Australian CS Newsletter November 2008

The CouchSurfing Wiki, an informal workspace which anyone can edit.

NOVEMBER

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

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 October -

A bunch of us went down to Byron on the 4th and came back home through Nimbin where we were told to leave town by the coppers! Well, sort of. Great trip anyway. Check out our pics here.

     Ok, so Byron and Nimbin are in NSW - was an invasion of sorts!

On the 10th some of us did a Sunny Coast tour taking in a swim at King's Beach, Caloundra, lunch at Cotton Tree on the Maroochy river and then got rained out and were generously offered shelter at David and Sanny's place in Coolum for a gorgeous view of the area and some fun and games. Here's the pics. The day was a bit of a tease with the rain so keep your eyes out for another Sunny Coast trip coming up soon!
Also on the 10th French visitor, Christophe, organised a French Crêpes Party.
The 11th was Laure's birthday and she had a dinner party (experimental food apparently!) at hers.

Mt. Coolum in the rain from the Maroochy River
It was also Beni's birthday on the 11th but he went to the Sounds of Spring festival before taking off to Perth for the rest of the month.
Adrian and Katrina both finally came back to us on the 26th and Adrian immediately organised a party at Birdie's.
Some sort of Halloween thingy happened on the 31st in hono(u)r of the North American contingent here. Crazy costumes on some otherwise normal people!
And a spy from Perth dropped in for some casual reconnaissance. Apparently Perth is 'invading' Brissy on Anzac weekend next year!! Stay tuned...
Bring on November!!

Sunshine Coast in October -

Some of the Brisbane mob came up on the 10th and met some of the Sunshine Coast CS members. Would've met more but for the rain!
The Caloundra Music Festival on the 17-19th

Gold Coast in October -

Indy - fast cars going around the streets complete with noise, smells and social chaos!

Coming up in November

Roller Derby in Beenleigh on the 8th.
Gathering in Toowoomba.
Trip to Springbrook followed by fun at Darren's place in Surfer's Paradise.

Western Australia

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.

Perth in October - the CS Perth Where On Earth Is Perth? Festival

After months of planning it was finally time for the Where On Earth Is Perth? Festival, starting Sat 11th Oct and wrapping up Monday 20th Oct.

Sat the 11th saw Lawns Bowls on the cards. Bowling experience was not required as we got lessons from a Floreat club member who taught us to channel our inner grandmother. Kudos to Pat who turned out to be an ace bowler.

Sunday afternoon brought a picnic in the lovely setting of Fremantle. Surfers met at the Esplanade for food, drinks and lazy conversation on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. A very chilled out vibe punctuated by the occasional green sombrero to liven things up.

Mon the 13th and the spotlight was again on Freo, with Mexican dinner at Zapatas and open night mic vibes at Mojos.

Wed night the Brass Monkey rocked with the CS Perth Zone meetup, with Beni MC making a special appearance all the way from Brissy.

        CS Perth Zone meetup

On Thursday the 16th a pub crawl, crossing 3 suburbs down Beaufort Street, was the evening's event. Starting at the Civic Hotel in Inglewood and continuing on down Beaufort Street, we sampled drinks in each pub while attempting to answer tough Quiz questions prepared by Healy and Renae. The winner (Beni MC, but of course) took home an MP3 player, although everyone walked (or crawled) away a little smarter!

Matt's Farm Party Mob

Sat night Matt invited the Perth crew up to his farm in the hills for a relaxing farm party to round out the week of WOEIP activities. It was a huge turn out, and Matt's teeny-tiny shorts may of been the star of the night.

Ahhh, and now WOEIP is over. Thanks to everyone for organising, helping out and turning up for the fun events!

And some non-festival news -

After living and working in Perth for a year Chet has gone back to Vancouver. Some of the Perth crew are aiming to meet up with him again in Feb ’10 for the Winter Olympics. Farewell, Chet.

Also, rodeo season has started with our own Rocket Rod taking to the saddle once again.

Coming Up in November

In November, the CS Perth Zone meetings are on Weds 12th and Weds 26th November. All welcome, come along and meet some Perth locals and travelers stopping by...
During November one of our other long term residents from Quebec, Michael, is heading back on the road and hosting a farewell Perth party with delicious poutine promised.
Amy is hosting a Peruvian Parilla in Kings Park before she heads back to Cusco, Peru at Christmas. For more details, look here
A trip down to the southwest is being vaguely planned, possibly second week of November - keep an eye on this thread
Its starting to feel like summer, and there will be plenty of activities coming up - so keep and eye on the CS Perth group page.
Dont forget to check out the newly updated Perth wiki

New South Wales

Sydney CS Update:

For all the details on what's happening, keep an eye on the Sydney Group. Also bookmark the Sydney CouchSurf Calendar - it's regularly updated with all the latest happenings.

It was another busy month for Sydney CS. The month started with the regular get-together and sausage sizzle at Hart's Pub in the Rocks. Around 70 people turned up on a balmy Sydney night.

Troy ran another of his now-legendary walking tours. These have become hugely popular and Troy was forced to cap the numbers at 25 people. The tour takes in many fascinating aspects of Sydney's early history.

The Sydney community has recently kicked off its first weekly event - Trivia at the Fringe Bar in Paddington. After several weeks the team has yet to score outright victory, but has made it to second on at least one occasion. The team harbours a dream of world domination.

The highlight of October will occur just as this newsletter goes to press - the massive Halloween party on Oct 31.

Coming in November - Join the Sydney Group and check the Sydney CouchSurf Calendar to stay in touch!

Regional NSW Update:

The NSW South Coast

On the South Coast everything is just as peaceful and stunning as always. We have had a lot more whales this last month and with that comes more tourists. The South Coast Wiki page has been reviewed to make sure it is up to date for the upcoming influx if interstate and overseas CS visitors. With 151 members in our South Coast Group spread along 600 kilometres of coastline the opportunity to find a couch is pretty good however we tend to find most visitors to this area are travelling by van and don't need the accomodation and are happy just to hook up with local CSers to learn first hand of the secret spots not mentioned in the guidebooks.

We would be extremely happy to get some CS news from regional New South Wales. Please join the Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested in helping out.

Newcastle -

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.

BIG NEWS !!! Melbourne is hosting an AWESOME CS Summer Fest in the last week of January 2009. This week-long festival is NOT to be missed, with all sorts of events - BBQs, city tours, days at the beach, trips to Puffing Billy, foodies night, bar crawls - Be There Or Be Square. More info coming soon. If you'd like to help out in the organisation of the festival, please join this group. We'd love to have you on board!!

October kicked off with a few events reminding us of Melbournians' diverse and wonderful interests, including:

Roller Derby in Reservoir: Hot chicks in hot outfits on wheels. What more could you possibly want?
Weird Science Party hosted by dingledan
Firetwirling & Juggling Picnic at Brighton Beach.

 Weird Scientists & Fire Twirlers

The next weekend was JUST as massive. With so many dinners, drinks & parties, it's hard to keep up! Come Sunday everyone wound down their weekend with a crazy pillow fight in Federation Square. 50 people, CSers and non-CSers alike getting out their frustrations by bashing each other with very soft objects. It caused a delight and confusion to onlookers and security.

How much fun does this look?

This was organised by Aaron, our "Flash Mob" extraordinnaire. To find out more about Flash Mob & to get involved, join the Flash Mob Melbourne Group. And to see the next big event, head to Flinders Street Station at 7pm on November 3rd, and be amazed....

Also in October, the beloved Niv returned, arriving home to Martin's place to find a bunch of CSers celebrating his return.

October moved onward and onward with:

The first CS Summer Fest Fundraising event - boardgames & BBQ in Flagstaff Gardens. This was a huge success, with over 30 people enjoying some great food and awesome company! Of course it was followed by drinks at... wait for it... Section 8 (where else?)

A Spring Cycling Adventure - despite the 'interesting' weather, it was a great day had by all! A leisurely ride along the yarra to the Abbotsford Convent, where we all snacked on mock meat and dairy free gelato at World Vegan Day. A few of the more motivated of the group tried to do the whole Capital City Trail (30km), ended up going the wrong way and cycling closer to 40km. Still, it was such a great day, another one will be organised soon!
A trip to Hanging Rock - what started as a small trip turned into a bigger one with 10 bleary-eyed CSers meeting at 8am on a Sunday morning for a day of hiking and exploration. With the nature lover hightower leading the show, the group had a great day (despite the initial drizzle), including lots of hiking, having the chance to pat a friendly kangaroo, climbing "Camel's Hump", checking out Sanatorim Lake and some well-deserved relaxation at Hanging Rock Winery.

The Happy Hikers at Hanging Rock

More photos can be found here

Coming up in November:

Our beloved city ambassador Alisdair has finished uni forever and is back in the Melbourne CS scene in a very big way. To celebrate, we're going camping on November 21st & 22nd - who's with us?
More fundraising for the CS Summer Fest - after the Flinders Street Freeze, let's all head to Kim's house for a movie night! Two films will be shown (titles TBA), entry by gold coin donation, and beers & snacks available to purchase. All funds raised will go towards funding some of the main events for the upcoming Melbourne CS Summer Fest!
Foodies Night on November 11th! It's been a while (wasn't this once monthly?!) but it's back on. Location to be announced. Stay tuned to the Melbourne Group for developments. May possibly turn into fish & chips on the beach.

Don't forget, the Melbourne CS Zone - Every second 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. 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.

With 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 !!

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

We would be extremely happy to get some CS news from Tasmania. Please join the Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested in helping out.

South Australia

We would be extremely happy to get some CS news from South Australia. Please join the Newsletter Production Mob if you are interested in helping out.

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.

Australian Couchsurfing Org News

Trans-Siberian CS

- Two of our Nomadic Ambassadors, Temu and Tracey, had a pleasant suprise, running into each other on the Trans-Siberian railway recently. Tracey also ended up in the paper in Helsinki for being involved in a CS organised scavenger hunt there. See the media section below.

- 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.

- Melbourne is planning and hosting a CS gathering in the last week of January next year. If you live there get involved with organising and helping out your local mob put on an early candidate for CS event of the year.

- Perth has threatened Brissy with an 'invasion' on the Anzac long weekend next year and Melbourne has decided to 'invade the invasion' so if you're warming some oil or polishing your armour around then be in Brissy for utter, utter chaos. They may need to rename the holiday.

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.

Shell Stammers

Shell is an energetic and much loved member of the Melbourne CS community. She organised two massive events recently - one was a movie night at her house, and the other was a day of board games at a cafe, attended by 25+ people! She also shows her happy smiling face at lots of events around the place and spreads the CS love by teaching people new skills (like fire twirling) or getting them to free their inner child (by spinning in circles until you fall over). Shell is also tirelessly helping out with the organisation of the Melbourne CS Summer Fest in January '09 and busy organising new events, like the November Foodies Night. Shell is a bright happy girl brimming with CS spirit and we just want to say thanks for everything she does for our Melbourne community!

Shell's response to receiving the award: I’m delighted that I’m perceived to be contributing to the CS community! I moved to Melbourne after travelling for over a year and thought what better way than CS to meet vivacious people and make new friends. And Melbourne has not disappointed... To be honest, I only organise events because I’m greedy and want to spend time doing some of my favourite things with people who make me smile. But nobody has complained yet!

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 newest Ambassadors

Emma Wanders became the second City Ambassador for Brisbane and David Mickel became our first City Ambassador for Darwin. October also saw the appointment of two more Nomadic Ambassadors; Mark Fitzgerald (based in Townsville) and Michael Goodwin (currently travelling in the States).

To know who your other Australian Ambassadors are have a look at this link.

New Australian Groups

Helene has started a Northern Rivers (NSW) group for the CS mob and visitors around that region. There is already a North Coast New South Wales group but the Northern Rivers area certainly deserves its own. Join up if you're from the area or just keen to visit.

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 Mongolia???

Couchsurfing in the Media

Tracey was in the Helsinki newspaper (Kaupunki) because the CS community there organised a huge Scavenger Hunt and the journalists picked her group to follow for a couple of hours. The article is in Finnish but it's essentially about what CS is and the fact that 60 people from 15 different countries ran around Helsinki crazily.

The call for experienced editors As you may have heard, CS Org are creating 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.

In case you missed the blog entry, click here to get the full rundown on what the proposed news channels will be on the site. There is also additional Info 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.

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