Moving Right Along

Carlyn and I are on our last day on the farm in Tassie, and as you might have guessed from our lack of blog posting, we have been sort of consumed with planning for the next legs of our trip.

Tomorrow we head into Hobart, where we will be staying with a CouchSurfing host a little ways outside the city (if you aren't clear on what CouchSurfing is, I've included an explanation at the end of the post). We're crashing with her for 3 days; hopefully we'll be able to see a little bit more of Tassie than we've managed to so far.

Then, it's a flight to Melbourne. We have one night in the city before we embark for the Great Ocean Road, which my tour book proclaims is a necessary addition to the Things To Do Before You Die. I have ignored this pronouncement's gimmicky/tourist-luring/possibly-money-grubbing motivations and have instead taken the charge to heart and decided my life would be unfulfilled without seeing the spectacular scenery along this drive. (I may have been blissfully separated from consumer culture for the past 3 weeks, but that doesn't mean I'm still not a sucker.)

We've worked out a deal with a hostel along the route so that we can work for a few hours a day in exchange for a free room. Score!

We return to Melbourne just into time for Cup Day - the so-called "horse race that stops the nation." The city shuts down for a public holiday to celebrate the revelry of these horse races. After many rejected requests and much duress, we've finally sorted another CouchSurfing host for these remaining days in Melbourne.  Then, onto Blue Gables vineyard in the Yarra Valley.

So, there you have it, our next few hops throughout Australia.

About the CouchSurfing Project
Some of you may be curious as to how we have been making arrangements to stay for free with total strangers. Some of you (namely, our parents) may even slightly stress out about this aspect of our trip. But, rest assured, the CS project is a huge and reliable operation that has connected thousands of people across the world who seek a less impersonal travel experience.

Essentially, you create a profile and then search for a host by location. You send a request with your projected dates and ask if that person has room and time to host you. Often, hosts are people who originally used the service during their own travels and wish to pay it forward.  Or, you find people who are just genuinely interested in meeting people from across the world, broadening their horizons, and easing the financial stress of travelers. Essentially, you find some really great people within this community.