Phillipa Harrison: Here's how travel has changed since 2005

Let’s take a look back – and forward – to see how travelling Australia has evolved over nearly two decades of exploring our nation.

To mark 100 editions of Australian Traveller, co-founder Quentin Long sat down with Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison to discuss what has (and has not) changed in travel in Australia from the year the magazine launched in 2005 to today and beyond.

Australian Travellerco-founder Quentin Long and Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison — Australian Traveller co-founder Quentin Long and Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison. (Image: Nicky Ryan)

Quentin Long: So, in 2005 I was panicking about launching a new domestic travel media brand. What were you doing?

Phillipa Harrison: I was working for an Accor start-up in the youth hostel space called Base Backpackers. It was capitalising and corporatising the concept of ‘flashpackers’. That was so fun. I was the third employee onboard and we set up 11 hostels in 18 months. And backpacker bars, and a travel agency…

QL: So Jägerbombs at the bar with Pip?

PH: Maybe [laughs].

QL: Do you think Covid has given domestic travellers a greater appreciation for this country? I always hoped it would create a new habit for Aussies. So, for example, instead of going overseas every year, you go every two years.

PH: I do think Australians worked out over Covid that our own backyard is pretty damn special, so I would agree with you. Interestingly though, what appealed to people about Australia 50 years ago and what’s going to appeal to people about Australia in 50 years are similar things… our great natural landscapes… our great food and wine. Actually, 50 years ago, maybe not [laughs]. There’s another big change – food. I remember meeting a German woman who came to Australia in the 1970s and said she could not believe how limited this country was from a food point of view.

the food at Zin House in Mudgee — The Zin House in Mudgee is emblematic of regional Australia’s dynamic dining scene. (Image: Destination NSW)

QL: [Laughs] I believe you got a hardship allowance if you were a French diplomat posted to Canberra in the 1950s and ’60s. How French. “You have to endure meat and potatoes every meal. Sacre bleu."

PH: Fast-forward to today and we have multicultural cuisine, but we also have this incredible produce and the people who produce it telling stories about the provenance. Our research tells us that travellers are blown away by our food.

QL: Totally. By the way, I reckon it’s hard to have a bad meal in Canberra today. Part of the food story is where it comes from and, for me, regional Australia is the biggest improver since 2005.

PH: You think about going to somewhere like Orange in 2005 versus going there now and you have gourmet meals, great experiences, beautiful boutique accommodation. It really is chalk and cheese and it’s so good to see the regions prospering like that.

QL: Orange is an easy one. And Mudgee’s another easy one.

PH: The whole of regional Victoria is an eater’s paradise. Beechworth, Metung, Daylesford. The Scenic Rim’s done particularly well. Perth is outstanding. The Peak Trail in the Grampians. That is a beautiful collaboration between councils where they linked up a whole trail of 160 kilometres.

The wine regions have always been our successful regions: think Barossa, Margaret River, the Yarra Valley and Hunter. They’re evolving as well with more experiences around the cellar door that were never there before through things like the Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia and, in particular, its ‘Icons’ series.

wine tasting at sunset in Hope Estate — Hope Estate is one of many world-class wineries in the Hunter Valley. (Image: Destination NSW)

QL: The growth in number and quality in luxury product in Australia is remarkable.

PH: Australia only had a few luxury properties in 2005; Lizard Island Resort, Longitude 131° and El Questro. That was about it. Eleven of the 18 luxury lodges have opened since 2005. So, qualia opened, Southern Ocean Lodge, Saffire Freycinet, Wolgan Valley… So, we now have an incredible range of luxury accommodation and experiences.

QL: We did a project with Tourism Australia in 2007 called the 20 Best Indigenous Tours of Australia in a 32-page magazine. We printed it and supplied the content translated in German. But it was never released in Australia. When I tried to have it distributed with Australian Traveller, there was no budget because: “The research shows that the Australian market is not interested in experiencing Indigenous culture." Today that would definitely not be the case.

PH: Totally. That’s a huge change from 2005. I think the Indigenous tourism offering that we have is much more extensive and immersive. It is run by Indigenous people themselves. It gives them an opportunity to live on Country and keep their culture going.

burning incense during an indigenous tour in Australia, Dreamtime Southern X, Sydney — There are now many wonderful Indigenous tour operators, such as Dreamtime Southern X, Sydney, which explore the way First Nations people experience Country. (Image: Destination NSW)

QL: What do you think Indigenous tourism looks like in 20 years?

PH: I hope that as soon as you travel or arrive in Australia, you know that you are on Aboriginal Country. That experience starts at our airports and infiltrates every tourism experience in some way, shape or form for your whole trip.

an aerial view of the Maria Island, Tasmania — Feel the call of the wild on Maria Island, Tasmania, one of the Great Walks of Australia.

QL: What would you love every Australian to do?

PH: One of the multi-day walks.

QL: Really?

PH: Yeah. I love, love, love them. They slow you down, you’re not zooming past this landscape, you’re immersed in it and you’re just walking really slowly through it. I actually think they’re largely undiscovered, the Great Walks .

the Larapinta Trail, a great walk in Australia — Trek the Larapinta Trail, another Great Walk, in comfort with Australian Walking Holidays. (Image: Peter Walton)

QL: This leads me to something else. One of the great regrets of my life is I didn’t do the Larapinta Trail before my MS got to the stage where I can’t. So, accessible tourism, I think we’ve come a long way. I heard Paralympic Games champion Dylan Alcott speak at the annual Tourism Australia Destination Australia conference this year and it really highlighted the issue for me. He described how he went to Noosa and saw they had beach mats for his wheelchair, and that was the second time he went to the beach in his life. As an Australian, you go, “Um, whaaaat??? An Australian who has only been to the beach twice…" Final question. If you could click your fingers and change one thing in Australia’s travel landscape, what would it be?

PH: That’s a really good question [laughs]. What would you change?

QL: Uh, honestly… I would change our service culture.

PH: See, I don’t think this is too bad.

QL: It’s not terrible, just inconsistent.

PH: Yeah, OK. Something related to that. I want more people to see tourism as a career, like it is in other countries. I have spent my entire career in tourism and I would love for more Australians to do the same, because it is a great industry to be a part of.

Slow down and find your rhythm on a Murray River journey through time and place.

Trust is a funny thing. It seems not that long ago that my mother was insisting on pouring the milk into my cereal bowl, because she didn’t trust me not to slosh it over the table, and yet here I am on the Murray River at Mildura in far north-west Victoria, being handed the keys to a very new and very expensive luxury houseboat.

After a crash course in how not to crash, I’m at the wheel of the good ship Elevate – pride of the All Seasons fleet – guiding her upstream past red-ochre cliffs as pelicans glide above the rippled river and kookaburras call from reedy banks. There’s a brief moment of breath-holding while I negotiate a hairpin turn around a jagged reef of skeletal, submerged gum trees, before a cheer rings out and calm descends as the timeless river unfurls in front of us.

The Murray River winding through Yarrawonga. (Image: Rob Blackburn)

Setting sail from Mildura

Murray River birds — Home to a large number of bird species, including pelicans. (Image: The Precint Studios)

A journey along the Murray River is never less than magical, and launching from Mildura makes perfect sense. Up here the river is wide and largely empty, giving novice skippers like myself the confidence to nudge the 60-tonne houseboat up to the riverbank where we tie up for the night, without fear of shattering the glass elevator (the boat is fully wheelchair accessible) or spilling our Champagne.

My friends and I spend three days on the water, swimming and fishing, sitting around campfires onshore at night, and basking in air so warm you’d swear you were in the tropics. The simplicity of river life reveals an interesting dichotomy: we feel disconnected from the world but at the same time connected to Country, privileged to be part of something so ancient and special.

Stop one: Echuca

19th-century paddlesteamers — A historic 19th-century paddlesteamer cruises along the Murray River. (Image: Visit Victoria)

The six-hour drive from Melbourne to Mildura (or four hours and 20 minutes from Adelaide) is more than worth it, but you don’t have to travel that far to find fun on the river. Once Australia’s largest inland port, Echuca is the closest point on the Murray to Melbourne (two hours 45 minutes), and you’ll still find a plethora of paddlesteamers tethered to the historic timber wharf, a throwback to the thriving river trade days of the 19th century. The PS Adelaide, built in 1866 and the oldest wooden-hulled paddlesteamer operating in the world, departs daily for one-hour cruises, while a brand-new paddlesteamer, the PS Australian Star , is launching luxury seven-night voyages in December through APT Touring.

The town is also a hot food and wine destination. St Anne’s Winery at the historic Port of Echuca precinct has an incredibly photogenic cellar door, set inside an old carriage builders’ workshop on the wharf and filled with huge, 3000-litre port barrels. The Mill, meanwhile, is a cosy winter spot to sample regional produce as an open fire warms the red-brick walls of this former flour mill.

Stop two: Barmah National Park

Just half-an-hour upstream, Barmah National Park is flourishing, its river red gum landscape (the largest in the world) rebounding magnificently after the recent removal of more than 700 feral horses. The internationally significant Ramsar-listed wetland sits in the heart of Yorta Yorta Country, with Traditional Owners managing the environment in close partnership with Parks Victoria. Walkways weave through the forest, crossing creeks lined with rare or threatened plants, passing remnants of Yorta Yorta oven mounds and numerous scar trees, where the bark was removed to build canoes, containers or shields.

The Dharnya Centre (open weekdays until 3pm) is the cultural hub for the Yorta Yorta. Visitors can learn about the ecological significance of the Barmah Lakes on a 90-minute river cruise, led by a First Nations guide, or take a one-hour, guided cultural walking tour along the Yamyabuc Trail.

Stop three: Cobram

Continue east to Cobram to find the southern hemisphere’s largest inland beach. Swarming with sun-seekers in summer, the white sand of Thompson’s Beach is shaded by majestic river red gums and dotted with hundreds of beach umbrellas, as beachgoers launch all manner of water craft and set up stumps for beach cricket. But the beach is at its most captivating at sunset, when the crowds thin out, the glassy river mirrors the purple sky, and the canopies of the gum trees glow fiery orange.

The region is also home to some fine resorts and indulgent retreats. Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort has two riverside championship golf courses, luxury apartments and self-contained villas. While not strictly on the Murray, the historic wine town of Rutherglen is rife with boutique (and unique) accommodation, including an exquisitely renovated red-brick tower in a French provincial-style castle at Mount Ophir Estate. Fans of fortified wines can unravel the mystery of Rutherglen’s ‘Muscat Mile’, meeting the vignerons and master-blenders whose artistry has put the town on the global map for this rich and complex wine style.

Stop four: Albury-Wodonga

First Nations YindyamarraSculpture Walk — First Nations Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk is part of the Wagirra Trail. (Image: Carmen Zammit)

Follow the river far enough upstream and you’ll arrive at the twin border cities of Albury-Wodonga. The Hume Highway thunders through, but serenity can be found along the five-kilometre Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk – part of the Wagirra Trail that meanders through river wetlands just west of Albury in Wiradjuri country. Fifteen sculptures by local First Nations artists line the trail, conveying stories of reconciliation, enduring connection to culture, local Milawa lore and traditional practices. It feels a long way from Mildura, and it is, but the pelicans and kookaburras remind us that it’s the same river, the great conduit that connects our country.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

New Mildura motel Kar-rama. (Image: Iain Bond Photo)

Kar-Rama is a brand-new boutique, retro-styled motel in Mildura, with a butterfly-shaped pool and a tropical, Palm Springs vibe. Echuca Holiday Homes has a range of high-end accommodation options, both on the riverfront and in town.

Playing there

BruceMunro’s Trail of Lights in Mildura — Bruce Munro’s Trail of Lights in Mildura. (Image: Imogen Eveson)

Artist Bruce Munro’s Trail of Lights installation, comprising more than 12,000 illuminated ‘fireflies’, is currently lighting up Mildura’s Lock Island in the middle of the Murray. Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) is a hub for contemporary art, with a rotating roster of exhibitions, and is a major outlet for young and First Nations artists.

Eating there

Mildura’s diverse demographic means it’s a fantastic place to eat. Andy’s Kitchen is a local favourite, serving up delicious pan-Asian dishes and creative cocktails in a Balinese-style garden setting. Call in to Spoons Riverside in Swan Hill to enjoy locally sourced, seasonal produce in a tranquil setting overlooking the river.

Food, towns and luxe stays: Here’s how travel has changed since 2005