Journeys around Australia : money and survival as a rite of passage

The research formed part of a larger project on the concept of tours of non-arrival and survival escapist travel. Interviews were undertaken with both male and female travellers, and who had travelled around Australia as independent, long-term travellers, and who were all Australians. All were on a journey of escape from insurmountable life situations. Many were also undertaking journeys of non-arrival - some never returned home. All travellers experienced a point at which they exhausted their fiscal resources and sold their possessions to survive the journey. The journey taught travellers that so much of the everyday ‘western’ trappings were unessential. The journey forced travellers to become self-sufficient and self-aware and to contemplate what was strictly crucial for survival. It also emphasised that a ‘capitalist economy’ requires money to survive. Therefore, the travellers’ journeys became a ‘rite-of-passage’ and survival while journeying around Australia.