You're listening to the Travel Podcast, today's most exciting destinations. Brought to you by people with a real passion for travel, great holiday ideas, real reviews, practical advice and all the best deals in one simple podcast, The Travel Podcast. Now here is your host, Steve Witt.

Steve Witt:
Hello everyone, and welcome to The Travel Podcast, where we aim to inspire you with some brilliant news, views, and behind the scenes look at some of the most amazing destinations in the world. I'm Steve Witt, co-founder of one of the UK's biggest and best travel companies. And as always, I'm joined by our team of travel experts, who all live and breathe travel every single day, but most importantly, they're super passionate about traveling the world. So today I am joined by a fantastic team, do you want to say hi, guys?

Jules:
Hi.

Matthew:
Hello.

Lauren:
Hi.

Steve Witt:
So we've got Matthew, Jules and Lauren, and we're also joined today by a special guest who we'll come to in a moment. But today we're heading off to a fantastic destination, which apparently has more snow than the Swiss Alps, 90% of the population live on the coast, it’s also the largest inhabited island in the world and the smallest continent. Matthew, where we heading to?

Matthew:
Today we're heading to Australia, and our guest is going to give us an introduction to Australia, and we as a team are going to ask some great questions to really delve into what to expect when you go. A lot of questions that we've had asked of us, we're going to ask those to our guest who we'll interview shortly, and just really give you an intro into Australia. Later on we'll be looking at doing some other episodes, exploring more into the different areas, but this is more of an oversight into this wonderful country.

Steve Witt:
Fantastic. So we are very privileged today to be joined by Ali, who is Destination Trainer for Tourism Australia, so I guess that they don't get any better than you in terms of knowledge of Australia, Ali, is that right?

Ali:
I like to think so. Hi everybody, thanks for tuning in. Yeah, I think I've got the best job in the world because I just get to talk about my own country every day and get paid for it, so it's not bad.

Steve Witt:
Fantastic. So are you joining us from Australia or from the UK?

Ali:
I am based in the UK now, so I've lived over here in the UK for a bit over a year now, so definitely missing Australia at the moment.

Steve Witt:
And which bit of Australia are you from?

Ali:
So I'm from the north, Queensland. So those of you that don't know Australia very well, if you imagine the shape of Australia, it's the pointy bit up on the top right corner of Australia, that’s where I'm from.

Steve Witt:
Fantastic. So I'm always a little bit naïve when it comes to Australia. First of all, were my facts correct?

Ali:
Yeah they were, actually. Except I don't think we're actually technically an island because it's a continent, but yeah, we're fully surrounded by water so in the grand scheme of things, we probably are an island.

Steve Witt:
Good. Well, I blame Google if it's wrong then. So today, like Matthew said, we're going to be talking about Australia for the newbies, if you like, people who haven't been before, people looking to go for the first time. Now, because Australia's so far away and you just see it on the map, I tend to think of it as quite a small little island in the middle of the ocean. It's not really, is it?

Ali:
No. So Australia's actually the same size as the whole continent of Europe, so you can image when you put that in perspective, traveling from one side of the other would be like going from Portugal to Bolivia, it's quite massive.

Steve Witt:
Wow. So it is literally the other side of the world, how long's it take to get there?

Ali:
From the UK, it's about 22 hours, including stopover, to get to Australia. But we also have a direct flight, which is less than 17 hours, so that's from London Heathrow to Perth, which is on the west coast of Australia. So the west coast is slightly closer to the UK, as is the north of Australia, so it actually only takes you 19 hours, including stopover, to get to the north of Australia. But 22 to get to the east coast.

Steve Witt:
Fantastic. Now we'll get the elephant in the room out of the way. Obviously, we are recording this podcast during, or in the midst of, the coronavirus outbreak, so no one's going anywhere just yet, but what are the current restrictions on travel to and from Australia? I guess at the moment it's not happening?

Ali:
Yeah, at the moment the borders are closed for all tourists, excluding permanent residents of Australia and Australian citizens. So at the moment, the majority of the flights have stopped except for those repatriation flights going out, and there is mandatory quarantine as well, for 14 days, for anyone going in. There's no indication of how long those precautionary measures will be in place but it's similar to the situation in the UK, it develops day by day, forever changing. But yeah, I have no doubt that by the end of the year, we'll all be back open and back to normal.

Steve Witt:
Fantastic. So just how popular is Australia for the British tourist?

Ali:
I think the UK is a really big market for us, I think Australia holds a special place in the heart of a lot of Brits. I think a lot of people in the UK, they all have a family or relative connection down there, which is a big draw card. So everyone's going down there to visit a mate or an Uncle or some long distant relative, and also the cultural ties. We speak the same language, almost, we share the same Queen, we drive on the left, and we share a big cult when it comes to sport as well. So I think that a lot of the UK guys are always like, "Oh, you know", when it comes to rugby or cricket, there's that good rivalry there, so yeah, it is a big draw card for that market, for sure. And obviously the sunshine, that always helps.

Steve Witt:
Of course. So we're going to be talking about some of the things to do when you go to Australia. But let's say the ban is lifted, we can start traveling again. Typically then, what's the best way to get there? You said there's a direct flight, if not are you going to route via somewhere?

Ali:
Yeah, I guess the key airlines that we work with a lot will transit through Dubai, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi as well. So most of them transit through that region, but there is a lot of good stopover options, so if you guys are thinking about going to Australia but you're a bit concerned about that long haul flight, because sometimes that can be a bit daunting, you think 17 hours direct or 20 hours to get somewhere, there are some really good stopover options. Just because the location of where Australia is, you can actually break it up, you can have a couple of days in Indonesia or Thailand or Japan, en route to Australia as well. So yeah, lots of different routes that you can take down there, yeah.

Steve Witt:
So I've got a thousand questions but before I hog all this, Matthew, Jules, Lauren, have you ever been?

Matthew:
I have lots of friends there, and my sister and family have spent many months living out there, so I've had friends who have lived down there for 11 months at a time doing gap years or touring, and relatives that live there full time now. So I haven't been yet, I've mainly travelled west, I haven't made it that far south yet but it's definitely... like Ali said, it holds something for all Brits, especially those who like outdoors and sports. So it's a place I will definitely be getting to, it's just I haven't arrived there yet.

Lauren:
I've also never been, and like Ali said, I have, like most Brits, got a long distance relative living over there. So hopefully it will be in the pipeline to pop over there at some point.

Jules:
Yeah, sent many a customers, and like you said, mainly to go and visit their friends and their families. But yeah, 100% would love to go.

Steve Witt:
So we're all going to be queuing up.

Matthew:
Jules' just hugging a kangaroo,

Jules:
Yeah.

Steve Witt:
If only you could see this right now, maybe we'll do a screen shot of Jules hugging her kangaroo right now.

Jules:
He's called Skippy.

Steve Witt:
Of course. Matthew.

Matthew:
Yeah, so obviously you mentioned that Australia is the size of Europe, which really puts it into perspective of how big the country is, and the fact that you said it is a continent rather than an island. So what kind of landscape does that give travellers once they're there? Obviously, I know a lot of people think there's all this big desert or people just living by the coast, is there quite a difference in landscape throughout the whole country?

Ali:
Yeah, there is. I think that a lot of people think it's just Outback or bush in Australia, but it is pretty varying. For instance, we've got rainforest, we do have beaches, obviously, all around the coast, and not many people, which is a plus. It's not unusual to be the only person on the beach. The Australia bush is kind of like native plants and bush lands, and then we've got the desert as well, which is like the Red Centre, so that's kind of red dirt desert. What else? We've got quite a lot of vineyards as well, wine is quite big in Australia so there's that kind of landscape as well. Yeah, and a load of islands too, we've actually got 8,000 islands within our borders. So yeah, lots of different landscapes.

Matthew:
And with that, Ali, you mention the bush and the Outback, are the bush fires still burning and are there areas that are still off limits?

Ali:
Yeah, good question. So it seems like ages ago, bush fires, but some people might remember it was quite a tough start to the year for Australia. So the bush fire season, which is something that we're used to, we have a bush fire season in Australia. You know that growing up, bush fires aren't really something to be afraid of or anything, but this year was just unprecedented and they got a bit out of control. I think, though, that a lot of people thought that the whole country was on fire. I know, being in the UK, the media just blew it really far out of proportion and I saw some images of maps that looked like the whole country was on fire, but it was actually less than 2% of the country actually burnt.

Ali:
So yeah, of the top 50 destinations that the international tourists go to, none of them were affected, and those regional areas that were impacted, they're already open for business and welcoming visitors up until now. So it's a bit of a double blow actually, with coronavirus. They're going to have their arms wide open when the borders open, welcoming travellers for sure. It's quite amazing because the Australian bush actually relies on wildfire to regenerate, and it's a pretty cool phenomenon to see, because you can just kind of see how the native plants regenerate just a few weeks after the fires. So yeah, pretty much bounced back from all that.

Matthew:
And I think I saw some of the baby koalas that were affected are now being put back in their natural habitat.

Ali:
Yeah, so that was just this week. So the first lot of koalas that were rescued from the bush fires were released back into the wild earlier this week. There's 14 of them this week and they're doing another 10 or so next week, and that was from Port Macquarie Koala Hospital. And it's really cool that they literally put them back onto the trees that they were found on, and that's because that area had fully regenerated from the bush fires in the last two to three months. So yeah, it was really cool, you saw images of the koalas when they came in. You guys can probably Google the story, and you can see them and they're all burnt and just really sad looking, and then you can see them putting back onto the tree where they're found and it's all green again and they're just stoked to be home. So yeah.

Jules:
They're not actually friendly though, are they, koalas?

Ali:
They're not, not friendly, they're very lazy in terms of their sleep, for I think 23 hours a day or something, and they don't like to be disrupted so if you go near them and wake them up, they'll probably just grumble at you and then be like, "Why you so close to me, let me just get back to my sleep. Or chewing on a leaf."

Steve Witt:
I know a few people like that.

Ali:
Yeah.

Matthew:
And you mentioned you are from the northeastern part, so what's it like to get around Australia, whether it be via plane or renting a van or a car?

Ali:
Like I mentioned at the start, we drive on the left, so that's always an advantage. So a lot of guys, if you're going to go over there and hire a car or a camper van, driving's an awesome option because we've got some really cool iconic driving routes, like down the east coast or the Great Ocean Road, or even through the centre of Australia as well. Because of the size of Australia though, often flying's the best option. Because of our size, all regional cities and major cities all have an airport, because it's just necessary, so you can just literally fly to most major cities and towns in Australia quite easily, and all airports are easily accessible as well. Then you can just travel the most amount of distance in the shortest amount of time, so if someone doesn't have that much time out there, then usually flying is the best option.

Ali:
There's some good bus companies and rail journeys as well though, if anyone listening is really into the trains, we've got some pretty cool train journeys that go right through Australia as well, and they're quite premium luxury products, so that's quite a nice experience as well. I know some Brits really like trains.

Matthew:
Definitely that's true. Is there one for the wine region, I think there's a train up to the wine region?

Ali:
Yeah, there's one that goes up to Hunter Valley in New South Wales, and I think they call it something like Trains and Wine or something, and I was like, "Perfect."

Steve Witt:
Can you literally go end to end on the train?

Ali:
Can you what? Sorry?

Steve Witt:
Can you literally go across the country on a train or north to south, east to west?

Ali:
Yeah, they can actually go from the west coast to the east coast, or vice versa, all the way across, it's four days and three nights. And you go from the top to the bottom, right through the centre of Australia as well. Yeah, there's actually a program on TV, it was Iconic Train Journeys or something, I can't remember what it was. If any of you guys saw that one, it featured a few of those Aussie trains, yeah.

Jules:
So you mentioned that, it's obviously massive, but do you have seasons, as such? Do you have a summer, winter, autumn and spring like we do in the UK?

Ali:
Yeah, we do. We've actually got two different climate zones, so some people might not realize that it's actually different climates in different parts of Australia. So the Tropic of Capricorn actually runs almost through the centre of Australia, so the northern part of the country is actually tropical climate, so we've only got a wet and a dry season. So it's similar to some of those Asian countries like Indonesia or Thailand, where the summertime, which is technically the wet season, it's quite hot and humid and a bit muggy and it could be prone to downpours of just a couple of hours, and then it will stop. That kind of weather. The dry season, which is May to October, I'd say, is the dry season in the tropics, which is the northern part in the country. You're looking at 30 degrees still, but it's cooler in the night time and it's drier, so less prone to downpours.

Ali:
But in the southern parts of the country, so that's places such as Melbourne and Adelaide and Sydney, that's four seasons. But they're the opposite way around to the northern hemisphere, so we have Christmas in the middle of our summer, so we're just coming out of summer now, and then winter is when the UK is in their summer, if that makes sense. But it is fairly mild, even in Sydney and Melbourne in the middle of winter, you're still looking at averages of about 16 degrees, and it's mostly sunny. So as people would know, that's still fairly warm, it's not super cold at all.

Jules:
Brilliant. And would you say there was a best time of year to visit and come to Australia? It would depend on where they were going, I suppose, as to the season they're going to experience?

Ali:
Yeah, I think it does depend on where they're going, and also what they want to do. For instance, usually the busiest time of year is around New Year's, people want to see New Year's on the Harbour, they're escaping the winter over here, that kind of thing. But that might not necessarily be the best time to visit the northern part of the country, but quite often people want to see a few regions while they're out there, so you can't really avoid it. It's not a bad time to visit, it's just bearing that in mind, whether you're using a travel agent or booking it yourself, just pick your day trips around that so you're not doing a thousand things in a day when it's really hot and humid. It can get a bit dangerous, actually, because it does get really warm. You don't want to dehydrate if you're out in the sun.

Ali:
Same if you're going to the Outback, so the middle of the summer in Australia in the Outback is really hot, so it's just bearing that in mind if you're pre-booking any day trips before you go and it's super hot, that it can get a bit dangerous in those northern areas. What else?

Ali:
Maybe animals as well, so if someone wants to go out there and their dream is to maybe see the whales migrating up the coast, or we've got turtles hatching or whale sharks, those kinds of things are seasonal so it's worth checking what time of year it is. So whales are in the Australia winter, turtles are February, March time. Yeah, so look into that as well, or maybe sport as well. Sorry, I'm talking a lot, but maybe... because we've got the Ashes next year, actually. So the cricket's in November next year, so that could be a good one as well.

Matthew:
I was going to say, because sport is a massive attraction for Brits visiting Australia, especially when you mentioned the cricket, the rugby, the Lions tour, a lot of locals will follow them, like the Barmy Army, especially for the cricket, which takes them to multiple different towns. Is the sport season predominantly in your winter? If someone's there but wants to see Aussie Rules, or is it in your summertime?

Ali:
Yes, so for instance, the Aussie Rules, or AFL we call it, is just kicking off now, which is going into the Australian winter. Same as our rugby league season, so if anyone's into rugby league, the Aussie's are really into rugby league so that's kicking off now. Cricket, however, is in the Australian summer, so that's after the rugby season, so that's more November, you've got the Boxing Day Test going in to January.

Lauren:
Speaking of the sports, and you mentioned the animals you can go see, all the adrenaline junkies amongst us, myself included, what would you say are Australia's bucket list experiences that you can only really do when you're in Australia?

Ali:
I think one of the biggest draw cards for Australia is that kind of Aussie lifestyle, so personally I think if you go on holidays to Australia, you've just got to do some of those iconic experiences, the things as simple as going down Bondi Beach, just checking out the lifeguards and maybe learning to surf down there. Ordering a flat white in the Melbourne lane ways, as simple as that is, it's quite a classic thing to do. Maybe watching a show at the Sydney Opera House, or climbing the Harbour Bridge, they're just quintessentially Aussie, having a barbecue down the beach. We do have our icons though, things like Uluru, or Ayers Rock, as some people might know it, in the centre of Australia. The Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest, they're all things that are quite well known when it comes to Australia, and I'd say they're pretty bucket list icons as well, when you're down there.

Lauren:
Have you ever done the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb?

Ali:
Yeah, I have and I'm not too bad with heights. So I didn't think it would be daunting at all, but there's some parts of the bridge where you can see all the way through the floor down to the sea, so it is a little bit scary. But it's really cool once you're at the top, you can literally see across the whole of Sydney, past the Opera House. Yeah, definitely recommend it.

Jules:
Have you done a skydive?

Ali:
No, I haven't done a skydive before, I don't think I would ever be able to do that.

Lauren:
I see you can go diving with great white sharks and swimming with whale sharks, is this something you have done before? Would you recommend it?

Ali:
Yeah, so you can swim with whale sharks off western Australia, and it is incredible. So I've done that and it's from Exmouth, so it's like northern western Australia, and it's just incredible because they are the size of a double decker bus and they just swim next to you. You're so inferior in terms of they don't even notice you and they're just going about their day, eating plankton and you're just swimming next to this massive thing. And it's really good because Australian operators are actually really good and it's all eco-certified. All the profits go back into protecting the animals, and I think that's a really big thing, for me especially, when I'm doing tours like that.

Ali:
And you can also swim with humpback whales, it's one of the only places in the world where you can swim with humpbacks, that's on the east and the west coast. I haven't done that yet, but that one looks really cool as well, yeah.

Lauren:
That's so cool, there are so many experiences that you can do there, literally anything that you could think of you could do. If you had to, what would be one or two things you would recommend that visitors have to go and visit or do?

Ali:
I think that one of the classic ones would be trying to get to Sydney and check out the classic Aussie things to do, that laid back lifestyle, the inner city beaches, the culture in terms of the events scene, all the cafes and restaurants and stuff in Sydney. And I think the Great Barrier Reef is a must do as well, it's obviously amazing, it's one of the seven wonders of the world, but it's just... You can see so many images of the reef and until you're there, it kind of hones in how big it is and just how amazing it is once you're there. Yeah.

Jules:
It is really big, and I think that can be a bit daunting, maybe, for first timers. Do you have sort of a basic itinerary that you would suggest to first timers, say on a two week break?

Ali:
Yeah, I think there's a classic one that a lot of people start with, and that's called Sydney Rock and Reef, and it kind of takes in a couple of those icons I was talking about, so flying into Sydney, spending a week or so in that region. Because there's a lot of day trips you can actually do from Sydney, so you can even base yourself there and go to the Blue Mountains or Hunter Valley, which is a wine region, and obviously exploring the city as well.

Ali:
And then flying to the Red Centre, so Alice Springs, which is an Outback town quite known for its colourful characters and Outback lifestyle, I guess. And that's where Uluru is, which is the spiritual heart of Australia in the Red Centre, and it's where you can really get to know the Aboriginal culture, which is a really special experience that I recommend to anyone getting out there.

Ali:
And then flying up to north Queensland, which is where you can experience the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest as well. So they're two World Heritage Sites that are side by side, and it's actually the only place in the world where two Heritage listed sites actually meet, so the Rainforest comes all the way down to the beach, and then the Great Barrier Reef starts. And that's up near Cairns, in north Queensland.

Ali:
So that's three different regions, and you could easily spend six days in that Sydney region, about four days in the Outback, so in the Red Centre, and then your remaining four days, had to add that up in my head, up in north Queensland, within two weeks. But that's a really good first timer itinerary, I'd say.

Jules:
Do you think two weeks is long enough?

Ali:
Yeah, I think two weeks is the minimum, so a lot of people think that you need at least a month to get out to Australia, and that's one of the hardest things, because a lot of people that I speak to are like, "Oh, it's so far, I need to take a sabbatical off work to go down there," when, in reality, you do only need two weeks to have a decent holiday. But I wouldn't recommend anything less than two weeks and I wouldn't recommend anything more than three regions within two weeks, because otherwise you just spend the whole time traveling. So you don't want to try and fit too much in, just have a really good holiday within those two to three regions, not trying to go to everywhere in Australia within that time. Because then it'd just be too much and you won't make the most of it.

Jules:
You mentioned that you fly back and forth quite often, how do you deal with the jet lag and getting over that, is it easier going there or back to the UK?

Ali:
I don't know, I always think it's easier going there, but that might be because you're just so excited and you get off the plane and you want to get out and about, whereas when you're coming back to the UK, you're either going back to work or it's not as exciting. Personally, I've done the direct flight a few times and it's unreal. When you get off, you feel like you're already in the time zone, and there's hardly any jet lag. But even flying into the east coast, I think the best tip is to get out into the sunshine, get some fresh air into you, try and walk around as much as you can, and stay in the new time zones. If you fly in and it happens to be 7:00 AM in Australia when you get there, you may not have slept for 20 hours, but if you try to stay awake, you can maybe have a nap, but go out and explore and then go to bed that night, you'll be absolutely fine the next day.

Steve Witt:
How do you cope with 17 hours on a plane?

Ali:
I don't know, it's actually less than 17 hours, so I've actually done it and it's 16 hours, which was great. It's not too bad, I don't know how but I guess when you get in there, what they do... so it's with Qantas, and what they do is they control the settings of the cabin so that you get used to the new time zone. So they'll dim the lights and feed you so that when you get off, your body's already used to the new time zone. So that always helps but I love watching a good set of series when I'm on there. I think I watched the whole series of Big Little Lies on my last trip and it went so quickly.

Matthew:
A great thing to do while you're traveling. And obviously, like you said at the start, a lot of people go there because they're got relatives or potentially everyone speaks English or a type of English. Are there any Australia slangs or classic phrases that people need to be aware of when they're traveling so they don't slip up? For instance, I know in Hawaii, they call flip flops slippers, and in Australia they call them thongs. Are there any other little words that people may want to know?

Ali:
I think the thongs was a good one, because that's one that you can often get in trouble with, because in the UK, obviously they call a thong something else. I don't know, do you guys... have you heard any of those things, like we say snag instead of sausages, which is a classic one.

Matthew:
Is it ‘billy’ instead of a teapot or a kettle?

Ali:
Yeah, I think in the bush they'll say, "Put the billy on", which is like a bush kettle, I think that's what that is. Which is similar to an esky, do you know what an esky is?

Matthew:
No, what's an esky?

Ali:
It's like a cold box, you keep things cool when you go out.

Matthew:
It's called an Eskimo cool box, and you just shortened it. Was it the brand?

Ali:
Probably, I would not be surprised at all because basically all Aussie slang is because we just try to shorten everything. For instance, at the moment, everyone's instead of isolation, they're all just saying iso. I'm like, "Oh, right."

Lauren:
But everything sounds better with an Australian accent.

Ali:
Do they?

Lauren:
Yeah.

Ali:
Like we say, ‘arvo’ instead of afternoon, or ‘bottlo’ instead of bottle shop. What else do we say? You go to the ‘servo’, which is just a service station. We like to shorten everything and maybe chuck an o on the end as well.

Matthew:
Love it. Like you were saying obviously there's so much to do, but obviously two weeks is the minimum to do three regions. If someone has been there before and has done those, is there any sort of hidden gems that you... if you just want to go and get away from a lot of tourists, where would the locals go and explore Australia, or where do locals go on holiday?

Ali:
Yeah, good one. I think that a few lesser explored regions, or places like in south Australia, Kangaroo Island is one of the regions that was affected by the bush fires but it's actually seven times the size of Singapore, so it's massive, this island. But it is absolutely stunning, it is so nice and a lot of domestic travellers will go there. Similarly, in Perth, so Perth is just amazing itself. Kings Park in the middle of Perth is actually... I think it's three times the size of Central Park in America, and that's an inner city park, so Perth is just beautiful and green.

Ali:
And then they've got this island, it's called Rottnest Island, off the coast, and it's a car-free island so you get around on a bike and there's these little marsupials called quokkas over there, and it's a real trend to get a selfie with a quokka at the moment. And if you look on social media, the hashtag quokka selfie, they are the cutest things you'll ever see, they've got little smiles on their faces and they're not afraid of humans at all because there's no predators on the island, there's no cars and it's just beautiful, the beaches are just pristine. Yeah, places like that, there's some lovely places on the south coast of New South Wales as well, which are very much... it's just about laid back beach lifestyle, and they're really local towns where you can get all local whole products and produce, incredible seafood, and lots of family run businesses as well, which is just really nice to see.

Ali:
So if you're self driving, there's a lot of those off the beaten track places and little towns that you'll just stumble across them as you're driving up and down the east coast. I think Australia's really well known for that kind of welcoming attitude, so you just can say g'day to anyone and they'll say g'day back. And yeah, you stumble across these towns and just meet all these people that are so welcoming and so friendly, and I think that's the beauty of it. And I think if travellers are just going to get out of those touristy areas, they'll meet so many brilliant people like that for sure.

Steve Witt:
That's why I think we could probably do a load of different episodes all about different areas and destinations to go to within Australia, but today was really just about the first timers. For those people who are probably thinking, "I'd love to go to Australia but it's probably just too expensive, it's so far to go, it's probably going to be really expensive." What would you say?

Ali:
I think that at the moment, the pound's going to go a good way for the dollar, so that always helps. I think you get great value for money once you're out there. So even though it might seem like a big expense for the flight, obviously getting out there, take at least 10 days off work probably, but I think the quality of our products are really high. So for instance, when you're booking your hotel, you're going to get probably the equivalent of a four star for the price of a three star, for instance, compared to other destinations.

Ali:
As well as our cost of living and that kind of thing, there's a lot of free things you can do as well, obviously we've got beaches, you've got barbecues where you can just go to the supermarket and then go down the beach and use the barbecues all down the beach. Lots of way of life activities that, especially if you've got a family, if you're heading out there with a family and you think, "Wow, it will be an expensive trip", there's a lot of things that you can do where it doesn't cost much money and it might just be going down the beach, it might be going to the botanical gardens or there's heaps of free museums and things as well. So I guess because it's such great weather, there's a lot of activities you can do outdoors to entertain kiddies or even adults as well that are concerned about that.

Steve Witt:
And this question might be more for Lauren or Jules, how far in advance do people tend to book Australia, because to me, it seems like one of those, not sure once in a lifetime things, but it's definitely a big trip you plan. So do you plan it in advance?

Lauren:
I definitely say a lot of people do plan it in advance, because they do tend to go for a longer time, for three to four weeks. You could do it last minute if you wanted to, but a lot of people do plan it ahead because they want to get that day by day itinerary as well. A lot of people want to get in the big sites and figure it all out to make sure that they're making the most of their time there.

Jules:
And the itineraries, like Ali was saying, often includes several flights. Like Kangaroo Island, I know there's a ferry involved as well, if they want to do south drive, you have to look into the different types of motor homes available, or if they want to do more of a minivan type thing. So I think it's more there's quite a lot more variables to think about when you want to go to Australia, and because it is quite far you don't want to get all the way over there and then not know what to do or where to go.

Steve Witt:
And it is a case that you need to sort of book in for these things because they could get sold out, I guess, some of these popular activities?

Jules:
Yeah, I know as well on some of the excursions particularly, they limit numbers because they are really good at conservation, looking after their animals and their environment, so yeah, definitely you have to get tickets for certain things in advance. And also it's just knowing that you've got that booked, because you don't want to turn up on the day and be disappointed.

Steve Witt:
Cool. So I've made lots of notes throughout all this, Australia's definitely one of my top places I want to go. So I'm going to do a quick recap of everything, and if I miss anything, do pitch in guys.

Steve Witt:
So definitely after corona, Australia's open for business. Forget what you've seen about the Outback, Outback is recovering, it's open for business. People tend to go for at least two weeks, if not four, but two weeks is a great minimum. There is literally something for everybody, it's very much about lifestyle, people love the Australian lifestyle and just doing some of the real basic things, and the things we see on TV and hear about, the iconic destinations whether it be the Barrier Reef, the Opera House, Bondi Beach, cool things to do. You can do it on a budget, you can also spend a lot of money. There really is something for everyone but a great place to start would be the Sydney Rock and Reef experience, great itinerary if you're going for two weeks to get you started. And you can literally do anything from a rainforest to beaches in one trip. What did I miss?

Ali:
I thought it was pretty spot on, good summary.

Steve Witt:
It is very much an emotional trip, it is laid back, it's cool, it's iconic. It's one of the best holidays you're probably going to have, but it's just a really cool place to go, isn't it?

Ali:
Yeah, and I guarantee once you get down there, you'll want to go back. I think that once people go to Australia once, they realize there's so much to see, it's not as far as it seems, I think that's the biggest hurdle and then once they get down there, they're like, "Oh, that wasn't so bad." And they literally get over it within a day and then, "Okay, that's fine, I don't want to go home." And then they're already planning the next trip by the time they're back, so I guarantee it if you go once, you're going to want to go back.

Steve Witt:
And that's actually one of the things I wrote down and forgot to say, was enjoy getting there as well. You can do the direct flight, 16, 17 hours, but also why don't you stop over on route or on the way back, actually have a bit of fun, make it part of the experience? Something like Dubai or something like that, make it all part of the experience.

Ali:
Yeah, totally.

Steve Witt:
Cool. Right, I think that wraps up today's podcast. Thank you so much, Ali, you've been insightful and hopefully we get to talk to you again, talk about some other destinations in Australia. If anyone would like to know more, then check out our show notes and we'll be linking to Tourism Australia. And also, if you'd like to talk about other destinations, then you can also email studio@thetravelpodcast.com but for now, thanks all for joining us.

Ali:
Thank you.

Speaker 1:
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