Walkabout, Why Don’t You Try It?

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Hey there Jonathan. Hard to ignore your frustration and smugness there. I know it wouldn’t surprise you if I were to recount my experiences with British tourists, but I’m sure you’d probably try to tell me that they’re not all like that. Say hello to a few of these ten-pound-poms coming down soon, then talk to me about Australians.

On one hand, your amazing ability to predict the course of every such conversation is impressive, but on the other hand, I feel like maybe you should seek more interesting company, or at least more diverse company if that’s such an oft-repeated experience that it causes you generalise about Australian travel patterns based on a sample-space which you’ve created for yourself by being available to that sort of person.

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I came here to comment on the point of it though, so I’ll do that as well.

Australia is a fantastic country for those who enjoy a natural landscape unlike any other on Earth, but you can’t expect that everyone’s into that. Some people want the smelly streets of Paris and other European cities, because they come with accessories that Australia simply doesn’t have. Fashion houses, world-famous DJs on their home turf, iconic landmarks you’ve watched on TV your whole life, the world’s finest museums and art galleries — not many of these are found in our back yard.

Yes, there’s a lot to appreciate about the world nearby, but there’s only so much one can (afford to) see in a lifetime, so when Australians make a base in London, they’re not doing so to enjoy Bristol, they’re doing so because they want to check off the dream list. Surely you understand that. Perhaps once they’re done with all the sights they’ve always dreamed of, maybe then they’ll get around to visiting those that won’t make their friends jealous.

That too is an important aspect of travel, when you’re paying a truckload of money. It’s not just about the going, it’s also about the re-telling and facebook pictures. Australia’s natural destinations are awe-inspiring, but they don’t translate particularly well in holiday happy-snaps — and let’s face it, for some people nature just doesn’t offer enough to keep them occupied.

The older a traveller gets, the more inclined they are to seek tranquility in nature, which returns me to my original point. If your conversations with travelling Australians are all the same, consider not talking only to those travelling on their first big excursion.

That would be like looking for wine tasters at an 18th birthday party.

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Brilliant article Jonathan. I cannot agree more – the amount of people I meet that seem to think that jetting off to London after high school to work in a pub for a year is doing something different from everyone else is astronomical. I don’t judge people’s choices, but I don’t see the point in uprooting to a place where half of Australia’s young population are staying.

Milorad, you’re right. The close proximity of London to Europe is a major advantage to travel to various cities quickly and cheaply. But I think you’ve missed Jonathan’s point. Travel to Paris and Rome and where ever else when you’re based in London, in fact it would be silly not to, but what about also taking day trips or weekend getaways in the UK? What about exploring the incredible country the UK is?

One of the main reasons I started this magazine was to show people – people that live here with certain opinions and people that don’t live here with certain opinions – that there is much more to Australia than kangaroos, rock formations and a pretty reef. We may not have Chanel or Dior, we may not have an island specifically set aside for partying and DJ’s, we may not have a really tall, old tower, and we may not have the Vatican, but we don’t need it. That’s why other countries have those things – so we can visit them and enjoy them when we want.

There has long been an attitude that Australia isn’t just quite good enough – that we’re fine, but not great. If we want greatness we’re encouraged to seek in Paris or New York. If we want culture we’re encouraged to find it elsewhere. I say, it’s about time that attitude stopped. I say, if you think New York is where you need to live to be great, then go and live there. The Australia we are living in now is not the one of 100 years ago – we’ve changed, we’ve evolved and I think people need to catch up with that fact. There’s more to us than sheep shearing and cork hats.

Australia is a young country. Of course we cannot offer what Rome can in terms of civilization, or what Paris can in terms of art and history. But what we can offer is the best in natural landscape and beauty, a country filled with variety, rough terrain and tropical rain forests. We can offer incredible cities to get lost in. And so much culture and activities and festivals that you could never experience them all.

It’s only after traveling so much of the world that you begin to realise how very beautiful and how very unique Australia is. But, in order to make such a statement, you’d have to have travelled the world AND Australia (which is, in many ways, like it’s own world it’s so big and varied) to make such a conclusion. And I’m not alone in my conclusion.

What I love most about Australia is the lifestyle – something that includes visiting amazing galleries, enjoying incredible cuisine, seeing brilliant live music, experiencing wonderful nightlife. This lifestyle can be found all around Australia and I have to say Milorad, without wanting to sound as catty as you do in the opening of your comment, that if you can’t find these elements in Australia maybe you should look a little harder, maybe you should broaden and expand your network, and your environment. Because they exist.

If my sole reason for travel was to make my friends jealous when I posted my snaps on Facebook, then I’d seriously be re-assessing my values and my reasons for traveling. Next year, on my honeymoon, I’ll be traveling to Lord Howe Island, one of the most amazing places in all the world that is incredibly idyllic and almost untouched by man. Filled with activities, day spas, incredible cuisine, it’s a dream island. Try and find that in Bali or Fiji. The thing is, traveling within Australia isn’t actually cheap. It’s quite expensive. My fiance and I could go to Vanuatu for next to nothing, live like Kings and be done with it. But we’re choosing to spend a lot more, support our country and economy and actually take the time to discover more of our beautiful land. Following Lord Howe, we’re going to travel all around the NT – a place so big and full of things to do it’d amaze you – and then we’ll travel where ever else our heart desires.

I’m not old and I like a vibrant, city lifestyle so I’m glad that I live in a country that offers me the chance to experience that, but also has such a wonderful natural landscape to be discovered and explored.

I can assure you that we are traveling around Australia because we WANT to. Because it’s what we truly want to do and experience. Not because in doing so we’ll make our friends jealous. If anything, maybe we can educate them and others more about Australia – because isn’t that the point or travel? To learn and experience?

Finally, in terms of Australia not translating particularly well in holiday happy snaps – perhaps you can borrow my camera, or my eye? Both are exceptionally good. And both have never had a problem capturing the incredible beauty of Australia’s cities, outback, beaches, forests and towns.

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I love disagreement and ensuing discussion, but that last point was misrepresentative of the truth. Nobody can borrow your eye (nor mine), and regardless of the cameras people own, your average snapper takes a terrible picture.

Whatever camera or eye you use, you’ll never get the sistine chapel or the taj mahal in your Australian photograph. Even a bad picture of those, is still a picture worth putting on your facebook.

It’s a simple point, and one the article here shares with fashion culture lately. Australia is akin to the Dove girls. Beautiful too, and fun, and charming and enjoyable, but no Miranda Kerr fantasy after all. You can’t blame people for wanting the richness of history, architecture, culture and even such things a population density, available elsewhere. Australia has many amazing destinations, but even so, cannot possibly satisfy all (or even most) kinds of checklist-traveller.

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Of course Australia cannot satisfy every desire of a traveller – that’s why there is an entire world for us to see. Being such a young country, there is so much room for us to grow and we’re still in the midst of creating our history.

Interesting to use one of Australia’s most celebrated and popular models of late, Miranda Kerr, as an example of what Australia is not.

I think it comes down to what you value and what you like. I don’t value or rate an Indian mausoleum in the background of my photograph, so it’s not something I look to replicate, not something I desire to do. But I certainly don’t judge others for wanting to see it. We are all entitled to visit any place we desire. And we’re all entitled to not to like places – so long as we do so with the correct information and so long as we base our opinion on fact and personal experience.

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Milorad,

Your argument, which I am not suggesting is wrong, is that people travel in order to tick off things on a list that they feel they should have ‘seen’ or ‘done’ by a certain point in their life. The outcome of this process being the sharing of photos on Facebook. By virtue of proximity certain locations are not deemed worthy or exocitc enough to be worth ‘ticking off’.

My point is that travelling in general, and, more specifically, Australian’s travelling to and living in London, should be more than just the seeing of sights. It should be more than a means to say ‘I’ve seen this’ or I’ve done that’, particularly, using Australians in London as an example, when this is done without seemingly benefitting from or enjoying the experience itself. I would like to think time spent travelling and living in diffrent countries is the reflection a level of curiosity about the world, not simply an exercise in real-life “Where’s Wally?”

Travelling should be about people, the journey, the soundtrack, the food, the exploration. All of which can be achieved within one’s own State or country and might, just might, happen to improve one’s understanding and appreciation for the incredible place that you live in.