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THE
WAYWARD WAY ... So, how did we get the name, 'WAYWARD BUS'?
Author
John Steinbeck wrote the book 'The Wayward Bus' in the 1940's.
Hollywood made a B grade movie of it in 1957 featuring
concert violinist Jayne Mansfield (she is remembered popularly
for other talents) and a young Joan Collins. Anyway, it's
basically about a bus that gets lost with a bunch of odd-bods
on board. Our f/f Ralph found it in a Boston second-hand
bookshop while travelling around the world in '89 and felt
the name suited perfectly a crazy idea for creating a more
interesting and irreverent (= 'tongue in cheek', adventure,
offbeat, fun) way to travel back home in Australia.
We saw
the movie in Oct 2000 after waiting 10 years! It was screened
on Foxtel TV. Liked the bit where the bus makes it across,
just as the bridge gets washed away!! And while the driver's
romance is morally incorrect, the girl's old folks are a
real hoot! We have to say, the movie is not a true likeness
of what we do in Australia.
And
what does the word 'wayward' mean?
It's an adjective: off-course, kooky and independent to
the max! That's not exactly the Collins definition, but
you get the drift? The UK tabloid newspapers like to call
Fergie 'The Wayward Princess' - because she goes and does
what she wants to - not what Tradition suggests. A few years
back, CNN reported the story of 'Hamburg's Wayward Wallaby',
the tale of a marsupial adventure - on the hop from the
police - a very long way from Australia. Since then, Las
Vegas has also had their own Wayward Wallaby incident.
About
our Wayward Bus: Our company's journey then started
in 1990 with one mini-bus and the idea of running imaginative
and informative tours along more interesting trails than
what was available on public transport. Australia has no
end of great things to see and do - yet our transport services
are very limited and don't give travellers much chance to
take in the sights en-route. For example, there is only
one public bus a week between Apollo Bay and Port Campbell
on the Great Ocean Road (ok, 2 buses in summer).
Between
Melbourne, Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin, Wayward Bus
tours meander from city to city using the most spectacular
back trails - with the feeling of a group of friends taking
their time - and our itineraries mix the famous sights with
plenty of surprises along the way.
When
we started (Melbourne - Adelaide tours weekly), word
spread like fire and we doubled the service within weeks.
For us it's now been a 15 year adventure. We've grown a
bit but not too much. We don't want to try and become part
of a multinational tourism corporation (we'd have a long
way to go). We believe 'variety is the spice of life' and
there's many different ways to go about a big country. And
it's usually more interesting to tour with the local companies
than on the MTC.
Here
are some quick tips for 'overlanding' other parts of Australia
(see our links
page afterward for links):
Melbourne - Sydney: Connect up NSW's 'Countrylink'
(check out Countrylink's terrific unlimited travel passes
between Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Broken Hill in Far
West NSW) Victoria's 'V-Line' services in one of several
ways (via coast on Princes Hwy, or up to Griffith, Deniliquin,
Albury or other points on the Murray River) or try 'Autopia
Tours' 3.5 day adventure tours over the alps;
Sydney - Byron / Brisbane: 'Andos' 5 day adventure tours,
'Surfaris' 5 days adventure camping tours & surf learning
- also 'Pioneering Spirit' 3 day adventure tours (this is
fab coastline, coastal country and mountains - don't blast
past this part of Oz on the overnighter!);
Brisbane up to Cairns: Everything interesting is
based from the coastal towns enroute so forget the tours
on this section and take the express bus services for maximum
FLEXIBILITY AND RELIABILITY (Greyhound-McCaffertys or Premier)
- anyway the Bruce Highway has to be Australia's most boring
road. Check the train passes out but they're not as frequent.
Adelaide - Perth: Much more interesting than people
think - try 'Nullarbor Traveller' adventure tours;
Perth - Darwin: A fascinating journey. Less than 21
days is rushing - try 'Travelabout' adventure tours. You'll
miss a lot if you take the express buses on this route;
Perth to Alice: Also Travelabout, a real overland
trip - 6 day tours departs every Wed. Can continue with
Wayward via Flinders to Adelaide in another 5 or 7 day tour.
Darwin - Cairns: express bus - perhaps jump off for
24 hours in one or two of the Outback Queensland towns;
Tasmania: Under Down Under Tours, hire a cheap car or rent
a bicycle (editor: I did it by bike but allow at least 3
weeks!).
Guidebook
plugs and awards: Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Fodors
and others have consistently given us teriffic raps for
years and here and there we've won several South Australian
and one National Tourism Award. We're not junkies for entering
award competitions but out of 4 entries between 94-97, we
scored 4 awards! Being 'good sports', we didn't enter again
until 2003 when we won another S.A. award.
A
word for the bus! We all know the proverbial bus tour
isn't the most envied way to travel. Less independence,
dorky groups, rushed itineraries - just doing the mainstream
tourist stuff etc. We felt the concept needed re-inventing:
a bus is basically an economic means of travel, so who says
they can't be used to extend choice, appeal to more appreciative
travellers - and get off the beaten track? Well, that's
what we try to do and our 16-22 seat Coaster mini-coaches
are economic with much smaller numbers than big buses require.
These vehicles work really well on tours because they have
an 'airy' feeling and this helps create a friendly and relaxed
atmosphere. And they hold their own in tough Outback conditions.
Buses
conserve fuel: Travelling by mini-coach consumes far
less fuel resources than nearly every other way to travel.
Our fleet has a typical consumption of just .008 litres
per seat kilometre (lsk). On a recent relocation, this webmaster
did 700kms on a tankfill of 80lts - car like economy! The
economical MD90 passenger jet burns fuel at .04 lsk while
other jets can be as high as .06 lsk. Touring in campervans
uses around .05-7 litres per seat km.
Our
bus vs self drives & campers: We see hundreds of campers
and rental cars on Australia's highways and at the most
famous tourist places. But we don't see them on our favourite
back roads and at 90% of our spectacular stops. Unfortunately(!?)
the self-drivers don't know about and/or can't find all
the good spots. While campervan marketing talks about 'freedom'
- the reality is dreary highways by day and squatting in
outer-suburban railway station car parks by night (eg Berowra
near Sydney) where they can meet other like-minded campervanners
and save money for the next day's first tank fill.
Our
Wayward travellers?: They're from all over the world
and can be any age. Most are in their 20s and 30s and our
overall average would be around 30 - about a decade older
than the 'Gap Year' backpacker buses. And a generation (and
a half?) younger than typical coach tours. If you're on
the backpacker circuit, Wayward offers a great way to travel
- without feeling like you've been branded 'Backpacker'
on the butt. Our vehicles display our distinctive logo but
we've refrained from covering them head to tail with brightly
coloured paint, jingoistic quotes, kangaroos with beer cans,
smiling pieces of fruit (we're not kidding!) and other 'fun'
decorations some of Australia's tour operators think attract
independent travellers. In other words, for our bus you
DON'T need to bring with you a 'head sized' paper bag.
And
our 'mission'? While we're out there to run good trips,
satisfy our travellers and enjoy what we do, this word is
not in our vocabulary - you're travelling, you haven't been
recruited to big biz or the military! We'll (try to!) give
you a break from all that phoney corporate language. Further,
the word is not popular with our indigenous friends.
"Open
Roads, Open Ages, Open Minds" Being labelled by stereotypes,
nationalities, age brackets or on-tour alcohol consumption
is something we're not into. Our reputation and value attracts
travellers of all ages and all nations.
How
do we market? Well, we mostly work through agents who
are popular with independent travellers. We also run adds
occasionally in some travel magazines and put up a few posters.
Guidebooks, word-of-mouth recommendations and our website
do the rest at next to no cost.
Keeping
our fares fair - compared to the 'others', we're able
to keep prices more affordable and run a viable business
because: (1) we don't need to shed much money for marketing
(2) we don't pay outrageous commissions We like to work
with smaller agents and those travel agency organisations
that seek to enjoy healthy relationships with a wide range
of operators. For those big agent chains that get greedy,
hang on to operators money for too long - or play favourites
to operators who pay the biggest commissions - we simply
cut their commissions to a minimal level.
Big
commissions send travel agents broke: In the past decade,
we've seen some tour companies grow rapidly by doubling
and even tripling the standard travel agent commission rate.
This in turn has forced fares up. It also has caused an
explosion in outlets as people rushed to lease shops and
open backpacker travel businesses to reap our competitors'
big commissions. But by 2003, there were way too many, typically
devoid of customers, and so shops closed all over Australia
as the agents went bust (eg Student Uni Travel, Experience
Trips, Travel Guru - in the case of Student Uni, operators
lost more than $1 million). In 2004, Backpackers Travel
Centres (BTC) went down after opening 30+ stores. They owe
$5 million!!!! It's been an expensive lesson for many of
our competitors.
Wayward
Bus does not need to be sold by everybody - and we don't
want to be paying the rents of underused prime real estate
all over Australia. If you find an agent who is reluctant
to sell us, it may be that: (1) Our competitors are paying
them many more times the commission we do. Example: 5% (our
rate for a global student themed agency) of $330 for a 3.5
day Centre tour = $16.50 while hypothetically 32.5% (what
one competitor was paying to an agent who still went broke!)
of $450 on a 3 day tour = $146. In this example, agent earnings
vary by 9 TIMES between us and our hapless competitor! The
traveller pays $120 more but gets a half day and a night
less. Wayward Bus earns $314 while our competitor earns
$304. (2) Wayward Bus has asked that agent for a bond payment
- in order to allow them to sell our tours (where we judge
them to be credit risk or they have a history of tardy payments).
And
hang on a second, just a couple more (important) points
to cover before you get to the tours!
On
the buses... Our Toyota Coaster fleet is all mini-coaches.
They have high-back cloth seats, stereos, air-con, window
tinting and/or curtains. Most of the minis are 21-22 seaters
but we also have 16, 18 and 19 seaters. Our Isuzu 'overland'
truck-coaches have similar comforts and take 17 passengers.
Feeding
you... Meals are included on all tours (except for dinners
on the Classic Coast - your choice). The emphasis is on
food being wholesome, tasty, fresh and plenty. Although
Aussies aren't famous for cooking, we do have several crew
who are cooks/chefs! The others do OK too - none of our
crew will be feeding you baked beans for dinner. We'll ask
travellers to assist in preparation of meals and cleaning.
We can cater for vegetarians, halal, gluten-free and allergic
reactions - let us know when booking (and maybe follow our
driver when he/she re-supplies).
A little
more about our crew... In an industry that sees heavy staff
turnover, Wayward has a reputation for having a great team
- with many who stay with us for 1-2-3-4 years. This is
through a combination of:
company credentials and atmosphere;
a variety of tours and charters (all non-frantic);
original well-designed itineraries that are enjoyable to
lead;
tours that attract the more appreciative value seeking traveller;
opportunities to use and develop skills behind the scenes
in promotion, operations and reservations;
and our driver's pay and conditions are the envy of the
others.
Over
15 years, one thing has certainly stood out about our crew:
at least ten have gone on to start their own tour companies
- the recommendable ones are on our links page but we won't
embarrass them by revealing where they learnt their trade!
We've
probably described ourselves sufficiently now to put you
in the picture - click the next bus below (in right hand
corner) to get to the tours...
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