10 reasons not to go to Australia (unless you live in New Zealand)
I was taken to Australia by my parents at the age of 17; my father was presenting at a conference in Brisbane and so adding in a holiday made perfect sense. While my wonderful parents took me on many amazing holidays during my childhood, this wasn't amongst my favourites. There are many places that I would choose to take my own family in preference to Australia. Just in case you were wondering - the guy in the hat is my father, 'Crocodile Bill Dundee'. You can tell by the quality of the images that this holiday was a long time ago!
1. The distance
The distance from London to Sydney is 17016 km (10573 miles) - 21 hours, 37 minutes is a long time to spend on a plane, not to mention the jetlag and the return flight home.
2. Venomous animals
It is estimated that Australia hosts 66 venomous species, and although this ranks beneath countries such as Brazil (with 79 species) and Mexico (with 80), it is the amount of venom that counts - taipan snakes, box jellyfish, Sydney funnel-web spiders, and stonefish all rank among the most venomous of their kind.
3. Sydney
Has a beautiful harbour, opera house and restaurants, but when compared to European cities, there is much less to do.
4. The Blue Mountains
Let’s face it, at 1,189 metres the Blue Mountains aren’t exactly the Dolomites, Alps, or Rockies.
5. Other cities
The distance from Sydney to Melbourne by plane is 703 km (436 miles), more than twice the distance of London to Paris. The distance from Sydney to Perth by plane is 3,290 km (2044 miles), almost three times the distance of London to Venice.
6. Uluru (Ayers Rock)
Is 450 km away from the nearest large town , Alice Springs. Uluru is a deeply sacred place to the Aboriginal Anangu people, and correctly so, climbing up Uluru was banned on 26 October 2019.
7. Koalas aren't cuddly
While in Australia I got the chance to hold a Koala (in a rescue centre) and was kind of disappointed to realise that they have sharp claws and don’t tend to sit still for long.
8. Kakadu National Park
Kakadu was the highlight of my trip to Australia. Kakadu National Park is an enormous, biodiverse nature reserve in Australia’s Northern Territory with terrain encompassing wetlands, rivers, and sandstone escarpments. Kakadu is home to some 2,000 plant species and wildlife that includes saltwater crocodiles and flatback turtles. There are Aboriginal rock paintings that date back to prehistoric times. So what is the catch? Firstly, the flight distance from Sydney to Darwin is 3150 kilometers (1957 miles), then it takes a further 2 ½ hours to get the park. Secondly, we saw Darwin in the dry season, the best time to go as the alligators and other wildlife is confined to much smaller areas of water; however, this happens to be the Australian winter, when the weather across many of Australia’s other attractions is much less predictable.
9. Beautiful beaches
Yes, I admit Australia has some beautiful beaches, but the flight from Sydney to Cairns to get access to some of the beautiful islands and the Great Barrier Reef is 1966 kilometers (1222 miles), almost exactly the same distance as it is from London to Dubrovnik where there is access to similarly beautiful islands.
10. Snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef
I enjoyed my snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef during which time I saw many colourful fish darting amongst the receding reefs. The National Geographic Society states that half of the Great Barrier Reef has been bleached to death since 2016. Mass coral bleaching, a global problem triggered by climate change, occurs when unnaturally hot ocean water destroys a reef's colourful algae, leaving the coral to starve.
My journey from Durham-London-Sydney-Brisbane-Alice Springs-Darwin-Cairns-Sydney-London-Durham was 42,279 km or 26270 miles, more than the earth’s circumference of 40,075 Km, equating to a huge amount of CO2, leading to a little more coral bleaching, and furthering the destruction of our oceans. Whereas, if you live in New Zealand, well that's a lot closer!
