Anyone watch Coast Australia last night?Wow!

[Jacaranda]

I was on my laptop last night when Coast Australia came on.(Havent been watching this series)I started to watch it and wow WA is stunning!Never been there,but the beaches look absolutely gorgeous!Can't recall all the places they visited,but I do remember Margaret River,and Prevelli (Or is it Prevelly?)Anyway interesting story re Prevelli.An aussie soldier got sent to Crete in ww2 (one of my fav places)and him and his mate had to seek refuge in a monastery.When he returned home,he built a greek orthodox church as a kind of Thankyou to the Crete community.Yes I am now sold on WA.What a beautiful place it looks! PS I am going to watch the episodes I've missed now!lol

[Guest guest30085]

The church at Prevelly is lovely, its only small, but in a really lovely spot. The houses surrounding it are very expensive. One can only dream, but thats one place where I would feel very very blessed if I lived there :-)

[Petkula73]

We ended up watching episode 3 of "Australia with Simon Reeve" last night (recorded from a few weeks back). The programme covered the Gold Coast to Melbourne.

 

What a completely stupid and negative programme! To watch it one would think we lived in one of the most crime ridden, dangerous and intolerant countries on earth! What a load of tosh. In the space of 60 minutes he highlighted the drugs, crime and biker gangs of Surfers Paradise (been there loads of times and find it extremely tame compared to the UK), the racism in Sydney, the plundering of arable land on the Liverpool Plains, the huge amounts of CO2 pollution, the wild fires in Victoria and ended up in Melbourne with a piece to camera saying "Australia has done alright". Yeah, thanks Simon. Very insightful!

[flag of convenience]

We ended up watching episode 3 of "Australia with Simon Reeve" last night (recorded from a few weeks back). The programme covered the Gold Coast to Melbourne.

 

What a completely stupid and negative programme! To watch it one would think we lived in one of the most crime ridden, dangerous and intolerant countries on earth! What a load of tosh. In the space of 60 minutes he highlighted the drugs, crime and biker gangs of Surfers Paradise (been there loads of times and find it extremely tame compared to the UK), the racism in Sydney, the plundering of arable land on the Liverpool Plains, the huge amounts of CO2 pollution, the wild fires in Victoria and ended up in Melbourne with a piece to camera saying "Australia has done alright". Yeah, thanks Simon. Very insightful!

 

I have seen the three the series and found Simon Reeve up to his usual high standards. None of his shows does he only convey the tourist side of things no matter where he is.

Different to UK so hard to compare the same way. Bikies have indeed been highly featured in QLD so nothing wrong bringing them to light. Anyhow they presented rather well and was a bit of PR on their part considering the regulations around bikers in that state.

The bringing to attention of looked like the destruction of areas close to Broome in WA. No longer going ahead, but was a major area of concern with environmentalists here.

 

As I say not meant as an advertisement for Australia but a bit of a reality check.

[Paul1Perth]

Haven't seen Coast Australia. I'll have to see if I can get it from somewhere. WA's coast is spectacular, even the beaches close to the City are great.

[Jacaranda]

That's Simon Reeves style though,although quite negative he tends to see the "other side"to countries he visits.He was recently in Jamaica and well if you followed everything he covered,you wouldn't go there in a million years!It does kind of show the not so nice side to places,and I guess apart from the beautiful side of places there are uglier aspects to any country we sometimes would rather not see.

[Paul1Perth]

That's Simon Reeves style though,although quite negative he tends to see the "other side"to countries he visits.He was recently in Jamaica and well if you followed everything he covered,you wouldn't go there in a million years!It does kind of show the not so nice side to places,and I guess apart from the beautiful side of places there are uglier aspects to any country we sometimes would rather not see.

 

Yes that is Simon Reeves style. I guess there are so many travel shows that only show the good bits that he needs to do something different to stand out. I quite like his shows but he tends to gloss over issues and doesn't look into why things are like they are very often. He moves on pretty quick though so I guess he's found a formula that works.

[Johndoe]

I gave up on it after a few episodes. Nealy all the locations he visited were only accessible by helicopter or boat but depite that, he seemed to infer that it was available to all

[flag of convenience]

The coast line up north of WA is spectacular. Only accessible by boat/ship or plane/helicopter though, which makes it so darn inaccessible to reach.

[jac2011]

I thought the Simon Reeve documentary was cut into too few episodes. He should have focussed on specific areas for longer, showing both sides of the stories...

[Jacaranda]

Hmmm Well despite the fact you can't access half the places shown,maybe that's a good thing?:wink:If they were accessible,every man and his dog would be living there and it would spoilt it.

[flag of convenience]

Hmmm Well despite the fact you can't access half the places shown,maybe that's a good thing?:wink:If they were accessible,every man and his dog would be living there and it would spoilt it.

 

Probably not living. Just like in the UK most of the attractive places are far from easier to make a living.

[JockinTas]

I'll get Australia Coast if it's on DVD. Sounds really good.

 

I always enjoy Simon Reeve and yes, he does show the un-touristy side of wherever he is. I watched the one he did recently on The Maldives. One of the islands is used to dump the rubbish from all the resorts. It was a disgusting, smelly quagmire with all sorts of stuff seeping into the ocean and the air was thick with flies.

[BritChickx]

We ended up watching episode 3 of "Australia with Simon Reeve" last night (recorded from a few weeks back). The programme covered the Gold Coast to Melbourne.

 

What a completely stupid and negative programme! To watch it one would think we lived in one of the most crime ridden, dangerous and intolerant countries on earth! What a load of tosh. In the space of 60 minutes he highlighted the drugs, crime and biker gangs of Surfers Paradise (been there loads of times and find it extremely tame compared to the UK), the racism in Sydney, the plundering of arable land on the Liverpool Plains, the huge amounts of CO2 pollution, the wild fires in Victoria and ended up in Melbourne with a piece to camera saying "Australia has done alright". Yeah, thanks Simon. Very insightful!

 

To be fair when I was in Qld all I heard on the news about Surfers was robberies and gang related crime. Not saying it's all bad as I have actually been there too but it can't all be BS.

 

I like watching Coast Australia and any programmes with Simon Reeve.

[Jacaranda]

Probably not living. Just like in the UK most of the attractive places are far from easier to make a living.

Meant it abit tongue in cheek Flag but you know what I mean?Some places are just best left alone for a reason!We still need places on this planet we can see (even if its on tv lol)that are unspoilt.

[Petkula73]

With regard to Simon Reeve, I know it's a travelogue not a tourist information video but I felt it was unrepresentative of Australia. Didn't see episode 1, so can't comment. In episode 2 he worked his way across the top of the country from the NT to Northern Queensland. Lots of stories about poverty, taking of land from indigenous people and so on then on to the destruction of the barrier reef and how the minerals boom is wrecking the marine habitat. Then episode 3 was concerned with the points I discussed earlier.

 

Does all this stuff happen? Yes, but I don't think it's really representative of Australia as a whole. Something like 80% of us live in a strip of coastline on the south and east coasts. That's surely what the "real" Australia is about, not the outback. To say something like 8.5 million people live in Sydney and Melbourne he skipped over them both in about ten minutes. However, there are loads more things of note happening in these cities than small settlements in the Northern Territory. As an example, what about the big Greek and Italian communities in Melbourne, or the obsession with the AFL, or the diversity of food and culture, or the suburban bogan culture etc etc.

 

It's akin to making a programme called "United Kingdom" and spending two and a half episodes discussing social problems in the Shetlands and Orkneys.

 

With regard to the bikie gangs, I thought they came across reasonably well. I don't doubt the criminal element, but in my opinion they do get targeted more than other groups. In general, my experience has been that they keep themselves to themselves. I used to live in one of the apartment blocks on Southbank which had some bikie leaders living there because of the extra security. I wasn't intimidated by them and they didn't bother any of the "normal" residents.

[Paul1Perth]

Hmmm Well despite the fact you can't access half the places shown,maybe that's a good thing?:wink:If they were accessible,every man and his dog would be living there and it would spoilt it.

 

No Chance Jacaranda. There is so much beautiful coastline, literally thousands of Kilometres of it, that it's going to be a long time before there are enough people in WA to make even the most beautiful places feel busy. Most of the time you can go down to Margaret River and find a beach with so few people in it you feel as if you have to keep it secret so no-one else will find it.:cute:

 

There are heaps of places, without going to the main tourist ones, that would be virtually deserted, just so much choice. We keep meaning to go down to Esperance again as it has the most stunning beaches and coastline. You can take the car on the beaches down there and it can be really wild. Did Coast do that bit?

[flag of convenience]

With regard to Simon Reeve, I know it's a travelogue not a tourist information video but I felt it was unrepresentative of Australia. Didn't see episode 1, so can't comment. In episode 2 he worked his way across the top of the country from the NT to Northern Queensland. Lots of stories about poverty, taking of land from indigenous people and so on then on to the destruction of the barrier reef and how the minerals boom is wrecking the marine habitat. Then episode 3 was concerned with the points I discussed earlier.

 

Does all this stuff happen? Yes, but I don't think it's really representative of Australia as a whole. Something like 80% of us live in a strip of coastline on the south and east coasts. That's surely what the "real" Australia is about, not the outback. To say something like 8.5 million people live in Sydney and Melbourne he skipped over them both in about ten minutes. However, there are loads more things of note happening in these cities than small settlements in the Northern Territory. As an example, what about the big Greek and Italian communities in Melbourne, or the obsession with the AFL, or the diversity of food and culture, or the suburban bogan culture etc etc.

 

It's akin to making a programme called "United Kingdom" and spending two and a half episodes discussing social problems in the Shetlands and Orkneys.

 

With regard to the bikie gangs, I thought they came across reasonably well. I don't doubt the criminal element, but in my opinion they do get targeted more than other groups. In general, my experience has been that they keep themselves to themselves. I used to live in one of the apartment blocks on Southbank which had some bikie leaders living there because of the extra security. I wasn't intimidated by them and they didn't bother any of the "normal" residents.

 

I don't see it as being here and there with regards just how representative the show was on the living in Australia. It went far beyond that. The gas exploration for example would certainly have had a major environmental impact on Broome and The Kimberley region as pointed out.

Crime is indeed a concern of a number of people. Way back in the latter 90's, I recall People Power protests in Perth around that very subject. Fear especially among the old. Odd what ever happened to those?

Bikies as I pointed out were considered a big deal indeed. Laws limiting civil liberties were enacted in QLD to curtail and diminish such groups, largely picked up by other states. I'd say the losing of civil liberties with such ease an issue as well.

I agree on your opinions on the targeting of bikies. It has to do with organised crime in the authorities view.

 

In my view about time we had shows discussing the under belly of what makes up Australia and done well as well. We need to see ourselves through the eyes of foreigners at times and let up a bit on the over positive perceptions too often media expressed.

[flag of convenience]

Meant it abit tongue in cheek Flag but you know what I mean?Some places are just best left alone for a reason!We still need places on this planet we can see (even if its on tv lol)that are unspoilt.

 

Australia is unlikely to run out of deserted beach and coastline. All too often outside the obvious being too difficult to access. I agree we need places and countries not being swallowed up by the onward march of capitalism though. Australia I'm afraid has fallen victim in other ways though largely negative.

 

Still a long way from the vandalism created around the world from The Algarve to Koh Samui and the rest. If there's a buck to be made from it though expect little difference.

[FTA]

I gave up on it after a few episodes. Nealy all the locations he visited were only accessible by helicopter or boat but depite that, he seemed to infer that it was available to all

I just watched series 1 and can't help thinking exactly the same as you.

Absolutely stunning scenery and very well narrated, but he always seemed to be tagging along with some scientist, national parks ranger, or govt offical, who had special access to a protected area or animal, which the average person could never dream of doing.

[Gbye grey sky]

Has this thread gone off topic? Coast Australia has nothing to do with Simon Reeve. The main presenter is Neil Oliver and well worth watching. Not just for the stunning coastal scenery but for the stories behind the places they visit. Episode 5 this week was terrific focussing on the islands in the Torres Strait.

[Jacaranda]

I think its nice to see the other side myself.When I go on holiday somewhere I go as far off the tourist trail as I possibly can because I want to see the real country,the good,bad and ugly!I also like to mix with the native people rather than spend my holiday talking to some dude from Manchester!(nothing against Manchester,but I can go to Manchester to speak to locals,I don't have to go 5,000 miles away to do that!)

[FTA]

Has this thread gone off topic? Coast Australia has nothing to do with Simon Reeve. The main presenter is Neil Oliver and well worth watching. Not just for the stunning coastal scenery but for the stories behind the places they visit. Episode 5 this week was terrific focussing on the islands in the Torres Strait.

This is the one (and Jacaranda's mention of the series) that prompted me to download series 1. At least I know an easier way into Australia now. Just catch a boat over on market day:)

[Jacaranda]

Has this thread gone off topic? Coast Australia has nothing to do with Simon Reeve. The main presenter is Neil Oliver and well worth watching. Not just for the stunning coastal scenery but for the stories behind the places they visit. Episode 5 this week was terrific focussing on the islands in the Torres Strait.

 

Yes it has gone off topic ggs but whats new?Thats pretty normal for a forum isn't it?

[Chortlepuss]

I've got a crush on Neil Oliver and his lovely accent. Coast (UK and Australia) is brilliant. I do love it when they roll out the glamour puss marine scientists as well. I would love to go in one of those mini submarines!