By Sarah Kempson
…to Take A Break
Do you dream of jetting off to the far reaches of the earth, exploring history and experiencing the wonders of a foreign land?
For Australians, it seems thinking about it and actually booking a trip is about as far apart as our Island home and the Greek Islands. Combined, Aussies have 123 million annual leave days up our sleeves and an estimated $33 billion worth of unused holiday time sitting in corporate bank accounts waiting for a rainy day. With the Global Financial Crisis hitting everyone hard, the idea of a taking a holiday is a distant dream for most, while booking time off to sit at home and snack all day while watching Oprah isn’t everyone’s idea of a relaxing break. Even if your budget does stretch to airfares and accommodation, the unforseen costs of meals and activities starts to add up and before you know it, you are back at work with stress levels higher than before you left, figuring out just how you are going to pay for those past two weeks.
If you think back to the very reason to take a holiday, the whole point is to get away from the daily grind; to not think about the emails you haven’t sent, the calls you haven’t made and the reports you haven’t written. A holiday should provide you with time to relax and remember what the sound of silence is. It should give you an opportunity to explore a new region, to learn about a new culture and to read a newspaper cover to cover, starting with the sports pages (or fashion if you prefer) and finishing with the business section. But wait! Why do you have to get on an aeroplane to do this? Or sleep on a train? Or listen to the drone of tyres on the road while you stare at the median strip for endless hours, driving to a destination where you will spend more of your trip working out how to put up the tent than exploring the countryside? Australia is our backyard and I can almost guarantee you haven’t seen what is on the mat right outside your door.
A Melbournite since birth, I have lived in a suburb an hour from the city for most of my life. I have never been to St Kilda beach or Luna Park. The last time I went to the Queen Victoria Market was on a primary school excursion. I don’t know the difference between the Botanic, Alexandra and Fitzroy gardens, and I haven’t seen the iconic Chloe at the Young and Jacksons pub. Doesn’t it make sense that I (and you) should visit the wonderful offerings at home before venturing to distant lands?
Talk’N Tours is an ideal way to discover every aspect of our own backyards on a budget. Developed in 2007, Talk’N Tours are self-guided audio tours of major cities that allow you to visit close to 40 sites of significance whilst being educated and informed about the history and culture of the area. Pack a lunch, wear comfy shoes and download a tour for less than $15 to your iPod. Then it’s as easy as following the simple directions on the recording and going on a journey you won’t easily forget.
Behind Talk’N Tours is Greg Lawrence, a seasoned journeyman who has spent more than 30 years arranging travel for corporate clients. With his extensive knowledge and experience, Greg felt that most tours he attended forced participants to rush through the sites they visited, while not providing any history on a location – or at best the bare minimum. Due to the lack, Greg spent hundreds of hours researching and writing about the most iconic spots in our country, finding personal stories about places and making the tours both informative and interesting. Libraries and historic documents make up the base of Greg’s in depth research, and he strives to present a tour that balances built history, cultural history and local colour that brings out the personality of the location and its people. Testing and careful mapping completes the tours, ensuring a pleasant walking experience that doesn’t involve more hills than necessary, notes the opening times of venues and makes use of free transport opportunities. One of the key aspects of Talk’N Tours is that each location on the route constitutes a chapter (or track on your iPod), so it’s easy to stop at a location to further explore something that interests you, take a break at a café to read that newspaper (starting with the sport) or head home if the weather turns bad, easily picking up where you left off at the next opportunity.
Greg is married and has one daughter and three grandchildren that motivate him to help preserve the natural environment and built history of our country so future generations will understand more deeply where we have come from and why. One of his favourite places in Australia is The Daintree in Far North Queensland. “It is renowned as one of Australia’s greatest treasures and a World Heritage listed site,” he says. “The biodiversity and the transformation from reef to rain forest is an enduring location for me. Every time I visit I discover something else to inspire me and I always come back feeling revitalised.”
As for Melbourne, Greg acknowledges, “Melbourne is a fabulous city; there is just so much life in it. Cultural activities, great food and quirky shopping are just some of the features that can be discovered.”
So really, what are you waiting for? Print off your annual leave form now and take some time to discover what is just around the corner in your own backyard.
Tours for Melbourne and Sydney are available now, with Brisbane not far away. Visit www.talk-n-tours.com to download your tour and enjoy some of that holiday time without breaking the bank.
Image credit: Greg Lawrence, Talk’N Tours
