Tourism Australia calls travelers (like me) “Experience Seekers.” Their definition goes like this: Experience seekers share a unique set of values, attitudes and motivations that stretch beyond holiday behaviour and well beond the category of travel. When I traveled to Australia for a two-month vacation, I was in it for the experience. I traveled on the [...]
Category Archives: People
Aussie Podcasts
First and foremost, what is a podcast? There are many different kinds of podcasts, and for the purpose of this blog, I’ll describe the one mentioned below. A podcast is a digital audio recording of a radio interview that can be downloaded onto an iPod or mp3 player, saved indefinitely, and listened to anywhere at any time of day as [...]
School of the Air
Education is the path to living a joyful, prosperous, healthy, and peaceful life. It also played a leading role in the life of my grandfather, Meredith G. Williams Sr. He was an educator and high school principal. Today, there’s a middle school named after him in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. When I learned about Australia’s “School of the Air,” [...]
Snorkeler Left Behind
An American visiting Oz, Ian Cole, was snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef last Saturday when he was left behind by tour boat operators. The crew either forgot to take the all-important head count, or they counted wrong, and they left without him. When I was planning to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, I knew it was going [...]
Texas vs. Australia
Populations tell a lot about a place. How many live in a specific area gives us an idea how easy and pleasant it is to live there. Looking at Australia’s population compared to the population of Texas puts the outback into perspective. Here’s how: Australia is a continent nearly the same size as the continental [...]
Coach Captains
In Australia, the term “Coach Captain” has nothing to do with sports and everything to do with tourism. A coach captain is a tour bus driver, and the post garners a great amount of respect. The coach captain’s uniform includes stripes on the shoulders, and the best tour operators know the value of a good captain. Here’s an article if you’d [...]
Rotary in the Outback
While driving through the Northern Territory in the “Red Center” of Australia, I stayed in Alice Springs for three days. It’s a place made famous by the book A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute (1950), but there are other reasons it’s getting noticed these days. Rotary International holds an annual event that is one-of-a-kind. Aussies have a great [...]
Australia Supports Japan after Quake
While some countries are challenged to get along with others, Australia and Japan have made great strides since World War II when Japan attacked northern Australia. The movie “Australia” (2008) starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman gives us a glimpse into the struggle between these two nations during 1942 and1943. Sixty-nine years later, a short time really, much has been healed [...]
Walkabouts and Songlines
To go walkabout means to go on a journey of self-discovery. Aborigines, young and old, head into the desert barefoot and with few possessions for days, weeks, and months on end. It is a right of passage for young men, an end of life quest for the elderly, and an ongoing connection to spirit in the years throughout one’s [...]
Bush Tucker
“Tucker” That’s an everyday word in Australia, but one that is foreign to many Americans. A mom might say to her child, “Remember to take your tucker box with you!” as her child is running out the door to go to school. The term “tucker box” can be interchanged with the term “lunch box” because the [...]
