The East Coast is very well-trodden as far as foreign travellers are concerned – that’s who I was referring to, not Australians It’s firmly on the backpacker circuit, and is the most common route that young independent travellers take.

I do agree that the East Coast is lovely, but I just think that for foreign travellers who might only ever visit Australia once in their lives the West Coast, South-West Australia, the Top End, and the Red Centre offer far more drama in terms of landscapes, more unique experiences, the people are friendlier (plenty of eccentrics in the Top End & Red Centre especially!), and they generally offer a more rewarding experience.

It certainly *is* more expensive for Aussies to travel from Sydney or Melbourne to the West/Top End, and totally agree with you that it’s crazy (flights in Australia are just so over-priced compared to the rest of the world), but for foreigners it’s not – you can get from Europe/Dubai to Perth for less than you can fly to Sydney/Melbourne.

Thanks for dropping by!

If you click through and see some of my other posts on this subject (click on Guides in the right column), you’ll see that one of my favourite guides, who I believe is a model guide, is an indigenous guide from Monkey Mia.

I do believe there is a place for guides. And in fact, shortly after writing this post, my husband and I fell in love with the work Context is doing and we formed a partnership with them and have done their walks all over the world. If you click through to our site GRANTOURISMO http://grantourismotravels.com/ you’ll see dozens of posts there on walking tours we’ve done with Context (and other guides/companies) across the globe. Just two posts on walking tours in the last couple of days, and yet another going up today on Melbourne walks we’ve done.

But for every great guide who adds something to an experience of a place, there is a dreadful guide who can completely ruin the way a traveller sees a place. There are good and bad guides – just as there are good and bad guidebooks

I think it’s important that people do their research thoroughly before choosing a guide, especially if they’ve only got a short time in a place, and also think about whether they really need a guide or not. Thanks for dropping by!

So you raise an interesting question – why would anyone need a guide to walk in a national park in Sydney?

We believe that a true understanding of a place requires time and learning. And that’s what a guide can offer, particularly when time is short.

For example, some of the sites we visit are Aboriginal rock engravings. To be honest, they don’t look much. If you went there yourself, read the sentence in your guidebook (if there was one), then you’d probably be underwhelmed. It’s only once you understand the stories, the sense of time, and the cultural significance of these carvings that you can really say, “wow”.

A guidebook can, at best, offer a paragraph on the location to help you decide whether to visit. It doesn’t leave you with any depth of knowledge. I agree that any guide who spouts guidebook-like summaries is not worth your money.

If you’ve discovered Context walking tours since writing this post, then I’m sure your tour guide experiences have improved. It would be interesting to hear if your perspective has changed.