People on my travels

Roebuck Bay – Broome

After less than a week inland from Broome, my motorbike broke down forcing me to return to Broome.

So I suffered this setback by staying at the Roebuck Caravan Park overlooking Roebuck Bay (pictured above).

My digital camera also died out near Fitzroy Crossing, so I have been without photos too.

2 set backs… but they are only temporary. My traveling, dreaming and searching goes on.

Broome Concert – Friday 27th March 2009

WALMADANY CONCERT FOR HERITAGE
FRIDAY MARCH 27th 2009
MALE OVAL, CHINATOWN, BROOME, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
NO ALCOHOL

Featuring: PIGRAM BROTHERS, JOHN BUTLER, SCRAP METAL, KUCKLES, SHANE HOWARD, ERNIE DINGO, ROB HIRST (Midnight Oil), PATRICK DAVIES, WIL THOMAS & THE HOPEFUL 3, NAOMI PIGRAM, ANGUS GRANT (Scotland), TONCHI MCINTOSH, KIMBERLEY RIDERS

FREE ENTRY from 4pm
Donations gratefully accepted at entrance/exit gate to help cover costs of concert

Law Keeper and Custodian for the Goolarabooloo heritage, Joseph Roe, has asked the Pigram Brothers and friends to create this cultural celebration – “Walmadany Concert for Heritage”

The WA State Government have said they will build a gas processing precinct at Walmadany (James Price Point), 60 km north of Broome on the Kimberley coast, and are even prepared to compulsorily acquire this land.

Apart from the obvious environmental and social impact of such proposed industrialization, this event hopes to draw attention to the significant social and cultural values at stake in Broome should this development proceed.

Excerpt from the invitation to artists :

“The law and song cycles of Walmadany (James Price Point) are not ancient dreamtime history. This law has been kept alive through my grandfather Paddy Roe and now through me. If the threatened development goes ahead our Country is gone for good. Our Country holds our heritage including burial sites, and most importantly the Song Cycle that runs through this country from the north of the Dampier Peninsula from Burringbarr (Swan Point) to Wabbina (Bidyadanga) Your voice can help draw attention to this great plight and help protect our ancient and sacred song cycles – Bugarigaara (Dreamtime)”……..JOSEPH ROE, LAW KEEPER & CUSTODIAN – GOOLARABOOLOO

For further information:

helene jedwab
0413461088
email: silkmusic@westnet.com.au

Performers

The Pigram Brothers are a seven-piece country folk/rock band from the pearling town of Broome, Western Australia. Their original music captures Broome’s and the Kimberley’s Saltwater Spirit and Country. Songs from the albums Saltwater Country and Jiir have become hometown anthems and have also attracted critical acclaim. After many years of playing in a variety of bands and differing musical projects the brothers pooled together their skills and talent and officially formed The Pigram Brothers in 1996.

The Brothers opened the Deadly Awards at the Sydney Opera House in September 2006 and brought home the Deadly Award for 2006 Album Release of the Year. Stephen (lead singer, guitarist and songwriter) and Alan Pigram (producer and lead guitarist) were the first indigenous artists to be inducted into the West Australian Music Industry’s Hall of Fame in February 2006.

Nominated for Best World Music Album 2006 at the Australian Music Industry’s ARIA Awards, Under the Mango Tree is the Pigram Brothers latest CD release, produced and recorded at Pearlshell Studios in Broome by Alan Pigram. There is also a live DVD filmed at the Pearl Luggers in Broome, released in 2007.

The seven members of the Pigram Brothers are:

Alan Pigram – Lead guitar, mandolin, ukulele, tiple.
Stephen Pigram – Singer, acoustic guitar, harmonica, requinto, vahlia, ukulele, dulcimer.
David Pigram – Singer, acoustic guitar.
Colin Pigram – Singer, acoustic guitar.
Philip Pigram – Singer, drums.
Peter Pigram – Bass guitar.
Gavin Pigram – Percussion.

John Butler is an American-Australian artist and frontman for the John Butler Trio.

“In 1998, the first incarnation of the John Butler Trio launched ‘John Butler/ Self Titled’ followed in 2000/1 by the EP ‘Pickapart’, both were well received and the track ‘Pickapart’ was added to high rotation on national youth broadcaster, radio Triple J. This saw the band tour long and hard nationally in support of the release. In April 2001, the breakthrough album ‘Three’ was released through independent distributors MGM Distribution and remained in the national alternative charts for nine months rising to the number one position a record breaking three times.”

source: http://www.johnbutlertrio.com/bio.php

Scrap Metal are a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with Midnight Oil, and were the first Aboriginal band to sign an international publishing deal. An ABC tv documentary From Broome to the Big Smoke was made about them. They were given the Best indigenous Act award by the West Australian Music Association in 1992.

Scrap Metal Albums

• Just Looking
• Broken Down Man (1988) – Jigil Records
• Scrap Metal (1990) – ABC Records
• Pub Sweat ‘n’ Tears (1992) – Jigil Records

Source: wikipedia

One Arm Point 7th to 11th March 09

Walking around Broome in March is entirely different from doing the same in October. Up here March is still the wet season and that means few tourists are seen in and around town. October on the other hand is the high tide for tourist activity. It’s the end of the dry season and people flock to enjoy the dry warm sunny weather.

Having visited Broome back in October last year, this time round I was keen to get out of town and ‘go bush’. I wanted to explore the Dampier Peninsular and see what life was like up on the coast. My Google Earth research in January got me interested in the string of islands running across the King Sound.

Strolling around Broome I stopped and spoke with Paul Boon an art dealer from the Old Broome Lockup gallery. Paul told me about one of his artists, Bruce Wiggan, a charismatic artist living in One Arm Point. He recommended that I should spend some time with him if I was planning a visit to that part of the world.

Two days later and two hundered kilometres north of Broome I found myself sitting in the cool shade of a tree in Bruce’s front garden. He was wearing his hand painted ’star hat’ over a bright yellow bandana and a wispy white shoulder length hair.

We talked for a solid couple of hours straight. By the end of that conversation it was obvious to me that Bruce was much, much more than an artist. He wore many hats including healer, playboy, respected elder, guide, model, hippy, dreamer, weatherman, turtle hunter, romantic, prankster and aging bachelor.

That day he invited me to stay at his house and proceeded to show me around his lounge/museum. The walls were all plastered with photos of people who had come into Bruce’s life. “They all come to me”, he said repeatedly. Many of them I couldn’t help notice were women. He was proud of his international network of friends and gave me a name and the story of each person frozen in time. They were all still very much alive in Bruce’s memory. He chuckled over his own stories and accounts of how and when he met many of them. I couldn’t help smile the entire time. He was clearly a magnet for interesting people.

Later that night after assisting at the scene of fatal accident, I wanted to escape the horror of the scene and agreed to  go boating with Bruce’s nephew David. Four of us went turtle hunting under moonlight for 3 hours. It was enlivening. The moon turned the water silver. The air was still and cool and the ocean calm.

There’s no doubt that the young guys saw me as balast, but sitting in the back of the boat near the furious outboard I had the best vantage point to see their hunting technique.

Just like the name of their town, the hunter standing up on the bow of the boat would point with one arm to give the driver in the back directions and speed signals. When coming on a turtle in the waters below the hunter would control a high speed chase whilst hanging onto a spear with one hand and giving instructions to the driver with the other. This required excellent balance and coordination between both the hunter and the driver.

We chased at least 12 turtles that night, but all were too fast or dove too deep to spear. It was their lucky escape, as David was keen to fill his fridge with turtle for his family that night and at the same time show me how turtle hunting was done under moonlight. Even though he didn’t let me down, I am sure he was disappointed that he came home without a catch that night. Whilst I was totally enthralled and on high from the turtle chases, he returned to our beach launch between the crocodile infested mangroves somewhat glum.

The next day we went out again, this time only with Bruce and Kayster. This time round David hit the very first turtle right in the centre of its shell with a powerful blow that made for the perfect catch. Kayster and older friend of Bruce and David wasted no time and dived into the water and hauled the heavy turtle into the small boat. I was filled with a powerful mix of excitement and controlled concern for this magnificent animal. In a few hours we would all be eating various parts of the creature and doing so with relish.

…more to come…

Turtle Hunting @ One Arm Point

Victoria to South Australia (Feb09) – Updated 5th March

Leaving Melbourne

On Saturday 21st February 2009 I left Melbourne in Victoria as bushfires continued to roar across the state. The sky was filled with smoke haze as the Overland train pulled out of Southern Cross station. And I did think of Rome.

Instead of flying out of the state I decided to book a train ticket for Murray Bridge in South Australia. This first leg was a visit to my family before the start of my outback walkabout.

To leave Melbourne I wanted to use the generous transit time that train travel affords to reflect and relax. In the previous week I had been frantic with activity, taking possessions out of storage, loading them onto a ute, driving, unpacking, holding a massive garage sale and then repacking and loading the remaining items into a hire truck. I then drove from Melbourne to South Australia and back in 48 hours covering some 1600 kilometers. This mad dash was to off load my last worldly possessions (some 15 cubic meters of stuff) into the cavenous storage space in Goolwa that my family kindly offered.

Offline in South Australia

For the last 10 days I have been offline. The time has been spent with family unpacking and sorting through books, papers, receipts, maps, photos, memories and petty conflicts. Like many of the items I have handled, the time itself has been intensely personal. Being around the family has been somewhat foreign to me, as I have not been very close to them for the last 5 years or so. Melbourne has afforded an indulgent isolation.

My brother however was kind enough to distract me from the huge task I set myself of sorting and storing with a drive to the Bluff at Victor Harbor for a dive (see photo above). In previous months I had sent my dive gear across to South Australia in preparation for an earlier holiday.

The beach dive with him was about 40 minutes and I was surprised to find the waters were warm and clear. Visibility was around 10 meters. What stood out was the dive location he recommended. As a young boy I had often swam and fished in the area and the waters beyond the shore were always dark and mysterious. The stretch of water between the island and shore was known to locals as ’shark alley’, so it was for me a dive into past memories, as much as the actual waters themselves.

Snorkelling, my brother spotted me from the surface. He bobbed up and down in the gentle roll of the ocean and visibly began to shiver after 30 minutes. He watched me like a hawk though. I supposed at the time he was not fully trusting of the safety of the waters and my diving experience. Only a week or so before at the very same location a young man had died in a lone diving accident. This too must have been foremost in his mind.

There is much more to tell about South Australia, particularly concerning Goolwa and the Murray River (creek), and I hope to share more with you all once I have finished my packing and said goodbye to my family. The train once again will open time for me to write.

Next leg of the trip: Ghan Train – Adelaide to Alice Springs (this plan fell over)

Next leg of the trip: Sterile Qantas flight to Broome via Perth Thursday 5th March (missed this flight by 1min 13 sec)

Next-next longer (laughable) leg of the escape plan: $66 extra to QANTAS for pleasure of taking the next connecting flight to Broome late on the morning of Thursday 5th March (Fingers crossed I can get from gate 21 to gate 24 in the Adelaide airport in 4.2 hours. What are my chances?)

Still With James With (Part 2 of 2)

[This is part two of a post about my first face-to-face meeting with Producer/Actor James With]

Ordering a coffee and museli to fuel our minds for the early morning meeting I notice James leaning sideways towards the waitress trying to catch her busy eye. He’s doing it very deliberately. I begin to think he’s either acting out for a laugh, or he’s a habitual flirt, an expat who has spent too long in Thailand, until that is I hear that he is trying to ‘win her attention, to get a smile from her’.

Why all this is necessary becomes clear when James quietly tells me that she carelessly spilt his first drink in a slap dash manner before I arrived. She didn’t even bother with an apology. Hearing this I point out to him that he appears to be adopting a Buddhist inspired way to clear the air and make her feel much more at ease. He smiles at the thought. Unfortunately for the waitress we can see that even as she darts around the cafe she appears to prefer being uptight and busy, than pleasant and chatty. Dispensing smiles to relaxed customers ready to enjoy good company and good coffee doesn’t sit easy with her today. Pity, the Journal Cafe otherwise has alot going for it.

James and I continue.

Thailand – Perth Shift

James brings to my attention the fact that he and his partner Para Isidro (pictured) moved to Perth just over a year ago. Whilst the move was for James a return to Australia, for Para who originally hailed from the Philippines where she had a long career in the entertainment industry the move was to yet another foreign country.

When asked as to why the move, James sighted increasing costs and difficulties with running a dance school over in Thailand as the two main motivating factors. Political upheaval also got a mention, he had seen a few in his time there.

He went on to intimate that foreigners teaching modern forms of Western dance were not the most welcome of business types in Thailand. He grinned and nodded when I used the term ‘cultural hegemony’ to try to sum up what it was that the Thai authorities were trying to fight against.

“Yes, hip-hop is not the kind of dance they want to encourage,” James said with a slightly jaded expression. It became clear that such a business was going against the grain with Thai authorities who wanted traditional Thai dance to predominate over Western forms.

Perth though is receptive to the style of dance workshop that both James and Para run. Their latest January dance workshop Smooves by all accounts went well. Hip-hop here in Australia is not taken as such a culture attack on our dance culture. One might say Australia has always had a problem with Cultural Imperialism, but our indigenous forms of  dance have stood up to waves of influence remarkably well.

Thailand it seemed had been otherwise good for James’ acting career. He gives me a quick inside story of how he was cast the Preacher in Sly’s Rambo 4 film. “Sly was very hands on with the final casting,” he explains with a tone that suggests his knowledge and experience runs much deeper than we have time to explore it. “He’s the one who made the choice. He picked me.”

We leave Rambo in the Burmese jungles and jump back to Western Australia.

Western Australia

I am keen to hear about James’ return to Australia as a Producer. What has the transition been like for him? Is he finding it easier to work on his production slate over here compared to being based in Asia?

I ask out of personal curiousity. I also ask because a few years ago I myself returned to Australia with ideas (dreams really) to pitch, produce and promote movies, television series and travel/cultural documentaries. Unlike James however, I naively came up against the reality of Australia’s media Gangland (Mark Davis’ term for the small number of powerful Australians who determine the cultural landscape of Australia’s creative industries), chronic funding problems (the pathetic mix of a lack of risk taking and favortism), my own inexperience (no formal production schooling), lack of pre-production support and Australia’s paranoid political climate; the post S11 paranoia about any projects that would be inclusive, wholistic and multicultural.

In response to the first question James’ grimace is enough for me to understand. I read it in a flash. His expression tells me things are happening, but nowhere near as smoothly as he had initially expected. He’s not defeated, but far from happy with how things are panning out. A few more words from him more-or-less confirms my nonverbal cue reading.

He’s rather frustrated and incredulous about the reception he has been given coming back to Australia. He’s been off the radar as it were. A common story in Australia’s culture industry circles. After working in the film industry in Asia and the USA, he doesn’t understand why not all the doors are opening. “Are they truly that unreceptive?” he wonders out loud. One by one, he starts to throw grenades. Seeing I am not defending, and that he can no longer hold back, the Western Australian film industry comes under fire, until that is he starts to widen the story to explain why he’s over here in Melbourne.

It all boils down to one phrase. Film Victoria is ‘proactive’.

Sadly for Western Australia, James is finding that the people and policies at Film Victoria are making it very hard for him not to shift the entire production of ‘All the Tired Horses’ to the eastern states. I can see he is uncomfortable with admitting it that he is considering it. His body language suggests he is awkward with the idea of his own disloyalty to the state where he grew up.

Seeing James react this way, I sip on my coffee and let silence shift the topic. He’s good with silence, better than I, so I jump in with another line of questions: Baz’s Australia.

Australia

James’ critique of Baz Lurhman’s film Australia is measured.

He mostly cites the problems associated with the look of the film. From James’ perspective Baz faced difficulties associated with varied scenes; a film jumping from outback scenes with wild locations, to scenes dense with CG, to studio scenes, then back to stylized sets and back outside again. Stylistically and technically it didn’t work for James.

Whilst I didn’t agree, the closing scene with the Elder walking away with his grandson with his bare backside showing was too much for James. In his thinking that closing scene just shouldn’t have revealed nakedness, if for no other reason than that it would have upset or offended foreign audiences. He was happy for me to include this comment in the blog, for it to be an ‘on the record’ comment as it were.

When I said that I thought Baz came across as being confused about who each scene was filmed for, James tended to agree. Some scenes in my mind spoke to Australian audiences, whilst others were really too much of an Australian audience to stomach, and may well have been more appealing, that is to say, deliberately directed at American audiences. I said to James that I found this overall confusion over which audience was being considered with each scene to be jarring, to which he acknowledge that he did understand what I menat about this confused feel to the film.

Leaving Baz alone, conversation turned to the stars of Australia and we chatted about Nicole Kidman not so much as the actress, but Nicole as the film promoter. James had quite a few cutting remarks to make about Nicole’s appearance on David Letterman’s program after the release of the film, none of which I will repeat here, suffice to say that in his view Nicole wasn’t the most relaxed of interviewees and that the box office might have reacted differently had she and Dave got along better. Meow!

All the Tired Horses

Wanting to avoid falling into the slanderous trap of fim bashing with its eternal wellspring of negativity, I made an attempt to turn talk to James’ own film slate and in particular the film he is currently in pre-production with ‘All the Tired Horses’.

He followed my lead and this change of topic had just the right affect. James’ whole posture shifted. He had more positive energy, but he also became more focused and yet slightly more cautious with expressing his views. It became immediately evident that he was now talking as a Producer, and as such it showed that he was self-aware of carrying the shared responsibility of a film that was still in pre-production; that critical time for all films where they either come to life with tremendous drive and energy, or die an invisible painful death often dragging those closest to it with them, particularly who refuse to move on to the next project of equal or greater promise.

Talk of All the Tired Horses confirms all that I have been wanting to know. Can James pull this off? Is he as a the Producer able to pull together all those lose threads, from finance, cast, crew, distribution, marketing and the like? Half an hour latter after taking in his experiences in Japan, Thailand and LA he has me convinced.

He has so much faith in the script, the Director and his ability that I am beginning to see that the experience in Western Australia with the film authorities over there have far from beaten him. It would have been easier to have the entire production in one home state, but the industry, for those of us who have been involved, certainly doesn’t work that way.

As our banter turned to the power of online social networks and marketing online we both sensed the rest of our day was looming. He finished his museli and was rewarded with an unexpected smile from the waitress. He had won us both over.

For an actor I was pleasantly surprised James wasn’t more animated and for a Producer I was surprised he was so candid and trusting with his views. This made for a refreshingly rare encounter in both regards. Overall though it was James’ unmistakable decency and openness with me as a near stranger that impressed me the most.

Welcome home to Australia James.

With James With (Part 1 of 2)

Image Source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0999139/resumephotos

I met with Australian Producer/Actor James With today at the Journal Cafe in Flinders Lane in Melbourne.

It was an early start; an 8am breakfast meeting, rescheduled from 10:30am.

Standing in the city tram I once again acknowledged my pathetically habitual reaction to seeing the great washed all going off to their pinstriped prisons.

They were all obediently quiet. Although I was sensitive to a very dull ultra-low frequency ‘drone’ emitted as their bodies swayed to and fro with the rocking of the tram. At that moment their’s was a mobile symphony of sadness and they were the faithful flashmob reenacting the same scene with the same frightful earnestness each morning.

Walking up the cafe stairs, I reminded myself that James and I had never met in person before. This meant that I would have to look around, match a real face with a digial face, one now days old in my memory. I would need to pace the joint and profile the Journalistas. This was the real world. There would be no all knowing Google arrow hanging over his head.

You see being the cutting-edge sort of guy that I am, my connection with James came through Facebook.

All those months ago, a glance at James’ profile told me we shared an interest in film, Asia and social networking. On this basis I think we became friends. The question might be, was that enough? Whilst such an online friend, or contact, might justifiably termed a  ‘weak tie’ by the likes of author James Harkin according to his arguments on this topic in new book Cyburbia, I was nonetheless optimistically willing to see how things would develop. Hence our meeting.

Besides, we were also both ‘friends’ with “Steve Spielberg” at one stage. James though has mysteriously dropped off of ‘Steve’s’ friend list in recent months.

I can only assume that they must have had a squabble. It’s more likely though that James saw through the hoax. I can only guess that he questioned ‘Steve’s’ choice of personal photos in his album and at some point deduced that this Facebook ‘Steve’ in question was not the real Steven. Unlike myself, James may have decided to jump clear of the jaws of this scam artist’s clever deception.

I on the other hand have entered into a wilful suspension of disbelief.  I like having ‘Steve’ around. And when I come to think of it, as far as ‘friends’ go, he may well be helping me meet up with more women (online) than the majority of my real ‘mates’ out there. You hear that fellas!

[Sidenote to Steve: My sincere apologies if you are reading this Mr. Spielberg. There is always that 'Independence Day' slim chance that you could actually be benignly using Facebook. Unbeknown to us all, you might be carrying out an obscurely passive form of character study with your now 276 Facebook friends.]

In the cafe James was perched up on the counter overlooking the entrance to the library. He was not overdressed. In fact he stood out with his dark patterned 90s shirt and smart blue jeans. His hair was damp and tied back into a small pony tail.

Walking up to him I called out his name quietly. He swung around, smiled and shook my hand. He was real. And more importantly for the entire hour or so we talked, I was quietly relieved that he ‘kept it real’, even when he was sharing some of his more amazing tales from his time in Japan, Los Angeles and everywhere in between.

Continues …

Click here for Part 2 of 2 Blog Post ‘Still With James With’

What Will the World Look Like in 2030?

Today I have been glancing at Ian Yeoman’s new book ‘Tomorrow’s Tourists: Scenarios & Trends’ with a view to researching possible travel article hooks and angles prior to my own travel.

Interested in the concept of the title, I found that Chapter3 & 4 of Yeoman’s book written with the Future Foundation, were of particular interest: What Will the World Look Like in 2030? and What Will the Tourist Be Doing in 2030? All rather thought-provoking stuff.

At present looking this far into the future seems like folly. Considering the economic world is collapsing around our ears the future of tourism might amount to horse back riding to a neighbouring farm. After civilisational collapse there might not be too many aircraft in the air. Camel caravans might become the norm. Yet that’s a very extreme and pessimistic view, and one I am not particularly keen to nuture in the mind of my readers in this post.

Back to Yeoman. Chapter 3 of Tomorrow’s Tourist embraces that old darling of futurist terms ‘Mega Drivers’. Remember John Naisbitt’s (over)use of that term Mega? – as in his Megatrends books? Anyway, here are Yeoman’s own 17 Mega Drivers accompanied by a few of my own comments along the way.

Mega Driver 1 – A World of Changing Values

Core: “Increasing evidence of a conflict between consumerism and a wider concern with societal impacts is emerging, which is reflected in our concern for the environment.” p. 22

Comment: I would have to say that societal impacts and our concern about them don’t stop at just the environment. Societal impacts have profound influence on people’s identities too. (See Bhiku Parekh’s book A New Politics of Identity)

My favourite observation: “Cultural changes towards an experience driven culture are generating awareness in morals; supported by an ever-developing information network, people’s opinion may be determined more rapidly as a result.” [italics mine]

Mega Driver 2 – Living with Uncertainty and Fear

Core: “In an increasingly unsafe world humans will become more aware of crime and terrorism.”

Comment: I wish I could say, now that we are in the Obama era, that this sounds so dated, so Bush administration framed. Unfortunately it’s too early to say though, as to whether this “New America” we are witnessing can bring about a new form of inclusive world leadership that will bring down levels of crime and terrorism on a global scale and ultimately help diminish our collective fears associated with such phenomenon.  Here’s hoping this Mega Driver is not accurate and that it can be proven as a hangover from a bygone era.

As a person who supports elements of the Constructivists outlook on world politics, I think it is important not to blindly ‘buy into’ these bleak outlooks, since they can carry destructive polarizing effects.

Mega Driver 3 – Education, Wealth and Choice

Core: “Increasing extremes of wealth and poverty in our societies will create more challenges and uncertainty about our future.”

Comment: It is concerning to recognise that ‘the polarisation of wealth is reflected in increasing polarisation in the fields such as education.”

Mega Driver 4 – The Power of USA in the World

Core: “There is no doubt that US politics and policy is impacting on the world stage.”

“Whilst the United States retains military and economic strength to influence global politics, the increased possibility of a rising resentment of anti-US politics may ensue. With redistribution of dwindling energy reserves, a swing in power away from the United States to hydrocarbon rich regions in the mid-term future is possible. A change in the US political climate towards a non-interventionist foreign policy may turn opinion back to viewing the United States as the home of freedom and democracy, therefore rebuilding its economic strength and contributing towards global economic security.” pp. 23-24

Comment: Let’s see what the Obama administration can do with one or two terms in power?

Mega Driver 5 – The Power of the Asian Block in the World

Core: “The expansion of the economies of India and China is seen by many respected commentators as one of the major factors in how the World’s geopolitical economy will alter in the next decade.”

Mega Driver 6 – The Power of the European Union in the World

Core: “A larger, integrated and more powerful Europe will become an important element of the world economy… The strengthening EU provides an alternative to the Fast Eastern and US economies as a reserve currency, which provides another focal point for dominance in political power.”

Mega Driver 7 – A Changing Business World

Core: “New lessons on wealth generation will have to be learnt in the Western economies as their traditional dominance is eroded. “

Comment: Much larger numbers of innovative projects will need to arise from both private and public sources to generate a greater diversity of employment patterns and investment opportunities. Post-financial crisis economics will demand real world benefits for investors, consumers and the environment, not just valueless profits.

Mega Driver 8 – The Global/Local Society

Core: “Growth of urban areas may increase as international immigration and rural depopulation continues. Greater ethnic mixing within vast urban settlements will blur the boundaries between the global and local society.”

Comment: Travel will play a vital role in helping to shape a new consciousness about this phenomenon and reduce the overall levels of xenophobia and ethnocentricism existing in divided societies.

Mega Driver 9 – The Relationship between People and Government

Core: “People are becoming increasingly sceptical of politicians, governments and corporations… Increasing access to greater amounts of information and the ability to form subjective opinions makes the electorate able to question the decisions and elected body makes. The converse viewpoint is that with the influence of media to present information biased in a particular direction, they can therefore guide the attitude of the electorate to a particular decision.”

Comment: Long live independent media, grassroots organisations, collaboration and open debate on a whole range of issues that impact on our common future. May travel also stimulate new perceptions and discussion about solutions to complex societal and cultural problems.

Mega Driver 10 – AIDS

Core: “AIDS will impact on world labour supply and has the potential to impact on emergent economies… WHO estimates that at least 117 million people will die from AIDS by 2030.”

Mega Driver 11 – Physical Access: Transport of People and Goods

Core: “…the transport network is far from integrated and is vulnerable to shortages in fuels, particularly oil.”

Comment: Is it likely that we will look back on our current era as a golden age of cheap international travel that was contingent apon cheap oil? We need to recognise that travel and tourism will br very reliant on how the future energy industry evolves and how peaceful that evolution is. Wars and isolationsim are not conducive to travel without a gun.

Mega Driver 12 – Access to Knowledge

Core: “The scale of communication and the immediacy of knowledge are global phenomenon. This may help the way populations and people attempt to understand their societies and the dynamics within them. Yet such access is linked to wealth and availability and this is not yet uniform.”

Comment: Knowledge sharing between people will come to be as important as it is during the formal education periods in people’s lives when knowledge came from institutions. Independent learning too will be greatly accelerated with increasing access to Knowledge.

Mega Driver 13 – Changing Labour and Demographics

Core: “The ageing of Western society will create labour and skills shortages. As production moves to new destinations, patterns of migration and immigration will be influenced by sources of employment.”

Mega Driver 14 – Energy/Oil

Core: “Uncertainty over the future availability of oil and the availability of reserves will occupy many governments and pan national corporatoins. Alternative sources of energy and concern about carbon emissions are major items on the world agenda and there is a much greater public awareness of fuel/energy issues… The future without oil will see further development in sustainable, alternative energy and transportation systems; however, changes to lifestyle, work and domestic setup are also likely.”

Mega Driver 15 – The Environment, Natural Resources and Climate

Core: “The trend of growing attention to the effects of environmental issues is now clearly on the political agenda. Countering the environmental impacts, damage and climate change vary regionally subject to the stage of economic development and availability of technology and resources.”

Mega Driver 16 – Food

Core: “Food and health and the quality of the food we eat have become a major driver and concern. Food is politicised over issues such as genetic modification or via resistance to brands, which represent nations and unacceptable corporations. Food and farming remain political and societal issues that can impact on the environment whether it si through land closure or through remarks about food quality in desinations.”

Mega Driver 17 – New Technologies

Core: “Challenges such as the digitisation of information are upon us and regulation and monitoring of people will increasingly be reliant on technology in advanced societies. This creates new ethical questions about freedoms in our societies and other societies.”

Commonplace technologies by 2030 include: Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology, Cognitive Science.

What does this mean for World Tourism?

• Concern for the environment and the rise of cultural awareness means the tourist becomes more of a traveller, going deeper and staying longer. p. 31
• The world in the future will be based upon the paradigm of ‘freedom to’ rather than ‘freedom from’ as countries adopt big brother practices through the introduction of biometric passports and visa restrictions. p. 31
• Western destinations may be accused of pandering to discrimination as countries become uncomfortable with the unknown because of the rise of fear in society. We will see countries introduce barriers to entry and tourists from Asian coutnries feeling uncomfortable in this security world. p. 31
• We will see more deluxe and gated communities as the bipolarity between rich and poor continues. p. 31
• We will see significant shifts in world tourism to Eastern and Asian markets due to the low-cost base and rising prosperity. p. 31
• What has happened in the past in the business world in no longer a model for the future as exponential pace of change in technology transformed business models. p.31
• Technology media channels moves from corporations as individuals create their own media channels through www.facebook.com making consumer destination reviews more accessible and immediate. p. 31

Travelling Trend Spotter?

Can trend spotting and travelling work?

If you’re not sure, I am certainly about to find out.

Just yesterday I realised that travelling will afford me the opportunity to see much more on the road than perhaps I would settled in the inner-suburbs. Some of you internet-surfing, social butterfly, rarely-at-home-types might like to beg to differ, but I think otherwise. Being out on the open road affords you exposure to a great deal.

Since I plan to be out there actively meeting people, talking my way onto tours (hopefully free of charge) and sticking my nose into all sorts of different places, I am confident that I should be able to unearth a few nascent trends that are emerging out there in the wider world.

God knows so much of what is happening “out there” these days goes under-reported. And creative, eccentric, avante-garde, experimental types don’t generally all have their own PR agencies to let the wider world know what they’re up to. That’s where talented Trend Spotters come in.

Trend Hunter

Whilst I hope my travel writing and photography will occupy much of my time, I also aim to jump online and file a few trends with Canadian Jeremy Gutsche’s top trend spotting site Trend Hunter. Take a look, much of the content is very thought-provoking. There is even a category for trend spotting in relation to travel itself. It’s labelled ‘Hip Travel’ by the Trend Hunter community.

Here’s what Trend Hunter does in a nutshell: “Each day, Trend Hunter features a daily dose of micro-trends, viral news and pop culture.”

Jeremy’s team doesn’t stop there though: “The most popular micro-trends are featured on Trend Hunter TV and later grouped into clusters of inspiration in our Trend Reports, a series of tools for professional innovators and entrepreneurs.”

Sound a little wish-washy? A little irrelevant perhaps? Well think again. Here’s why…

- 6-8 million monthly views ( Q4 2008 )
- 40,000+ online references to Trend Hunter
- 32,844 posted trends
- 73.4 trends / day
- 12 niche magazines
- 23,646 Trend Hunters
- 30,000+ Newsletter Subscribers
- 20,000+ Facebook App users
- 3,500+ Toolbar users
- 40 Financial Times citations
- Read in 190 countries

There’s reason enough for you to think I am actually joining a herd, rather than some obscure team of geekish boffins.

Here’s two of the first trends I have posted with Trend Hunter. You might be a little surprised and bemused by the first trend, for the reason of shameless self-promotion, and I dare say somewhat shocked by the second for reason of controversy.

• Civilizational Evacuation

• Riot Tourism

So if you have any ideas about trends that you have seen, send me a comment below and I will be happy to discuss it with you and possibly post it to Trend Hunter.

Keep your eyes peeled!