Chinese DIY travel trend

VISITORS to Australia used to wonder why the streets were empty of kangaroos. Tourists from mainland China have a different question.

Says tour guide Joe Zeng Zhuo: ''They always ask, 'Where are the people?' because they are used to seeing people everywhere. But Australia's not like that.''

It's the lack of a crowd that makes Australia appealing to the Chinese, says Mr Zeng. Originally from a town near Shanghai and a tour guide of three years' standing, he still marvels at the fact that outside peak hour you can get a seat on a train. ''The other thing they're not used to seeing is blue sky,'' he says.

Today he has brought a busload of Chinese tourists to Phillip Island. They have been to the chocolate factory at San Remo, where they took turns posing next to a chocolate replica of Michelangelo's David. Now they are strolling through the ancient trees at Churchill Island Farm.

Most of the visitors are from Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Only two today are from mainland China, and they are part of a new trend.

''Most mainland Chinese come in a group and they follow the flag at all times,'' he says. ''But in the three years I've been a guide, I've seen more Chinese coming on their own. They even arrange their own visas. They come to see us and arrange their tours locally. This is a big development.''

At this moment, the two Chinese tourists, young women from Shanghai, have broken away from the group to stand at the wooden fence and look at the water and the sky.

Sheng Hui is a civil engineer who has left her nine-month-old son at home to take her first trip abroad. She has come with her friend Yan Xuanxia, who works for a bank. Visiting a friend in Sydney led them to Australia, but what enchants them is the blue sky and green grass. ''Everything is very beautiful,'' says Ms Sheng.

The women have a workable grasp of English, which has enabled their independence. Mr Zeng translates when their answers require some complexity. In China, the sky is always foggy, he says. And in the public gardens, it's forbidden to walk or sit on the grass. ''Here we can lie down,'' says Ms Yan.