Change

mike and Judy · Guru

Change

rocan · Veteran Member

I remember growing up in brisbane and catching the steam train to coolangatta for our yearly holiday.camping on the beachfront at byron bay now i don't go within 100k of either place.even small western towns now sell cheap imported souveners but there are still many free places to visit.don't know how long that will last.
rocan

Mike47 · Senior Member

A prime example would be the north coast of NSW.

Too many years ago to admit, I lived in Brisbane and was fond of taking a weekend run south of the border to Murwillumbah, Byron Bay, Lennox Head et.al. These were all tiny little villages where it was great to stop for a quiet ale or have a ramble or swim on a beach with nobody else for miles.

Not today, Kay. I drove the north coast in January this year, and quite frankly, it's a built-up area from Brisbane to Sydney. Resorts, Tourist Traps, Retirement Villages and just Urban Sprawl. At Byron, Brunswick Heads etc, you would be pushing to find room to spread a towel, let alone a picnic blanket.

Alright, I might be exaggerating just the teeniest bit, but crikey, it's definitely not my idea of getting away from it all.

-- Edited by Mike47 on Saturday 30th of May 2009 02:30:18 PM

Vic41 · Senior Member

It's a sad sign of the times Mike and Judy, a lot of things we enjoyed have gone forever. To survive a lot of small towns now are chasing the tourist dollar to keep the town and their business's afloat so you can't blame them. They all seem to be looking at promoting their town, eg; what Big thing can we put up, you know, the banana, crayfish, crocodile or ****atoo etc to make tourists want to come here and spend their dollars. One positive aspect is they are advertising in their tourist info a lot of places in the general area that we may not have been aware of before that are worthy of a visit.

Vic

Ha Ha........a word (clean) to describe a galah has been edited by the site mechanism, see.........atoo, not hard the guess which bit was removed as it had another meaning as a single word. So have replaced here with galah !

-- Edited by Vic41 on Saturday 30th of May 2009 02:56:39 PM

Cruising Granny · Guru

The urban and tourist development sprawl keeps me travelling inland. The coast has been over-populated, overdeveloped and wrecked.
If they stopped building resorts and kept the van parks and the town's character the little places would be worth visiting.
South of Bateman's Bay NSW has kept some of those little villages complete with character. You can buy souvenirs and keep sakes, as well as local food, at reasonable prices.
Once the developers come in the character of the town we go to see is gone. Very sad.
The centre of Cairns gives me the shivers. The high-rise, in-your-face rip off advertisements in the form of big pubs are a blatant example of "we will charge you heaps to stay in our pub".
While Cable Beach on the other side of the country is getting cluttered with tourist development resorts, they can't be built more than 3 stories high, so it's not in your face.
I hear the rates at the Cable Beach C/Pk have just been increased to $41 per night, powered site, until the end of August. Now that's a rip off! All you get for that rate is a patch of dirt to park on, and amenities.
They even advertise their rates from low season, mid season to peak season. Guess which one is the dearest? Yep, the peak season rate. It varies quite a bit from park to park, but it's still cheeky.
It's unAustralian. Stop ripping people off!

Basil Faulty · Guru

Yeah, a lot of it is screwed. The Daintree despite all the hubis is a shell of native growth supporting 5* resorts, Icecream parlors, the largest chemist shop in QLD, tea plantations et al.....
We just have to get used to the fact that people are greedy for the almighty $$$ and that is all that counts....
I never thought I'd see the day when Trams ran again in Sydney but all the green transport has gone in most cities because of the car. I remember holidays as a kid, Mum & Dad struggling with suitcases to the Tramstop, then either take the ferry to Manly ( Seven Miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from Care - remember??) and spend a week at the seaside or take the Train to Mudgee, used to leave Central at some ungodly hour and get off at the family property at Mt Frome around dinner time - now it takes 4 hours by car, the family Property has been subdivided into vineyards and the leeches seem to have been removed from the river....
Yes Change, no wonder so many people fear it.

Basil Faulty · Guru

Cruising Granny wrote:

South of Bateman's Bay NSW has kept some of those little villages complete with character. You can buy souvenirs and keep sakes, as well as local food, at reasonable prices.

Yes thats about it on the NSW Coast, some nice places down there and some not half bad places to camp or holiday. Alas the larger towns go beresk at holiday times and are good to stay away from. Still some smaller family busnesses trading and not that threatened by the BIG boys probably because there are relativley few people living there.

Cruising Granny · Guru

Keep the character - lose the commercialism.
Share what they have, don't change it to sell it as real estate or tourism attractions.
The Barossa Valley in SA has kept much of the character of the place, complete with churches and vineyards. The little cottages in Tanunda, the grand old houses in the entire district. Only 2 resorts, 1 at Rowland Flat, 1 at Lyndoch, but not really a blot on the landscape.
Why does commercialism have to spoil the character of the place people go to see and enjoy?
I think I'm missing Dave's soapbox. Cheers

Rolly · Guru

A-a-h-h-h-h, alas and alack, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Population increase and economic growth will continue to ensure that many of the "old fashioned" values, the passing of which we fossils so ruefully bemoan, will be consigned to history.

Let's face it: We've let ourselves be conned into believing that greater material wealth equates to personal well being.

Suckers all are we.

Wombat 280 · Guru

It's progess and without it we die, simple as that.

I'm not in favour of locking up areas I like to see people use the natural state of things that way we get something back for a tax dollars.

Having lived in Cooktown in my youth you will never convince me that that road was in anyway shape of form was safe . It's condition for most of the year was a death trap and caught a lot of travelers out.

With access to these spots that us old timers think should be saved or left untouched comes a lot of job opportunities and increase community wealth . The sheeps back is broken so the free ride is over folks and so will the mining collapse some day and if there is no forward thinkers out there to lead the progress in a new direction then it's all over red rover, we may as well fold the tent. To stand still is to invite death.

There's more to be made out of getting into some of these areas than there is locking people out and to hell with the green vote

BrigalowO · Member

As an older Australian, (I am 69), I share the same sentiments, and as I often say to my older brother........."Iv'e seen the best of this country"........

It will never come back to what it was, and the memories of idyllic places are just that unfortunately.......memories.

However to be positive, my wife and I don't dwell on the past, we enjoy the present and fortunately for us all, there are still places that have not been loved to death by the natural process of population growth.

As someone mentioned above, we deliberately travel the inland roads, and enjoy the small country towns. Country NSW is marvellous, and Victoria especially, is a caravanners paradise for discovery of beaut villages and places to camp.

Coastal destinations are a natural fit for most Australians and who can blame them. It's just that I don't want to have to pay overs just to share it with the hordes, but then, I am a wee bit selfish! Anyway, there are alternatives and we intend to find them and as soon as.......

Robert

Cruising Granny · Guru

Population growth is a given. The country depends on tourism for a source of income.
All levels of tourism from campers to the 5 star glitz and glam tourists.
What do they come to see?
While progress is a good thing usually, I hope they've come to see the Aussie we all know and love. But have we lost our charm?
There's a bit of customer service missing where I am. So what are they offering?

I've proved I can live very comfortably and compact with minimal possessions, no real estate or furniture.
People borrow to buy huge 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom houses, fill them with furniture to impress the family, relatives and friends. Then they fill the furniture with useless trinkets among the sentimental family treasures, place a large vase in the corner full of dry fowers to add to the ambience. A telly in every room, and huge plasma and entertainment equipment in the family theatre. What's missing in this picture?
The people, the soul, the family together, and the dog.
So I'm a realistic idealist. Cheers Chris