A colleague at work recently took off on a Contiki tour of Europe – 20 countries in 20 days or some such thing. On the itinerary were stops at the Tower of London, the Eiffel Tower, the gondolas of Venice… you know the drill.
This got me to thinking about what it is that attracts people to another country or city, which got me to travelling around the world (in my mind’s eye) and trying to think up one word explanations about what these places mean to me. Here are just a few that I
came up with:
London – the Queen
Ireland – Guinness
Scotland - golf
Paris – romance
Egypt – pyramids
Rome – the Pope
China – The Great Wall
Bali – beaches (and unfortunately bombs)
Greece – islands
California – Disneyland
Hong Kong – shopping
New Zealand – nature
South Africa – wild animals
If anybody else did this exercise there would naturally be variations. Another person’s take on London may be more to do with history or the tennis at Wimbledon or “clubbing” or warm beer or shopping at Harrods. Similarly, California to many may be more about Hollywood and movie stars than Disneyland.
And then I thought about how I would go about describing Australia in one word, and you know what? I really couldn’t.
Australia is regularly branded as being a diverse destination – offering options ranging from beaches to the bush. And maybe that’s half our problem. Maybe the diversity of what we have is too confusing to would-be travelers. It’s a little like going shopping for a new television – too many options.
One of Australia’s greatest filmmakers, Baz Luhrman, is set to release his much-anticipated film starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman later this year (November 14). Does anybody know what it’s about? Something to do with a love affair, hardship, overcoming adversity, challenges, hope, and no doubt plenty of similar themes to those we’ve all seen and heard before in one form or another.
I wonder if Baz wrestled with a title before he settled on the one he did? I wonder how long it took him to finally decide that the one word that described everything about the film – and much more besides – was the word Australia?
Seventeenth century French philosopher Blaise Pascal, in writing to a friend said: “I have made this [letter] longer, because I did not have the time to make it shorter.”
Often, the stroke of genius is simplicity. Baz Luhrman may be there (and let’s hope he is for the good of the country), but I’m not sure whether we as a country have really found one thing to hang our hat on-just yet.
I welcome your thoughts,
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