Australian CS Newsletter September 2008

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

SEPTEMBER 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 !!!

As we watched last month Macalla was in Korea with Mike. We now take pleasure in showing you more of that adventure.

Macalla has just returned from the USA with her best buddy Mike. Have a look here for a little taste of some of the cultural exchanges she indulged in whilst being our little Aussie Ambassador as she gets down to Ludacris cruising in Venice Beach.

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 or join the Ambfest planning mob!!

Check the Ambfest event post on CS to see who's already coming. Get represented!

Queensland

(Your Ambassadors are 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.

Brisbane in August -

The Winter Woolies Park Day at New Farm Park on the 9th organised by Megan.
The Ekka!!! - 7-16th. Not exactly a CS thing but changes the face of Brisbane for a little while each year.
24th - Dinner organised by Emma at Pane e Vino to finalise our Brisbane City Romp team/s.
Pinata making night at Beni's on the 27th.
Riverfire - 30th August.

coming up in September

           SPRING          TIME!!

VALLEY FIESTA 12-14th - absolutely brilliant weekend every year and this years' line-up is truly astounding including a return to the stage of the legendary Ups and Downs!! Check the site here.
Brisbane City Romp - 21st!
Beni's inevitable 2nd housewarming party! Was to be in August but now on the first weekend of Sept.
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)

August saw a huge tree planting and bonfire party at Matt's farm, just out of Perth. More than ten nationalities of couchsurfers planted trees and followed up with a bonfire with a fireshow, singing, dancing, chatting, barbecuing, and of course - roasted marshmallows and singed eyebrows. Thanks to all the musicians - with guitarists, a digeredoo, drums and even a saxophone -the music suited the natural environment.

CS crew head to Matt's farm

A big crowd of CouchSurfers got together in Fremantle, for half price nachos at Zappatas - good value, good fun! Keep an eye on the Perth Group for upcoming regular events in Fremantle, once it gets a little warmer.

CS in Freo

In mid-August, the nightly news for GWN, the WA regional TV station, profiled CouchSurfing in beautiful, beachy Broome! The reporter chatted to local, Peter and his guest Fabienne from Switzerland.

We had our usual, always fun, meet ups at the Zone. It was especially fun as Dhugal finally came back to us after his trip to Russia.

Coming Up in WA

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 3rd and Wednesday 17th September and Wednesday 1st of October.

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 pub outing or a camping trip to go on.

October means.... its the Where On Earth Is Perth? Festival and W.A. Week!!

20th Oct is Western Australia Week! In celebration of that, we are doing a Perth focus this month, and the Perth group has been discussing Why We Love Perth. Here are some of our favourite things about Perth:

I LOVE the Perth weather! The sunny days! Even when it does rain there is often enough sun peeking through to make a beautiful rainbow. (Chet, Canada)

The chillax sunday session atmosphere in perth, festivals, beaches. Lots of cute shops all over the place. (Gabs, NZ)

Touring bands always kick off or end the tour in Perth. I think its ace that we get to see the very first or last show of a tour. (Renae, Perth)

Kings park. Every time I see it, I think what a magnificent use of space it is, and how much enjoyment it provides us all. (Michael, Perth)

After a year of being overseas in crowded cities,coming back to Perth was like a breathe of fresh air... seeing the crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean I knew I was home!!!

And, a Haiku from Shaz:

Red hot summer days - Amazing fiery sunsets - I love Perth my home

In the lead up to WA Week is the huuuuuge 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!! To get the details, and to sign up to come along (everyone is welcome!), please go to the events page and sign up, and also check out our website: www.whereonearthisperth.com.au

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

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.

Australian Capital Territory

- (Your Ambassador contributing to this section is Alice)

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)

CS Zone

Lena and Selina and Craig are in search of a good pub. No, things are not that bad. They are just trying to set up a Couch Surfing Zone. A space where all surfers can meet up on a week night on a regular basis. Craig decided he didn't and then did like the first choice, and everyone just decided they needed to see every bar in Melbourne just to get it right - Hey - we are now the in-crowd. Alisdair being very helpful and rattling off about 40 bars from the top of his head. So watch this spot, or that spot or whatever spot they decided on...eventually.

CS Book Club

Lynn (pen name Peel?) is organising the second installment of the CSBook Club where Melbourne's sharpest intellects and others will discuss the merits of 'Couch of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad.1. This is a factionalized account of the authors travels by river book (er boat). Apparently, it didn't go all that well as one of his hosts Kurtz.1 left as his reference 'The horror, the horror.' Oh well you can't please every one. Fortunately now upgraded just to 'negative' with the new reference system.

CS Trips.

With summer, at least theoretically, on the way trips outside Melbourne are also on the way. Rochey is particularly active with a snow boarding trip and day trip walking the Lerderderg National Park. N166 is organizing an overnight four-wheel drive trip and Craig is organizing a trip to Mungo World Heritage Site, to see the oldest known Aboriginal settlement and the world's oldest know cremation site. Will look for signs of the oldest know Couch Surfing too.

CS Ambassadors

Melbourne Ambassadors have been busy holding weekly and now fortnightly meetings to try to take over the world. However, until this happens they have been busy with emergency and last minute couch surfing - for others not themselves. Establishing a CS Zone etc etc and eating Selina's delicious food!

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 always looking to improve the Tasmanian CS Wiki page so if there are any Taswegians who would like to contribute please contact Jillian

South Australia

(Your Ambassadors contributing to this newsletter are Claire and Letti)

There are now over 600 CS'ers in South Australia !!!!

... 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.

- 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!

The Perth CS Crew have been tireless in their quest to bring CS to the fore in WA. The created the first Couch Zone in the world which gets stronger meet by meet. Each month their contribution to the CS Newsletter showcases the diversity of their social interests and the inclusiveness and rapport they have with all the WA CSers.

Their latest project "Where on Earth is Perth" is brilliant! If you haven't seen it already here is the Whereon Profileand please visit the whereonearthisperth website

This month we're giving the Boxing Kangaroo Award to three Perthites who have been integral in dreaming up the Where on Earth is Perth? festival project, and making it happen:

Shaz Shiraz Finn

Shaz, Shiraz and Finn were hugely involved in the Perth Quiz Night, which raised funds for the festival, and in planning the events for the festival. Thanks so much!!

New Australian Groups

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

Our Member Disputes and Safety Team is constantly looking for ways to improve the security of our systems in order to make CouchSurfing a safe experience for all members.

In our last release of updates to the site, we made the following changes to information displayed in member profiles:

Instant messaging details only displayed to friends: The details you enter into your profile for your instant messaging accounts will only be displayed to members you have in your friends list.

Optional contact method in couch information removed : To help encourage members to contact you through the CouchSurfing emailing system when requesting to surf your couch, the option to provide members with alternative contact methods is being removed.

These changes will help increase your safety as it will prevent people you do not know from getting your personal contact information from your profile. If you want to offer your private contact information after arranging a CouchSurfing stay with another member, then please feel free!

The changes came into effect 15 August,2008.

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

Website Technical Developments

Walter and the Alaskan Crew have done some wonderful things this month - read more here.

If you are interested in following the Tech developments you will find what you are looking for here.

CouchSurfing Collective News

Looking beyond Alaska - The Alaska Collective is in its final days. People are packing up, cleaning has started and others are still hammering away at their computers to finish off projects. So as this Collective draws to a close, it's only appropriate that we share what is next for CouchSurfing. From the Collective blog we bring you this posting

Couchsurfing in the Media

The plan & a 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.

International: We love this one. The photo of the CouchSurfers is hilarious- they all look like they are having a totally crap time!!

And then there is the Aussie Flag Apron Belguique in this video

and the Toronto Star has this article

and as a result of an article in LE REPUBLICAIN LORRAIN over a thousand new French Csers registered within three days !! (maybe it is time to go to France for that French holiday you always wanted)

From Gore in New Zealand comes this great article. Thanks to Robyn Young for telling us about it.

In Australia:

GWN in Western Australia ran a story on CouchSurfing with a couple of interviews with three WA CouchSurfers GWN goes to air across all of Western Australia, except Perth and certainly sparked a bit of regional interest!

..and in the local Corrigan paper this month was this article http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/public/images/2/20/WA_newspaper_August2008.jpg

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 !!

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

For more tips and hints to improve your profile or your experience of Couchsurfing go to: Australian Tips Hints and links to better CouchSurfing