curious Mez

[deird1]

So, I'm wondering:

For all you overseas folk, when you start planning your Exciting Trips To See Australia, what things do you think of seeing?


(brief digression approaching...)

When I went to Munich, everyone said "Oh, you've got to see [exciting landmark]! It's the best!" ...and they were always talking about
1) Neuschwanstein
2) Ludwig's (other) castles
3) Oktoberfest
4) Dachau

Whereas, when I got there, my favourite bits were
1) the Deutchesmuseum
2) the Residence
3) the English Garden

And, in fact, the vast majority of things I found interesting were barely mentioned in guidebooks at all.

(...back to Australia)


Anyway, it occurs to me that there's a big difference between:
a) What tourists want to see in Australia
b) What I think tourists want to see in Australia
c) What I think tourists should actually see in Australia

My answer to b would be the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Uluru, and possibly surfing.
My answer to c would be much longer and more rambling, but would definitely include an Aussie-animal sanctuary, the Great Ocean Road, Sovereign Hill, and Port Arthur.

But, for a? Not a clue.


So - when you think about the stuff you'd like to do as a tourist in Australia, what's on your list?

Comments

[jl-in-the-lane.livejournal.com]

*think about her overseas travel*

Singapore: I had NO IDEA what I wanted to see.
They took us to the zoo. I have no idea why. We'd all seen zoos before, and there weren't any different animals there.
So, here are the things I saw that I fouind interesting:
1) An island with little monkeys charging around and stuff about WW2;
2) The temples end of town (saw a mosque, a Chinese temple and a Hindu temple)
3) A Malaysian fishing village.
Those were the 'sightseeing' bits.
Otherwise, I got the most out of:
1) living with the family
2) going to school
3) attending a Malaysian wedding.

England:
Other than all the stuff about living there, I've 'done' the sightseeing stuff twice.
(gave up on listing that as it got too extensive)

Hmm.

The stuff I was most interested in was basically
- anything that was very different from what I'd seen before or that gave me insight into the culture
- anything I'd seen / heard of all my life in books, films, etc, and wanted to SEE
- anything I could specifically relate to (I'm thinking like Gran visiting her family's street, or seeing Poet's corner in Westminster Abbey)

Depending on where a visitor's coming from, obviously that can be different.
But I'd say:
- animals
- beaches (we take these for granted, rather) or other Spectacular Scenery

Pretty much anywhere is going to give you both options, so then you pick which bit of the country interests you based on the other stuff, like what history you're into.
eg. NT if you don't want beach but want to see Scenery and aboriginal culture and cuisine, etc.
Qld if you want the Great Barrier Reef
Tassie if you want convict history
Sydney if you're into architecture
Melbourne if... you're friends with Mez. Or into gold rush stuff.

How's that?

[deird1]

- beaches (we take these for granted, rather)

I certainly do. Everyone is always talking about seeing Australia's beaches, and my reaction is "Huh. I guess..." But, not having seen the beaches anywhere else, I've really got nothing to compare ours to.