Thanks for the pointers. I'm on a foreign validated PPL +IR. We're pretty flexible in terms of location as we're still exploring options have no other constraint than having a good time. My intention is to hire a plane for some three weeks and do tour with 3 friends, hence the need for something larger than a DA40/PA28 for weight and luggage allowance. The last tour we did in Australia was on a PA32 and something like that would be fine. The area of preference would be the Rockies states/west coast but we're open to anything as we intend to do ~ 2-3 h of flying at a time from strip to strip.
Here in Australia I've always been reluctant to hire from schools as they usually their rates are usually inflated to reflect the fact that students do their training lesson to lesson. I usually approach various owners and offer a deal, e.g. 30h dry on air switch paid upfront or something alike. I intend to do something similar in the US and I'm indeed looking at 30-40h.