Traveller Letters: We're over reading travel articles about Australia

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Traveller Letters: We're over reading travel articles about Australia

Updated
Some readers are tired of stories about travelling within Australia.

Some readers are tired of stories about travelling within Australia.Credit: iStock

HOME OR AWAY

EDITOR'S NOTE Regular readers may recall that we issued an invitation, following a letter from Jo Webster of Gowrie, ACT, to state your preference for either international or domestic themed articles in Traveller as we negotiate the border bans brought on by the pandemic. Here's an initial selection of the so far fairly evenly split correspondence we've received:

I'm also pretty much over domestic travel stories. After arriving back from Norway in February 2020, I immediately booked another Viking cruise from Bergen to Montreal in anticipation of borders reopening by 2022. Hopefully by August 2022 international travel will again be possible. Having already been vaccinated, the only impediment to my planned journey will be unaffordable international airfares. I remain positive.

Christine Tiley, Albany Creek, QLD

Oh, yes please. Let us have more international-themed travel articles in Traveller. We are hoping to travel to Europe next April-May and would love to read anything about accommodation, cruises, trains and trips. I've even resorted to watching BBC World News in order to see something of Britain (I know it's not Europe these days but still…) We need something to look forward to.

Maureen Baker, Lennox Head, NSW

I love travelling in our own country and I certainly would not like exclusively international travel articles in Traveller. I would suspect there are many areas of Australia that many have not visited. Perhaps lesser-known places could be featured more among the popular, easy to get to venues.

Jill Stephenson, Woolwich, NSW

I am loving your focus on Australian travel, Who can write about their recent overseas holidays anyway? Please, continue to keep the letters relevant to current travel restrictions.

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Liz Cumming, Rose Bay, NSW

Unlike Jo Webster, my wife and I are very much enjoying being grounded for a year or two. The guide to Griffith (Traveller, April 10) was spot on. We took a road trip there recently and ticked off most of the suggestions in the article and had a fabulous time. Obviously we enjoy Italian restaurants and wineries. That was our fourth road trip in as many months and it is very obvious tourists are invading regional NSW. Please keep up the Australian and New Zealand articles.

Chris Carn, Glenbrook, NSW

LETTER OF THE WEEK

WE'RE ALL PART OF THE REUNION

While it is great that Australians will finally be able to holiday overseas after a year of travel restrictions, it's the hundreds of thousands of separated families on both sides of the Tasman who will most benefit from and welcome the opening of the Trans-Tasman travel bubble, not just holidaymakers and tourism as a whole. Babies have been born, grandparents have died, family members have fallen ill, special family occasions have been missed for more than a year. So it is for this compassionate reason that the trans-Tasman travel bubble is such a long overdue welcome relief. It is also timely the week before Anzac Day for the two countries to be reunited.

Andrew Williams, St Kilda, VIC

JEEPERS CREEPERS

I recently spent a most enjoyable fortnight road tripping around the south western corner of Western Australia including the Margaret River wine region, the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse and Albany with its memorable and moving National Anzac Centre. I saw magnificent beaches everywhere I went, However, when I reached Esperance and the Cape Le Grand National Park, I was dismayed to see a number of stunning beaches full of four wheel drive cars parked all along them. Only metres away from available designated car parking. I do not understand why this is allowed, especially in a national park.

Kasia Quail, Grovedale, VIC

CHARTING NEW TERRITORY

Arriving at Ayers Rock/Uluru airport to spend four nights at Sails in the Desert for our 25th wedding anniversary, it felt like we had arrived in a foreign country. All passengers were asked to queue in a line as five Northern Territory border officers, sitting behind desks, greeted passengers. We had to produce our completed border entry form, show ID and were questioned about where we had been and where we had come from. Being deemed safe we were ushered through and waited until all the 200 plus passengers were checked before our luggage appeared on the carousel. The pandemic has changed the landscape of interstate travel. Arriving back in NSW we walked off the plane, grabbed our luggage and headed home. But Uluru and the Red Centre was still as beautiful as it was 30 years ago when we last visited.

Meg Dunn, Mona Vale, NSW

GRAINY RECOLLECTIONS

We recently explored Victoria's excellent Silo Art Trail through the Wimmera, staying in Stawell and Horsham before heading north into the wheat belt. As well as the giant artworks, you can also visit Little Desert National Park and the Pink Lake, near Dimboola, plus the photogenic Lake Tyrrell, near Sea Lake. With nights in Warracknabeal, Lascelles and Maryborough, as well as daytime stops in the likes of Beulah, Hopetoun and St Arnaud, we barely scratched the surface of this interesting region. If you love wide open skies, plus small- town hospitality, it's a great road trip.

Andrew Dye, Prahran, VIC

CLARITY BEGINS AT HOME

Before we get too excited about overseas travel, can you provide information on what travel insurance policies will look like in the world of COVID travel? Emergency lockdowns, cancellations, enforced quarantines, hospital expenses? Where will we stand in regard to such incidents when we travel overseas again?

Ann Lambert, Stanmore, NSW

EDITOR'S NOTE: Some insurers are now offering coverage for COVID-19, but with some major restrictions. Read more here.

KEYBOARD WORRIERS

I totally agree with Russ Riseley's comments expressed in "Putting the 'Ouch' in Vouchers (Traveller Letters, April 10) regarding the unfairness to those of us who are slow at applying for travel vouchers (or AFL seats) via a computer. Pity those who don't even possess a computer.

Wasyl Abrat, Mornington, VIC

MILK BARS NONE

Your story on the best places to eat on road trips (Traveller, April 10) sounds like a Thelma and Louise road trip with the writer doing a snack crawl of delicious fare and hospitality which some may say might be the cream of the crop. Yet it is the memories of snacks on roads now less travelled that have left a taste in our collective mouths, craving for the simple things of life. As I read, my mind wandered back to the days of the Oak Milk Bar at NSW's Freemans Waterholes, Peats Ridge and Hexham. There's something to be said for a milkshake made at a price you could afford and served by staff who put the customer first. Those were the days, my friends, we thought would never end; However, they did. The Oak today is but a shadow of its former self.

Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook, NSW

Send us your travel-related tips, opinions and experiences

Letters may be edited for space, legal or other reasons. Preference will be given to letters of 50-100 words or less. Include your full name and suburb. Email us at travellerletters@traveller.com.au

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