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The Real “Know Before You Go”
There’s nothing better than taking the path less travelled. Our intrepid hearts strive for niche experiences that stray from the cliché, and yank us right out of our cosy comfort zones. We push boundaries and cross borders - both literal and metaphorical. But what about when those borders are dangerous? A high school friend of…
Conversations with Burma’s Political Prisoners
Hundreds of hot air balloons rise with the sun as Bagan, in central Myanmar, wakes to the steady drone of electric motorcycles. Thousands of tourists travel upon them, making the dusty journey to towering temples far from the centre of town. Many Australians are within the tribe of Westerners ascending the narrow brick steps of…
The Tasmanian Devil
The coffee is slightly too sweet, the windows hang heavy with legs of cured meat, the central streets are choked with sunburnt tourists, and I have to watch out for pickpockets on my way to work. Barcelona’s cobblestones bring back a childish imagining of European cities: there is a richness to every step, like my…
Tourists on Scooters: Why So Many Dickheads?
“Terima kasih. Terima kasih,” I repeat over and over, till my throat goes dry and the Indonesian words of gratitude become a meaningless, Australian-flavoured gibberish. I wince. And fiddle with the label of the plastic water bottle that Ketut pressed gently into my hands. Made chucks me a toothy grin and tells me to breathe…
Our Bidentity Crisis
"You can’t be into surfing because you’re Asian."  Oh yes, you got me. Everything I do must actually fit your racist stereotype of what an Asian girl must do. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know me at all. That I am allowed to be, and am, into surfing. No, I’m just Asian. Growing up…

Astray is a storytelling project centred on travel, place, culture and identity.

We’re run by a team of writers who mostly live, work and play in nipaluna / Hobart. With reverence, we acknowledge the Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the traditional and ongoing custodians of trouwunna / lutruwita / Tasmania: land that was stolen and never ceded. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.