How much time in Australia?

Raffi Balmanoukian wrote:

The point I was trying to make is that time, in itself, is not much of a
criterion for planning a trip. If you have heaps of time and no money, you
will end up doing next to nothing because you will always be planning your
activities around your resources available, not by the possibilities at
hand.

I have met many a backpacker - and traveled with a few - who had all the
time in the world but always chose the cheapest option because they couldn't
do otherwise. They ate poorly, slept poorly, traveled where they could get
for free whether or not they were actually interested in the place, people,
or culture. They would have been better off asking "would you like fries
with that" for another few months, or a year, knocking a couple months off
of their trip, and seeing perhaps a smaller area but in depth.

And if that area of interest happened to be Threeways, or Innamincka, or
Birdsville, or the namma holes on Mt. Beadell, more power to them.

Thank you for the clarification. Your points are VERY well taken. To each, their
own - and I say that today after giving a US hitch-hiker a ride into the USA,
through US customs etc. He left Alaska on Wednesday and here on Saturday he was
planning to be home (in Minnesota, the state i was driving to) on Saturday evening
(about now as I write this). At the border, US Customs and Border Protection asked
me a bunch of questions (I am a Canadian and thus a "guest" while in the USA) and
then asked him ( the US citizen) why he was hitch hiking instead of flying or
taking the Greyhound bus. His reply?? To save money and spend the time looking at
the countryside.... All travellers have different priorities.

Raffi Balmanoukian wrote:

The point I was trying to make is that time, in itself, is not much of a
criterion for planning a trip. If you have heaps of time and no money, you
will end up doing next to nothing because you will always be planning your
activities around your resources available, not by the possibilities at
hand.

I have met many a backpacker - and traveled with a few - who had all the
time in the world but always chose the cheapest option because they couldn't
do otherwise. They ate poorly, slept poorly, traveled where they could get
for free whether or not they were actually interested in the place, people,
or culture. They would have been better off asking "would you like fries
with that" for another few months, or a year, knocking a couple months off
of their trip, and seeing perhaps a smaller area but in depth.

And if that area of interest happened to be Threeways, or Innamincka, or
Birdsville, or the namma holes on Mt. Beadell, more power to them.

Thank you for the clarification. Your points are VERY well taken. To each, their
own - and I say that today after giving a US hitch-hiker a ride into the USA,
through US customs etc. He left Alaska on Wednesday and here on Saturday he was
planning to be home (in Minnesota, the state i was driving to) on Saturday evening
(about now as I write this). At the border, US Customs and Border Protection asked
me a bunch of questions (I am a Canadian and thus a "guest" while in the USA) and
then asked him ( the US citizen) why he was hitch hiking instead of flying or
taking the Greyhound bus. His reply?? To save money and spend the time looking at
the countryside.... All travellers have different priorities.

No good from "Canader " I am sorry to say...

Andy wrote:

Have you looked at Freedom Air rates on the web

No good from "Canader " I am sorry to say...

Andy wrote:

Have you looked at Freedom Air rates on the web

No good from "Canader " I am sorry to say...

Andy wrote:

Have you looked at Freedom Air rates on the web

I think you're allowing your native Canadian reaction to things Yankee to
win over reason in that response, Raffi!!


"Raffi Balmanoukian" a
wrote in message
news:BD723156.26EF2%walkabout@TAKEOUTTHETRASHTOREP LY.ns.sympatico.ca...
in article , A Mate at
wrote on 9/17/04 8:25 AM:

Jacob,

Frankly, unless you know a little about where to find things of interest
to
you - you'll waste most of your time in Australia. The country is about
the
same size as the continental USA, with about the same level of
diversity!!



Much, much, much more diverse IMHO.