9 October 2008

Reasons why the backpacker market is best left to itself...

| johnboy
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I love backpackers. I was one for longer than most.

So whenever I hear a tourism bod spouting about their desire to attract the backpacker market I always think it won’t end well.

Here’s a cute piece of travel blogging which really brings home why they’re a sector best left to themselves:

    “We set off from Bondia Beach, Sydney on Wednesday morning and drove for most of the day along the small coastal road south to reach the capital of Australia; Canberra. Arriving late at night, it was pretty obvious that there wasnt much to Canberra, so we drove a little way out of the city and snuke into a campsite full of OAPs with their caravans for the night. We left early the next morning to avoid having the pay and headed further down towards Melbourne.”

If you want lots of backpackers offer really cheap accommodation, cheap sex, and cheap booze (and/or other drugs). Any other cheap thrills probably won’t go astray. The prospect of high paid work for minimal effort can also be a draw card.

But that rather goes against he purpose of the tourism industry doesn’t it?

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OzChick said :

New Yeah said :

I did that. Was one of the only 2 aussies on the whole bus and I got to meet Harold Bishop!!

I hope you got a photo too!

New Yeah said :

Funny stuff, it looks like he missed the most essential Pommy backpacker tick-the-box-tourist-event of them all – the Neighbours tour in Melbourne. What a waste of a trip!

I did that. Was one of the only 2 aussies on the whole bus and I got to meet Harold Bishop!!

neanderthalsis4:38 pm 09 Oct 08

Canberra probably doesn’t offer much to the sun-burnt fruitpickin’, drinkin’ & rootin’ breed of backpacker (usually the poms and the krauts), but plenty for the ones actually interested in the culture of the nation they happen to be in.

Wide Boy Jake4:23 pm 09 Oct 08

Davo111 said :

Arriving late at night, it was pretty obvious that there wasn’t much to Canberra …. We left early the next morning

I’m curious as to what they expected ‘late at night’? a street parade welcoming them?

No, topless women paddling canoes across Lake Burley Griffin ready to deck them with flower leis . . .

Wide Boy Jake4:19 pm 09 Oct 08

Reminds me of what someone once said about backpackers – “They come here with one shirt and a ten dollar note and they don’t change either”.

How do you leave sydney in the morning and fail to get to canberra before lunch?

as already pointed out, ‘small coastal road’ means the long way, at least.

also, ‘backpacker’, therefore ‘morning’ might equal one or three in the afternoon to start with..? and they are a tourist – mebbe they wanna, you know, stop once in a while and smell the wattle..?

but agreed, bizarre behaviour to assess in the dark and assume you guessed right. better without them – hang on, we want their tourist dollar. come back!

Funny stuff, it looks like he missed the most essential Pommy backpacker tick-the-box-tourist-event of them all – the Neighbours tour in Melbourne. What a waste of a trip!

Meh. You get all types under the ‘backpacker’ heading.

Apparently including idiots looking to tick off all the ‘attractions’ and having a guidebook that clearly neglected to mention the free attractions in Canberra (e.g. APH, NGA, NMA etc.). So Canberra doesn’t list beaches and nightclubs as its chief attraction, each to their own.

tylersmayhem2:58 pm 09 Oct 08

I just browsed the champions blog…my, what a great read!

I love how in his blog it mentions all the dead kangaroo’s along the side of the road, and an excited “Kangaroo!” quote next to a photo of a kangaroo behind glass. If he had bothered to stay a day in Canberra, he could have checked out plenty of them in the wild. I’m quite glad they chose not to stay.

I’ve spent a fair share of my time backpacking around the globe – and there are backpackers of all kinds. I know his kind well, but I also know that there are heaps of backpackers who are more considerate, interested in seeing things and meeting people, rather than “ticking off” destinations on a list. I’m sure this tosser “ticked” Canberra off his list, even though the drove around for a few minutes and made an instant judgment.

I love the finale to his latest blog outlining how the French couple are traveling too fast for what he wants to see, so now his plan has gone from a leisurely drive around Aussie, to flying up to Cairns. Something tells me the Frenchys decided to to use this tact to get rid of the wanker! Good move Frenchys!

Arriving late at night, it was pretty obvious that there wasn’t much to Canberra …. We left early the next morning

I’m curious as to what they expected ‘late at night’? a street parade welcoming them?

OMG what a nob/ette!

If i were this person i would be feeling more than geographicly embarrased.

If I was doing it as a tourist drive I’d take the “Grand Pacific Drive”, take in the sea cliff bridge, and then come over kangaroo valley and fitzroy falls to join the Hume around Exeter.

Adds maybe 2 hours to the journey, but a much more interesting trip.

It did say they went along a “small coastal road”. So I’m guessing they went via the Gong / Nowra.

Maybe they thought Batemans Bay was Canberra

Epic fail. How do you leave sydney in the morning and fail to get to canberra before lunch?

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