For the past two years we've been exploring and we're in the early stages of our Rusty Compass Australia cultural travel project.
We now have an extensive list of things to do in Sydney - check it out here. We also have a bunch of travel videos about Australia.
I've been planning to do Rusty Compass in Australia for years. I've always believed there is an opening and I'm more convinced of that than ever. Things are off to a great start. Australia's opened in early 2022 and soon after we got a shiny new government. In a messy world, things are on the improve in Australia!
Australia is a spectacular place. Nature has been kind. Man, or I say white man, has a mediocre record as a custodian of nature's gifts here. It's the opposite record to those who inhabited this vast continent for tens of thousands of years before the colonial invasion.
Australia's stories are compelling - from the extraordinary ancient Indigenous civilisation, to the brutality and dispossession of the founding of the British prison colony, to the transformation to a prosperous, diverse, liberal democracy. Many wounds remain unhealed and many of the officially propagated vices of the colonial arrival have proven hard to expunge from officialdom. The stories are as big as the land.
I've spent two years thinking about Australia all over again - immersing myself in history as well as the many quirks of the modern nation. I've also spent a lot of time thinking about my own time and upbringing here in Sydney's West.
My decades abroad give me the privilege of viewing Australia as an outsider. That's something that will come in very handy as I expand Rusty Compass across the country. I hope to bring a unique view to this travel guide, as a somewhat estranged native returning home.
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Rusty Compass is an independent travel guide. We’re focused on providing you with quality, unbiased, travel information. That means we don't receive payments in exchange for listings and mostly pay our own way. We’d like tourism to be a positive economic, environmental and cultural force and we believe travellers deserve disclosure from publishers. Spread the word about Rusty Compass, and if you're in Saigon, pop in to The Old Compass Cafe and say hi. It’s our home right downtown on Pasteur St. You can also check out our unique tours of Ho Chi Minh City and Sydney at www.oldcompasstravel.com Make a financial contribution using the link below. Even small amounts make a difference. Thanks and travel well!