It is obvious that Australians do it differently.
It's got nothing to do with being Australian, or British, or American ... these home exchange organisations are quite international ... like the branch on here called House Sitting and Swapping ... there would be howls of protest if it had been written "Swopping" - because English is mostly an international language for 95% of its vocab and spelling, at least.
not sure about that - I have friends who stayed in a persons house in Bristol for a week last July; those same people then stayed in my friends place in Sydney last December for a week. When my friends were in Bristol the owners were on holiday somewhere else in UK for a week. When the UK people stayed at my friends they just stayed at another friends for the week. The sights they use mainly are www.homeexchange.com/en/ and www.aussiehouseswap.com.au. Anyway thats their experience.
uk home swapping operators
If you search on that phrase lots of interesting sites regarding house exchange in the UK, reinforcing the points above, and "swop" wasn't sighted, sited, or cited at all!
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" not sure about that "
It's really pretty simple actually gcn for bellart is obviously doing the kind of swop that is mentioned and that does not mean that the credit/debit approach will also not be used even if it could get a bit messy in some people with a debit having to couch surf with the neighbours or whatever.
There is daylight between the two arguments: (1) I personally have only ever done a straight swap (which presumably is true), and (2) in the UK that credit/debit practice is unheard of (which is patently incorrect). And gcn2234 has been perfectly correct in the information he/she has provided, and the inferences drawn from that.
What I am not sure about is the statement bellart makes "What you describe is unheard of here." - as I pointed out my friends clearly did use the credit system with a UK house; - and my friends don't couch surf they stay in friends spare bedroom. You are correct it does take a bit of flexibility with dates with the credit system but has worked for them the past 5 or 6 years they have been doing it. A key issue is that a lot people want to be in Europe for their summer and Aust for our summer thus straight swaps not practical in those scenarios.
People world wide seem to use both systems, ie credit or straight swap as its a huge business and seems to be expanding.
Yep, all about nothing we could say gcn or even in daylight there is room for specifics and variabilities.
As for " and my friends don't couch surf they stay in friends spare bedroom. ", call it friends rooming if you like and just as with daylight, it could also be considered couch surfing - not al couch surfers actually sleep on a couch!
Unfortunately we do not have a comparable location (Southern Manitoba, Canada), but we are most definitely open to hosting a family any time of year! Our summers are incredible, and some might find a snowy NYE/D enticing! Winnipeg does put on an outdoor display, just dress for the weather!
I appreciate the suggestions about harbor cruises and possible locations for viewing. Although "over-hyped", we may not be in Australia again, and this opportunity will be a family memory. The kids have it flagged as something they wish to do.
We have registered on two house/pet sitting sites, so we are hoping to be selected for that. That said, we're open to exploring the exchange/swop/swap (sigh, that was a lot of email spam to sort this morning), and I will look into the couple sites recommended in the thread! We'd love hosting any interested travelers, and feel it would be a great way to see Australia and meet new people (which is part of what we hope to experience)!
There is a sit we found in Lane Cove, but I've been told that public transport from there is difficult?
Lane Cove is generally a beautiful suburb, and not that far from the city, but it totally lacks rail travel, and it does not have a ferry service (a surprisingly large number of Sydneysiders - as they are called - commute by ferry).
However there are buses from Lane Cove, and a couple of quite fast ones (under 30 minutes) over the Harbour Bridge into the city centre.
But Lane Cove is quite a sprawling suburb, so it would depend on exactly where you are whether the bus would work. Do you have an address for the potential swap-house (street name will do - don't need to provide the house number)?