I’ve been lucky enough to visit Australia three times. I had a month there in 2000 for the Sydney Olympics, then went back in 2010 for the Toronto Star and then to an Australia Tourism Exchange meeting in Brisbane. I haven’t been everywhere, not by a long shot. But I’ve been visited Sydney, Melbourne, Uluru (formerly Ayer’s Rock), Brisbane/Gold Coast, The Great Barrier Reef, Fraser Island, King’s Canyon, and remote Lord Howe Island. Here’s a mix of some of my photos along with others from Unsplash, to help cover off places I haven’t yet visited.
Uluru
Australia held a virtual global tourism summit today (Nov. 16), with tons of great information and tantalizing stories about the country. Canadians still aren’t allowed to visit, but there is a travel bubble with New Zealand, which allows Kiwis to visit without needing to quarantine. They’re hoping to set up an Australia-Singapore bubble soon. There’s no date for when Canadians or Americans can go, but they’re hoping it’s not far away. Given that one in 13 jobs in Australia depend on tourism, there are a lot of reasons for Aussies to want to welcome overseas visitors again. I was lucky Read more
Since most of us aren’t travelling these days, for obvious reasons, I’m re-posting some former blogs. I reached back into the vault for this one from 2013 in the Australian Outback. Stay safe, everyone. AYERS ROCK/ULURU, Australia – Wow. I expected a few people would be in the parking lot at Uluru to watch the sun go down. I didn’t expect a Lambeau Field/Green Bay Packers NFL tailgate party. But that’s what I got. I’m staying at a wonderful resort called Longitude 131, which overlooks Uluru or Ayers Rock from a few miles away. They said they’d take us to Read more
Ya gotta love a country with a sense of humour. And that’s definitely Australia. I loved their Super Bowl commercial (it was great to see the American ones for a change) with Chris Hemsworth and Paul Hogan and other famous Aussies of both a human and animal nature. Good, cheeky fun, and with a nice message about one of my favourite countries. Turns out Tourism Australia is launching a $36 million campaign to lure more Americans Down Under and that the talk of a sequel to Crocodile Dundee was a bit of a gag. (Hopefully that’s not the same for Read more
A beautiful reef that’s far closer to shore than the Great Barrier Reef. Tropical islands in the Indian Ocean I didn’t know about. Fantastic wineries, river cruises and luxury lodges. Oh, and a series of gorges with brilliant waterfalls and that famous Australian red rock. I just finished up a visit to Australia for what’s called the Australia Tourism Exchange. They had writers from around the world, including two Canadians, fly to Brisbane for a conference held in Surfer’s Paradise, about an hour south of Brisbane on The Gold Coast. All to talk about tourism and travel opportunities in Australia. Read more
