The London Evening Standard  reports that by 2050, and for a measley $US1,000,000, you might be able to get to an orbiting space station as a touronaut.

Part of the allure is to experience “space lag”:

“Similar to jet lag, “space lag” will mean that the touronaut is likely to suffer from dizziness, weakness and swelling of the body, as well as dehydration and constipation The space station will offer a back-to-basics style holiday with cramped, smelly and noisy conditions”

Sounds a bit like what some of my students experienced last weekend when I took them on a tourism related field trip down the Great Ocean Road.  After we finished our work on Friday at about 9pm, many of the students went down the local pub for a bit of networking. The next day we had a long and winding drive in a 48 seater coach where a bit of ‘touronauting’ like behaviour was witnessed…

Doc Martin.

It seems that the Honorable Fran Bailey has twisted the necessary arms in the Mother Land.  The Age  reports that the British Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre has done a backflip on its decision to ban the Tourism Australia “Where the bloody hell are you” campaign.

It’s good to see that common sense has prevailed.  In fact the extra promotion caused by the ruccus has probably helped the campaign kick in nicely.

I still reckon they should change the “you” in campaign message to “ya”.

Doc Martin.

Travel Show Podcst #008 (MP3 - 7MB - 20min)

> LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

Ian Clark chats about his love of jazz and the resulting travel implications.

Doc Martin.

Crikey (let’s amp up the Ozzy on this one), may all the Poms chooks turn into Emu’s and kick their dunny’s down.
I was watching one of my favourite tv shows the other day – Little Britain.  In my view, this is one of the best kaks going around on free to air tv at the moment and another classic example of great British comedy.
In last weeks episode, there was a new character (a very straight looking stuffy politician) talking about how he was caught in a position known as “a spit roast”.  You really had to be there to appreciate the humour, but suffice to say that it is very naughty and quite risqué.

Contrast this with what has happened with Tourism Australia’s latest ad campaign titled “so where the bloody hell are you”.  Firstly I think that the “you” needs to be changed with “ya”, but that being said, it’s not a bad campaign. But get this, The Age reports that that the British Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre has banned the campaign because it is too blue.

Strewth, it’s enough to drive a bloke to a bloody spit roast.

Doc Martin.

Travel Show Podcast #008 (MP3 - 7MB - 20min)

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

The Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island are two of the “must do” day trips if you are staying in Melbourne but want to get out and see some of the sights and experience the unique wildlife such as kangaroos, koalas and Little Penguins.

Terry Smits from Go West Tours (http://www.gowest.com.au/index.html) talks with a lot of knowledge, passion and enthusiasm about these places.

If you are coming to Melbourne and are looking for things to do, then you should be listening to this podcast.

Doc Martin.

The state of Victoria, Australia, has the highest levels of visitation to its national parks than does any other state in Australia.  One reason for this is the ease of access from Melbourne to some gorgeous parks such as Wilsons Prom.

I’ve ‘done’ the Prom four or five times, and I have to say that it’s a pearler.  Situated about 200 km south-east of Melbourne, it is the sort of walk that you can easily do over a weekend.  I remember arriving there one Friday night with a friend of mine when it was absolutely bucketing down with rain.  We ended up putting up the tent inside a picnic shelter on that night, then luckily it cleared up for the next couple of days.

The great things about bushwalking (’tramping’ if you are a Kiwi, ‘hiking’ if you are a Yank) this national park is that the scenery is superb, the tracks are very well signposted and maintained, the campsites are never too crowded, and the pre-trip information is really good.

My wife and I had to cancel our last trip to the Prom.  Actually, it was cancelled for us when a very severe bushfire went through the park in April 2005.  We had booked one night to stay in the Lighthouse cabin, which is a great thing to do, but had to postpone the trip to another day. I’ve heard that all the tracks are now once again open and that much of the vegetation has grown back.  I guess that the occasional fierce and razing fire, and the Australian bush are just a part of life.

Waterloo Bay, Sealers Cove, Mount Oberon.  I have such good memories of these special places. I would recommend this park to any visitor to Victoria. However, before you head down there, make sure that you check out the park notes on the website to find out about fees and sometimes, availability of spots at campsites.  The management of the park is pretty strict, but worth it as long as you pre-book.

Doc Martin.

In South-East Asia, it’s nothing unusual to see a Dad, a Mum, and three kids load themselves onto a scooter with all their shopping, and happily wind their way through a seething maze of traffic, but you dont see this happen in Melbourne very much.

I was having coffee with a mate the other day when we saw a rider, a passenger, and a dog get on a scooter - it was the coolest thing I saw the whole day!

Check it out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12397878@N00/108008709/

Doc Martin.

An index developed by the Herald and Commsec (http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sydney-loses-its-shine-to-old-rival/2006/03/03/1141191849351.html) has recently put Melbourne in a very good economic light compared to Sydney. For example, the index reports that “the average Melburnian is 6.5 per cent better off than they were six years ago, and the average Sydneysider only 1.6 per cent better off”.

Economic disparities are hardly enlightening to prospective travellers to either Melbourne or Sydney, so I thought that if I were explaining a couple of the differences between the two cities to someone thinking of visiting either or both, what would I say.  Wel the first thing is that I am an expat Kiwi living in Australia, and so am somewhat impartial. While I’ve lived in Melbourne for the last 13 years or so, I have also lived in Sydney for a year or so in my younger days.

Let me firstly go on the record to say that I love both cities, but for different reasons. I choose to live in Melbourne, but am very fond of Sydney. I’m not interested in pushing the barrow for either city. Some Melburnian and Sydneysiders can be very defensive about their cities, a bit like the Springfield V Shelbyville debate (http://www.thesimpsons.com/episode_guide/0624.htm).

To me, a couple of things about Melbourne include:

Aussie Rules Football (http://afl.com.au/) - I hated the game when I first came to Melbourne, especially coming from a rugby union background, but now I love it. The preliminary series (the “play” one before the real series begins) started last weekend, so its great to have it on the airwaves again. Some of the things I love qabout the game are watching the other people in the crowd (there are some very die hard kookyfans in Melbourne), watching the fast flowing spectacular play producing way in which the game is run, and I also like the ambiguity of the rules. For example, you could have 3 or 4 sports announcers on the radio with 80 or 100 years experience between them, but none can work out why the umpire has blown the whistle.  Check out the AFL Show for much footy banter (http://afl.thepodcastnetwork.com/)

The changing weather - The cliche is “four seasons in one day”.  I personally love the weather in Melbourne .  It’s never very humid, although it can get quite hot (42 degrees celsius is not unheard of, but rare), I never seen it snow here, but we get some of those lovely crisp clear cold mornings in the winter.

To me, a couple of things about Sydney include:

Rugby League (http://www.nrl.com/) - What an exciting game!  A game of great skill, speed, strength and  power.  One of the best league memories I have was when I went to the 1990 Grand Final to watch the Canberra Raiders win the premiership.  Not only was it great seeing the game live, but I was also listening to HG and Roy (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/thissportinglife/) call the game.  Bloody great. I miss seeing the league on TV.  It comes on at about midnight, if at all, here.

Beaches - Sydney is such a beach city.  As a surfer, and as someone who wants to get back to living next to a beach someday, I soooo appreciate this.  Get up in the morning, grab your board and jog to your local break for a sunrise surf, back home for brekky, then off to work.  It’s so good.

This list is by no means complete, and is in no particular order.  For example, sporting events could be discussed.  Sydney had a fantastic Olympics in 2000, and Melbourne is due to host the 2006 Commonwealth Games in 10 days (http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/Channels/).

Well, thats all for now - I’m off to watch “The Producers” at the Moonlight Cinema at the Royal Botanic Gardens (http://www.moonlight.com.au/sessions.php?MoonlightEventLocationId=2).  What a great Melbourne, or for that matter, Sydney, thing to do.

Doc Martin.

 

A friend of mine (thanks Meike!) just sent me a link to a really good site that has been put together by Allan Lew (see Blog #13 for more about Allan). The site is a list of “Podcasts about Tourism, Travel and Education”.

One of the things I like about this site is that it categorises travel podcasts in this way:

On the topic of Travel Podcasts, Mark Peacock of the Travel Commons podcast proposed a 2×2 matrix of travel podcasts based on the degree to which they are (1) about Travel or about Destinations, and (2) Original Material or Repurposes Material [e.g., re-done radio programs]. I have expanded the defintion of Repurposed to include “Professional” podcasts, which are produced by professional travel writers/publishers and radio broadcasters. (Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference.)

Here is the link to podcasts about tourism, travel and education:

 http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~alew/TG_Podcasts.html

The Travel Show (the one you are on right now) gets put in the “original and amatuer” category.  I like that! However, not all that you can hear on the Travel Show is original.  For example, the recordings used in podcast #6 and podcast #7 are from the recent CAUTHE conference.  I gained permission to use these recorded speeches in my show. What I do know from reading Allans site is that I now have a name for doing this.  It’s called “repurposing”.  Thomas Bauer, a friend and fellow academic, once told me that academics are the best recyclers when it comes to using data and other information.  I guess Thomas is right again. 

Doc Martin.

Travel Show Podcast #007 (MP3 - 8MB - 23 min)

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

This is the second podcast in this series of speeches that were given at the recent Council of Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Educators (CAUTHE) conference.

In the last podcast (#006), Professor Neil Leiper gave a very convincing arguement as to why the tourism industries should always contain the plural generic, as opposed to being labelled “tourism industry”.

In this podcast, Daniel Gschwind gives it back to Prof.Leiper in spades. It’s a lively reply. I enjoyed it. I hope you do as well.

Doc Martin.