Travel, tourism and tv

People's attitude to travel is so different in this part of the world. At my Australian Legends class this morning we were discussing the Bush Legend, and we all had to say how far we'd been in to the Outback. I was the last to go, and, of the 15 of us (amongst 11 Aussies),  rather surprisingly I came top by some distance, having lived in Alice Springs for 3 months, 11 years ago. Amazingly, none of the Aussies had been to the Northern Territory, or even Queensland. Most had been to Melbourne, and a couple were from "west of Parramatta" (which is basically west Sydney) but is not the Bush/Outback. During the convict period, escapees would flee to the Blue Mountains just beyond Parramatta, which are to Sydney's west, in the belief that China, and freedom, lay on the other side. 

The tutorial reminded me of the massive city/rural divide in this country, and the conversations I had with people from Alice about their attitude towards the city types on the east coast who 'haven't a clue' what life is like in the Outback. Life there is a world away, and, in my view, a pretty tough and not especially enjoyable one - unless you've been brought up there and it's what you're used to, and/or you really don't like cities; but then Australia's 'cities' are not cities in the European or Asian sense; the Australian east coast is effectively one massive suburb, as amusingly described in the 'post-civilised' book "Australiaville" by cabbie Andy Soutter, which I read a few years ago. The city centres are tiny and easily navigable on foot. In fact, I find it quite amusing that many of the suburbs call themselves 'cities'. Randwick, which is a suburb near UNSW, has a grand plaque on the main road in to it, Anzac Parade, welcoming you to 'Randwick City'. Blink and you'll miss the 'city', let alone the sign.

Whilst many Aussies haven't travelled to the Outback, I'm yet to meet one over the age of 25 who has not "Done Europe", which involves at least a fleeting visit via Earls Court en route to Paris, Berlin, Barcelona and Rome. I am at pains to point out to them that whilst London is, yes, technically IN England, it really isn't the same as seeing England. A day trip to Stratford doesn't count. Incidentally, the latest tv ad for flights to London features a woman in a supermarket dreaming of her trip to the UK, and, whilst walking past the frozen food section, feels compelled to climb in to the freezer and shut the door in order to prepare herself. This goes some way to explaining why, when it rained for much of yesterday, Sydneysiders looked panic-stricken and in pain. I overheard one distraught woman on the phone saying she'd have to cancel her plans and go home as it was "so cold and wet". It was about 15 degrees. 

The Australian Tourist Board tv ad "So where the bloody hell are you?", which was briefly shown in the UK, was parodied by a jet-lagged Tony Blair when he addressed the Parliament in Canberra when he opened his speech with "Where the bloody hell am I?". The ad campaign was a failure - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described it as "a rolled gold disaster" and the critics agreed. It was banned in the UK for its use of the word 'bloody', and in Canada for it's promotion of "unbridled alcohol consumption" because the opening line said "we've got you a beer..." (nb not a problem for the UK, unlike the word 'bloody' which, apparently, is much more serious....) . New Zealand, recognised globally as bearing the 'gold standard' in tourism marketing (well it has to do something, doesn't it?), and never likely to pass up an opportunity to parody anything Australian had a billboard at a popular beach that simply read "We're bloody well in the Coromandel".