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| I was surprised, if not slightly offended, as yet again we were mistakenly identified as Europeans. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem. But I was holidaying in my own country of Australia, and I expected to be recognisable as an Australian. "Welcome to Australia!" yelled a friendly Aboriginal man as we drove up to the pub in Fitzroy Crossing. It didn't seem to occur to him that we might have actually been born here. I'd been overseas several times, but the closest that Tim - my boyfriend and travelling partner - had ever been to leaving the country was a childhood trip to Tasmania. In Exmouth, on the beautiful Ningaloo Reef, where we'd decided to complete our Open Water Scuba Certificate. Tim and I were the only two Aussies in our dive class. Our instructor was shocked to find he actually had Australians to teach. At Nanutarra Roadhouse in the Pilbara, the attendant inquired if we were from Norway. "Norway?" I repeated, bemused. "I've had a heap of Norwegians through today," he explained. Even other international tourists whom we met along the way often mistook us for Europeans. Tim was having a good chat to some Israelis at our Katherine caravan park. "We started our trip from Melbourne," Tim was saying. The Israeli nodded knowingly. "And where are you from?" he asked us. "We're from Melbourne." He looked confused. "Yes, but where do you live?" "Melbourne!" we cried. Finally it dawned on him. "Oh, you actually live in Melbourne! I thought you were Dutch!" As we continued on our three and a half month tour around the western half of Australia, we quickly realised what was happening. There simply were no young Australians travelling on the road. We did meet some other Australian travellers along the way. There were the families with little kids, the retirees in their caravans, blokes on fishing trips and the occasional crazy person touring the country on a pushbike. But by far the majority of road travellers were Europeans - and all in their twenties. After a few weeks it was easy to spot them. The young couples generally travelled in hired four wheel drives or campervans. In some places hire cars outnumbered any other type of vehicle. The other option adopted by European travellers appeared to be to buy an old bomb between five friends - usually a Falcon - load it up and drive it as far as it goes, before re-selling it and heading home again. In total, during three and a half months we met just two other couples around our age - early 20's - from Australia. I don't know why there are more young Europeans than Australians touring our country. And I can only speak for the west coast, I don't know if this phenomenon occurs on the more populated eastern seaboard. But I find it tragic that we are so incredibly lucky to live in this magnificent country - and most people would rather fly off overseas than visit Australia first! Most of my friends I've told about our trip have never been to the places I described to them. The rugged coastlines, deserted beaches, hidden gorges, cascading waterfalls, stunning reefs. It is such an adventure out there, travelling across some of the most isolated yet spectacular land in the world. There is so much to see and experience. Understandably, visiting much of Australia - especially the west - can be an expensive trip. Before you even think about going you need a reliable vehicle. Yet our European visitors seem to afford the trip. And young Australians have no problems in finding money for the airfare and accommodation for Europe as soon as they finish studying. I don't know what the solution is, or even if there needs to be a solution. Does it really matter that most of our young people have seen little of Australia? Maybe Australian tourism commissions could focus more on advertising within Australia. Maybe there isn't the market for it. Maybe young Aussies just don't want to see Australia. Maybe they are simply missing out. |
| Published in the Age (Saturday Extra, 9/11/02) |