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Outback Travel / Australia Travel / Dubai Travel / Bad Ideas / Tourism / → All Tags

This is Weird: Australia Thinking of Creating 'Dubai in the Outback'

The Australian Outback is a one-of-a-kind place, but one economist warns that if it doesn't get a flashy face-lift in the vein of Dubai soon, tourism will plummet.

Aussie economics expert Ian Harper recently told the Australian Tourism Directions Conference that officials should focus on adding new hotels, larger airports and other tourist-drawing experiences. Otherwise, he predicted that the number of international tourists will drop in the next three years. One such tourist draw would be a hot-spot-in-the-desert, like Dubai. Though it's hard to imagine a "Dubai Outback" in the harsh yet beautiful terrain, which would displace the kangaroos and dingoes.

Nonetheless, it may be a real consideration, since Australia has experienced a downturn in tourism in recent years (that even Oprah can't make up for). The not-so-favorable exchange rate and the overall bad economic conditions have played a part, but Australia must also compete with its Asian neighbors for travelers.

What do you think? Would a Dubai Outback lure you to Australia?

[Photo: attawayjl]

Video / Western Australia Travel / Indigenous Tours / Outback Travel / Aboriginal Adventures / Neville Poelina / → All Tags

Uptuyu Adventures in the Kimberly Outback is the Anti-'Eat, Pray, Love'

"Eat Pray Love" movie doesn't hit theaters until August but we've already been besieged with press releases for EPL-inspired vacations. These trips typically involve eating lots of pasta, doing a ton of yoga and mucho meditation. But none of them have appealed to our stressed-out, Twittererd-out, iPhoned-out selves the way an indigenous tour in the Australian outback has.

The other month we attended a Western Australia media event in Los Angeles where a few WA hotel representatives and Outback tour operators had gathered to tell us what they had to offer. But we couldn't seem to focus on the hotels (which is part of our job ) because we were fascinated by Neville Poelina, the tour operator behind Aboriginal Adventures.

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Golf Travel / Golf / Outback Travel / Australia Travel / → All Tags

Australia Unveils World's Longest Golf Course At 848 Miles

You know how some people consider golf as just a nice walk? Down Under they're talking the walk to an extreme with the Nullarbor Links golf course, and you might not want to spend the day strolling along this course, with or without your clubs: it's 848 miles long.

That's more than just a pretty long hunk of green; in fact it's the world's longest golf course.

Granted that all distances are big in the Australian outback, where the Nullarbor Links is located, but perhaps this is taking things a little (literally too far). Stretching from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia across the desert to Ceduna in South Australia, the idea is that you purchase your score card at one end or the other, and play each of the 18 holes as you drive across the desert. They suggest the game will take you about four days to play.

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Outback Travel / Jaunted Field Trips / Museums / Australia Travel / → All Tags

Finding an Oasis in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia

Every good mountain range needs a big town for a base, and the Flinders Ranges of South Australia have theirs in Port Augusta. Situated exactly two hundred miles north of Adelaide, Port Augusta likes to think it's a crossroads town because those crazy enough to drive across Australia from east to west are almost obligated to stop by.

Up until recently, Port August has been relatively devoid of such travelers, but the last decade or so has seen the town jumping on the tourism bandwagon to reinvigorate itself. A highlight of the image renovation is the Wadlata Outback Centre, a multimedia museum explaining all about life in the South Australian outback.

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Australia Travel / Outback Travel / Jaunted Field Trips / → All Tags

Finding the Flinders Ranges in Outback South Australia

The lower-central Aussie state of South Australia might get dwarfed by the fame of its city cousins Sydney and Melbourne and pushed aside by the brash outback of Uluru, but it really should not be so overlooked. The Flinders Ranges are reason enough to visit South Australia, with the whole dramatic outback beauty thing combining with a majestic mountain range and a location not all that far from civilization.

Head a couple of hundred miles north of capital city Adelaide, and you're well and truly in the thick of the Flinders Ranges. We recommend beginning any exploration in the southern part of the Ranges, around Mount Remarkable National Park which absolutely lives up to its name, and either take a gentle hike from there or check out the local wineries.

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Bizarre Foods / Food Travel / Outback travel / → All Tags

The Real Outback Steakhouse

We're a little peeved with the Outback Steakhouse right not, because Andrew Zimmern visited the Aussie Outback on the latest episode of Bizarre Foods, and there was not a bloomin' onion in sight. WTF?

In fact, we didn't even see any steaks at all on his journeys with Aboriginal people in the Outback, although we're not actually that surprised. He did find plenty of great eats, from the legs of poisonous toads, to the hearts of wallabies and even the dirt from termite mounds (apparently, they're great for digestion and taste fresher near the top – who knew?).

If you've still got an appetite, we actually thought the Mindil Beach Sunset Market looked pretty cool and is definitely going on any potential Aussie itinerary. After green ants and termite mounds, how bad can fried emu taste?

Related Stories:
· Outback Travel Guide [Travel Channel]
· Outback travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Drinking Dirt Soup and Banana Beer in Tanzania [Jaunted]

[Photo: Travel Channel]

Cowboy Vacations / Cowboy Travel / Outback Travel / → All Tags

South Australia Is Calling All Cowboys

Who knew that cowboy tourism is a growing industry down in South Australia? Coming up again in 2010, the Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive is on and recruiting travelers to get around South Australia on horseback.

The South Australian tourism board first put together this event in 2007, and are now planning the six trips you'll be able to take part in during August 2010. Each trip is five days long and involves a lot of horse-riding, many cows and camping in huge areas of land: the cattle station it's based around is about the size of Belgium.

You really have to visit the Cattle Drive website and see how long you can put up with the streaming audio of cows mooing and horses galloping. You can also sign up for the trips but at A$3,200 ($2,000) per person--not including the cost of getting to Australia--you might just want to listen to the website audio and imagine the actual trip.

Related Stories:
· Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive 2010 [Official Site]
· South Australia Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: CasaDeQueso]