Brisbane Couchsurfing

Even though I was lucky enough to have three seats to myself on the overnight flight to Brisbane, I was still only able to sleep for two hours before we were all woken for breakfast. Once we landed, I went through immigration and was pulled to the side for an additional security check as my passport had been flagged because I was entering the country one day before my Working Holiday Visa expired. Apparently it's a tactic used with stolen passports but I didn't understand why.

Once I was allowed through, the first thing I did was get a sim card. For only $20 AUD I got one month with 4G internet and free calls to the UK. I then had to get two trains and a bus to Margate, a northern suburb of Brisbane, for my very first Couchsurfing experience.

I was met at the bus stop by the host, Ben, and his dog. I was told he'd overbooked the house so I would be sleeping on the floor and the house was full. I met all the fellow Couchsurfers. Tina from Germany, Mike from the US, Carla & Sharon from Argentina and Pierre from France. Everyone seemed very nice and we all walked to the shops to get ingredients for Pierre to make us all crepes for dinner (and dessert). We also grabbed some wine and beer for the evening.

We all got to know each other over drinks and dinner. Everyone was really great. I was feeling much better about Australia (more specifically, the fact that I had left Asia) and was pleased I'd finally tried Couchsurfing.