Do us all a favour, explore our land

TRAVELLING overseas has been an Australian rite of passage since the 1960s when London’s Earl’s Court was known as Kangaroo Valley. These days touring Australians are just as likely to be found in Bali or Los Angeles or on a Mediterranean cruise.

Aussies love nothing better than planning for, talking about and sharing photos of their most recent overseas trip.

But the coming of the coronavirus has changed this core element of the Australian way of life. Savings otherwise allocated to “a big trip OS” are now parked and some siphoned for home improvements.

What is required is a reimagination of an Australian holiday that is coronavirus safe and offers something new and unexpected.

But where to go? Some are doing a bit of a try-before-youbuy by hiring an Airbnb.

Between the end of July and the end of August the number of Airbnb properties listed in postcode 4870 (Cairns) jumped by 33, according to data accessed by Ripehouse Advisory.

During August, Airbnb listings jumped by 7 properties in Alice Springs (0870).

It’s time to rediscover, to see anew a place, a destination, a piece of pure Australiana that hasn’t stood still but which has evolved into something that has the capacity to engage the worldliest of travellers.

Who wouldn’t be up for a bit of rest and recuperation, for a bit of a reprieve from the lockdown madness, to support a local business, to help our fellow (small-business) Australians, doing it tough.