Inside Discover Downunder

Words: Dean Allen-Craig

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

It's that well-known deep voice of popular Australian actor Paul Cronin as he hosts another episode of Discover Downunder. The TV show has completed three series and the fourth is now in production for 2008.

It's about 37°C in the shade as I write, and we've just driven for four hours across central NSW, after starting at 4.30am on a flight from Melbourne to Sydney, then on to Tamworth. This is a typical start to the day shooting the Australian travel show based around the caravanning and camping industry.

The show, seen on Network Nine on Saturdays from 4pm, has been an unusual success story. The brainchild of Warren Parrot and his father, Colin, the concept took shape over many years. Colin and Warren have a long association with the caravanning industry. Colin, owner of successful advertising business Power Pact, created many TV commercials for Doug Thorley Caravans, Jayco and World of Caravans. His son, Warren, is national strategic sales director at ACP Trader Classifieds, which produces Caravan World and sister publications Camper Trailer Australia and Motorhome World. The TV show has grown into a ratings winner for the Nine Network.

Popular country singer Tania Kernaghan has joined Paul and myself on the show as a regular presenter and recalls her own family memories of camping and caravanning throughout Australia.

"Working on Discover Downunder lets me enjoy three of my real passions - Australia, and caravanning and camping," she says. "It reminds me of when we were little kids touring the country with Mum and Dad (Ray and Pam) and my brothers Lee and Greg, and sister Fiona - sitting in the back seat of our old Ford GT, touring and performing and staying in our Dorset caravan. It was a wonderful time in my life."

ON THE HORIZON
Working on Discover Downunder takes us to all corners of Australia. We've produced shows in the Daintree Rainforest of far north Qld, in the beautiful Bay of Fires region of Tas and the Margaret River district in the south-western corner of WA.

This next series is taking us even further into the outback as we travel to the Pilbara region of north-western WA, the NT, Central Australia and some of the remote outback areas of SA. We've cuddled wombats and fed giraffes at the Monarto Zoo, SA, we've taken an up close and personal view of seals along Vic's Discovery Coast, and been to isolated sand islands off Port Douglas, Qld.

Colin says the aim of the program is to show people some of the fabulous places they can go for a holiday if they are driving and towing a van. "We show them what there is to see in a particular area, how to get there and where they can stay. We also feature the latest developments in the caravanning and camping industry - and there are some terrific innovations, like backing cameras on the larger motorhomes, flatscreen TVs in the latest caravans and the expandable lounge and bedroom sections on vans, which create a huge amount of space inside."

The location producers and camera crews work incredibly hard on the road during the shooting of an episode of Discover Downunder. They are often up before dawn, trying to capture those beautiful sunrise shots, and often still working well into the evening getting footage of a gathering around a campfire or an evening activity at a holiday resort.

As the crew arrives, the program's location producer, Danny O'Loughlin, is off meeting the local identities and arranging people and places for us to feature, as well as food and accommodation for everyone. Later, back at the studio, he is writing scripts and reviewing all the footage so he can advise the video editor how to piece the show together. It's a huge job.

The thing we love about working on the show is the amazing people we meet all across the country, from those taking their first family holiday in a caravan or camper trailer, through to people who have sold their homes and bought magnificent rigs. We've met people who have been on the road for up to five years travelling from place to place.

A DISCOVERY TRAIL
Discover Downunder features some of Australia's best caravan parks and holiday resorts. There are some extraordinary parks where there is so much to do - many families feel they hardly need to venture outside the park as they enjoy all the activities on offer, such as swimming pools, tennis courts, and the increasingly popular inflatable jumping pillows. One of the parks we stayed at, the Cairns Coconut Resort, has an enormous jumping pillow. We organised a world record for the most people on the jumping pillow at the one time. There were around 200 people recorded on the pillow at one time, and this record is yet to be beaten.

The show has taken us to some magnificent locations, from the dusty heat of Karijini National Park near Tom Price in WA, to the ski slopes of Mt Buffalo, Vic, where Tania had a ski lesson and got an attack of the giggles. We tracked the mighty Murray River from Berri to the SA coast and followed in the tracks of the Kelly gang in Vic and Captain Thunderbolt in central NSW.

Wherever we go, people love to say hello to Paul and Tania. Even after a long day's work they are both very obliging with a photo and an autograph. Tania's music is popular right across the country, and people still remember Paul fondly from his roles in Australian TV shows such as Solo One, Matlock Police and as Dave Sullivan in The Sullivans.

The amazing thing about Discover Downunder is even after all the places we've been and the shows we've done, there's still so much left to do and see. This incredible country has so much to offer that we could go on for years and still not see it all.