunday 24th May for Primo Italiano; part of Sydney Italian Festival. Stanley St was transformed into an Italian piazza and bustled with street entertainment and live music and dancing. Thanks to Agata for organising this meet-up.
Urban Greenspace walk – Exploring urban greenspaces grabbed the interest of a dozen locals and travelers' alike for a nocturnal walk in some of Sydney's underappreciated waterfronts and parklands. Sarah and Bryon packed along games and history facts of the landmarks they passed. Appropriate brown bag beverages were popular and a mid-walk re-charge at Harry's cafe de wheels was a highlight! - be on the lookout for the next walk posting soon!
Sydney Book Swap – Lisa Joy hosted a book swap, organized with Stephanie and attended by a heap of couchsurfers. Lisa also provided a nice spread of goodies left over from her nephew's birthday party. Yummy!! It was a night of easy conversation, intelligent rambles, good laughs and of course, book swapping. Everyone was pleased with the turn out and expressed an interest in meeting up once a month. Book lovers and travelers looking for a place to pick up new books and enjoy a night of conversation in a relaxing setting, you're on notice! The next Sydney Book Swap will be sometime in June. You never know what you'll end up leaving with! (and by that, I mean books)
Lightwalk – 9 Sydney couchsurfers (Olivia, Femke, Veronika, Lucie, Allesia, Lori, Sam, James, Freddy) proved to be rain resistant and got together for some "free enlightenment" on Friday (May 29th). The HarbourLight fireworks in Darling Harbour were impressive and innovative with parts fired off four jetskis roaming the waters. Afterwards we decided to warm up and dry in the pontoon bar next door - and having so much fun we never left there to see the LightWalk (of the Smart Light festival) or the colourfull Opera house sails... Some of us did however light up the dancefloor of CargoBar afterwards (with generous support of Sarah and Helen) until the early morning hours! It was great fun and since this light spectacle is going until June 14th we will surely find another night without rain to enjoy it!
For all the details on what's happening keep an eye on the Sydney Group and bookmark the Sydney events calendar.
Coming up in June
… if you want to help organise these events or invent new ones of your own, please post on the Sydney Group board
- International CS Day is June 12th.
- Tasty beers in Manly; regular CS social meeting – every Thursday
- We are still looking for a new venue in the Rocks or City to hold a monthly social gathering - if you know of a suitable place please let us know.
Mardi Grass 2009 - Nimbin
The annual Mardi Grass is held each year on the first weekend of May. The main focus is the legalisation of cannabis for all uses. People visiting often miss the other side of the benefits of this wonderful plant - much more than its use for recreational relaxation and as a wonder medicine.
As a local, this is a major event for our little village and many look forward to it (others go away) - a chance to catch up with old friends, make new friends, enjoy some pretty wonderful food choices, listen to fantastic music of all genres, comedy, dancing, fashion, art, the list is so long. A lot of the fun is to be had prior to the actual weekend so keep volunteering in mind if you are around next year ... you get a free pass to all events too.
Couchsurfers were arriving Saturday so I dashed into the village to pick up some groceries; dropped down to say hi to the Ozstoners and other friends who were camping. Henrik, Sonja and Jack arrived late afternoon. They arrived in Nimbin and enjoyed a little time there before coming out here... and that is where we stayed until the next afternoon. Talking, laughing and generally having a bloody good time getting to know each other. The weather remained kind though a little chilly at night. A little rain on Friday was just a teaser fortunately.
The others left a little before us on Sunday and made it through before the road was blocked, to catch the rally. We were going to be marching but underestimated the traffic and ended up sitting in the car only a few metres from where the march started. With our giant paper imitation joints in the back seat and dressed for marching we sat and waited. Very soon after the march finished and the road opened again we parked and made our way into town.
So many people! Our little village was awash with people, colour, music and entertainment to suit all. The estimated crowd was 15,000! Peter was struggling with a very painful hip but had come in anyway. We found Sonja & Jack who had lost Henrik ... it is like that and you finally find each other at the end of the day or weekend LOL
Peace & hope,
Pixie, Nimbin, NSW.
We would love to get some more CS news from regional New South Wales. Please join the Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested in helping out.
South Australia
Picnic at Morialta conservation park
Event link: here
Suggested & organized by local CS host Phillip & partner Hugh this meet up was anything but ordinary, mention of a Bunyip, music & potluck managed to draw around 12 people during the day.
Gathering at a table in the picturesque Morialta conservation park on a Sunday afternoon introductions were made with the new comers with a lot of new people in attendance. Having worked all night Phillip & Hugh brought a large amount of varied food including various salads.
After a more than filling lunch Phillip & Hugh had yet another surprise for everyone summoning a bun yip! Luckily Hugh's alter ego was on hand to sooth the beast with singing and disaster was narrowly avoided for which we are all thankful because the poor Couch Surfers look to be be utterly terrified by this creature.
Moving right along Kirabanu showed off her musical talents playing a couple of great songs which helped to calm everyone down from the terrifying encounter described above.
With one group itching to go on a bush walk to Morialta falls the group split up with Kirabanu performing readings for people & Shisha with Phillips group taking to the trail.
This was a great event with hats off to Hugh & Philip for putting in so much effort and everyone else for the food, entertainment & great company.
Proposed regular CS meeting
Event link: here
Adelaide CS is looking at establishing a regular CS meeting in the CBD on a basis yet to be determined (Possibly weekly, fortnightly or monthly) and wants your input. If you are visiting Adelaide or are a member of the group and haven't put in your opinion now is the time!
Adelaide CS group
The Adelaide CS group welcomes new events, suggestions & ideas. Head on over to have your say, for photos from our meetups check out our Facebook page
Australian Capital Territory
We would be extremely happy to get some CS news from the Australian Capital Territory. Please join the Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested in helping out.
Tasmania
In January three CSers from Melbourne embarked on a whirlwind Tasmanian adventure.
East Coast of Tasmania has been very quiet in regard to CouchSurfing activities of late, with winter months closing in, the overnight temps in the hills are low. So, if visiting do bring warm clothing to keep yourself warm as we move into the middle of winter…
On that note - whilst not a CS event - the Grassy Bottom Regional Arts are presenting the 2009 Winter Solstice on the 20th of June in St Marys, this is a community event and in past years has been really quite a show. This year is the 10th anniversary of this community grass roots festival and it will be happening from 9am through till later in the day. Activities will include jumping castles and children's workshops and for the adults there are good food stalls and heaps of entertainment. If your looking to CouchSurf the east coast around this time it is usually something that's really good fun and indicative of a community organised festival here on the East Coast.
Janet is taking a short break from hosting as she has started a new job and is busy busy busy training, but really looking forward to hosting more in the later part of winter and through spring/summer.
Northern Territory
We would be extremely happy to get some CS news from the Northern Territory. Please join the Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested in helping out.
The Boxing Kangaroo Awards
Each month, we like to bring attention to the efforts of 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.
This month Sydney would like to nominate Art and James for organising such fantastic camping trips! They shared their expertise and love of 4x4 driving with us and Art's cooking skills are amazing! We really appreciate having you guys be part of Couchsurfing!
To nominate someone, just join the Newsletter Production Mob and submit your nomination.
Don't forget if you want to become an Ambassador for Couchsurfing you can do so easily through applying here - we could use the support and extra hands. Get on board, it's all about participation!
Our Ambassadors
Congratulations and welcome to 3 new Aussie Ambassadors:
Looking to track down an Ambassador for whatever reason? Your Aussie ambs are listed here.
New Australian Groups
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 fascinating and you get to check out the rest of the world at the same time ..... ever wondered how many Couches there are in Madagascar??
International CouchSurfing News
CouchSurfing has announced a site redesign and new logo to go live on 1 March - read more about this here
Couchsurfing in the Media
The call for experienced editors As you may have heard, CS Org have created a CS News Channels page which will allow for communication to members and volunteers on a scale they have not had yet. Some of these channels are member-made, some are created by volunteers, and others are newsletters adapted for the web.
To receive news from the official channels just edit your subscription settings.
Website Technical Developments
With the millionth member joining the site (whether you believe this to be accurate or not) the new site navigation and logo were rolled out. We're sure you couldn't have missed that seeing as it's everywhere!!!
There are changes afoot with the wiki that could restrict access to edit a wiki to a core team - the impact on the newsletter and how it functions is still to be seen.
The CouchSurfing chat room was closed at the same time as the new navigation for the site went active.
If you are interested in following the Tech developments you will find what you are looking for here.
What is the current Status of your Couch?
As you know you can edit the status of your couch.
Did you know that if you have your Couch unavailable the "Request to Couchsurf with" button is removed?
So as not to receive CouchSurfing requests while you are travelling or 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. At the same time, it will help those looking for a couch so they don't have to spend time messaging people unable to help them!
Tips and hints for better CouchSurfing
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 June 2009
- Australian CS Newsletter May 2009
- Australian CS Newsletter April 2009
- Australian CS Newsletter March 2009
- Australian CS Newsletter February 2009
- Australian CS Newsletter January 2009
- Australian CS Newsletter December 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter November 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter October 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter September 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter August 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter July 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter June 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter May 2008
- Australian CS Newsletter April 2008
- Australian_CS_Newsletter_March_2008
- Australian_CS_Newsletter February 2008
