Issue 2
Dear Adventurer
Firstly thank you to the great many who wrote, phoned and emailed your thoughts about our new magazine. All of us here at Adventure Associates were truly uplifted by your feedback. And thank you for sharing your photos and stories, some we have chosen to include in this issue.
When I look back over my last thirty years in adventure travel, I can’t help but notice how things have changed – but also how some things stay the same.
In the ‘70s we lauded the arrival of the new mega-jets, lead by the ubiquitous 747 ‘Jumbo Jet’. Then there are the new huge cruise liners, capable of carrying thousands of passengers in total luxury, complete with shopping malls, restaurants and casinos. So spoilt are they, many even choose to stay aboard when the vessel berths at a new port.
Now the travel research and marketing gurus are extolling the ‘new’ travel passions. I see words and phrases like “transformational experiences” and “experiential travel” tossed about by the latest experts like a cure for the common cold. Well we at Adventure Associates have delivered exactly that for over thirty years!
If I’ve learned anything in my time, travel and adventure is a fundamental of the human psyche. Famous adventurers and discoverers like Cook, Magellan, Darwin, Shackleton and countless others remind us of our inherently inquisitive nature and relentless quest for new experiences. Not that I need vindication, but it astounds me that some people, usually so-called experts, have only now uncovered what Adventure Associates travellers have known for decades.
Sure, the modern explorer travels with a camera instead of a gun, buys souvenirs instead of plundering and spreads goodwill not disease. But travel remains one of the core motivators in our society next to, according to the trendy advertising executives, cash and cars.
Please stay in touch with us, because our tradition of unveiling new and exciting destinations continues. Over the next few months we’ll announce yet more “experiential travel” destinations, as well as additional departures to the ones that fill so quickly.
And. thanks to your suggestions and enquiries we have included yet more of the sort of stories you so enjoyed in Issue 1.
Dennis Collaton
The wild side of Richard Morecroft
Viewers of ABC TV will no doubt be familiar with Richard’s confident, urbane delivery of the nightly news over a period of twenty years. Those same viewers will also be aware of Richard’s very badly kept secret - his unabashed fondness for wildlife.
Read the article
Coral Reefs Under Global Threat
by Eric Matson
The world’s coral reefs are under increasing pressure from local and global-scale environmental impacts. Will we lose forever one of the planet’s greatest underwater attractions?
In Search of Sir Hubert
Australia’s “other” polar hero still remains something of a mystery to his hero-worshipping countrymen.
Two Ships and 129 Men Missing Without Trace
So screamed the mid-19th century headlines when the ambitious polar expedition, led by the aging Sir John Franklin, failed to return after yet another abortive attempt to find the elusive North West Passage across the top of Canada.
Patagonia Drama
By Chris Ord
“It’s the end of the world and it’s the beginning,” Julio muses through a steaming cup of cocoa. “It’s drama realised in earth, ice and water.”
