Around Australia
Statistics from the Australian Tourism Board for the last financial year to June 2008 show the trend already beginning — $59 billion dollars were spent on domestic travel (up 3% from June 2007) compared to just $29.4 billion on international trips. Some retirees, fed up with the their falling super funds are even selling up and hitting the road, bringing much needed tourism dollars to rural and regional Australian towns and thus helping to keep our economy alive. Many international travellers bypass small towns or inland regions, but sometimes that’s exactly where all the good stuff is found, according to Parish. “If you want the full Aussie experience, you have to meet some of the locals in places such as Renmark, Oodnadatta or Charters Towers — just ask Hollywood stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman who spent months in the small town of Bowen shooting the smash-hit movie Australia recently. I can tell you from personal experience that some of the characters in these places tell the best ocker yarns on Earth, and many of these places have great local history and some pretty fabulous colonial architecture too. Above all, a lot of them depend a lot on tourism as well as agriculture, so you’ll be helping our rural sector while enjoying some of the best local produce in the world and having a laugh with locals.”
Besides the bucks you save, everyone knows that Australia is a huge country and navigating your way around it on your “trip of lifetime” can take a lot of time and money if you don’t plan it right. Few can afford to explore every corner and caravan park of this vast land. Getting tips from experts can make all the difference and save you costly detours. Part of planning your journey should be investing in a quality guide that allows you the option of tailoring your journey to fit in exactly what you want to see and when, as well as providing you with maps and handy tips on timing your trip and on what you can expect to see.
“I meet a lot of people on the road, whether grey nomads or young backpackers,” says Steve, “and one thing people consistently get wrong is timing. There’s absolutely no point spending just one morning at Uluru — you want to get there before sunset and watch this mesmerising panorama as the crimson rock melts into the night, vanishing like some kind of enormous ancient phantom. Likewise, you might want to ensure you hit Sydney in full swing at Mardi Gras time, or see South-West Western Australia when the wildflowers are blooming. You want to get to Birdsville for the races, and you can’t go north in the wet season. South Australia’s viticultural regions are so much more beautiful in late spring or early autumn, when you can cosy up in these lovely stone cottages with a good red and the vineyards and verdant. When we wrote the Around Australia Guide, we took those things into consideration.”
Another excellent feature of the guide is that it provides travellers with a number of options, taking them either on a coastal or inland route, or from south to north or east to west. “Of course, not everyone travels the same way in a great big circle around Australia, but we wanted to make this the ultimate and only guide Aussies need to travel around Australia, whichever way you chose to travel around it,” says Steve. “Author Rod Howard and I got together to make sure we have jam-packed as much in as possible—from photo tips to national parks to some really valuable information on wildlife spotting.”
Most people who travel Australia are also interested in exploring the absorbing history of this nation, as well as learning more about the native flora and fauna they encounter, so a compact library of handy reference texts are a must for long-term travellers. The Wild Australia Guide range of handy, portable nature guides designed to be slipped into a backpack or beach bag provide another must-have resource for the intrepid traveller. “You’re likely to come across a lot of roos, birds and reptiles on your travels, which is one of the most exciting things about discovering Australia,” Steve enthuses. “When you do you’re going to want to know what you’re looking at, so I’d encourage everyone to take a set of these guides too. They’ll help you identify species by the region you’re in, the habitat you’re in and the behaviour of the animal you’re watching. They really are invaluable for any budding naturalists.”
And, if travelling the whole of the continent is a little off your radar or above your budget this year, you can always think about doing a weekend city trip. Discovery Guides are the perfect “long-weekend-sized” companions for a city trip to Australia’s capital cities or key tourist areas and are excellent value for spendthrifts at just $19.95. Whatever your holiday plans, you’d be mad to set off on your epic adventure without checking out your options, so click here to today to begin planning your Aussie Adventure, because “the journey starts here”.