The residents of a coastal town Down South are eagerly awaiting the next idyllic location to be ruined by excessive exposure on social media by influencers and guide pages.
We caught up with a local who told The Times that the thrill you get from enjoying a little slice of pristine nature didn’t compare to seeing it completely trampled by disrespectful tourists. Adding,
“I remember we used to all go down to our spot and just appreciate the serenity. Now we enjoy battling the 300 influencers and 20 unprepared tourists who underestimated the hike up & down”
It seems the idea of adventure has been replaced by following a well troden blueprint of places to tick off for maximum social media kudos. That’s the true spirit of wanderlust these days.
The locals are remaining tight-lipped on the next spot to be overexposed and subsequently ruined because that was all part of the excitement. Another local put it this way,
“We could easily just send a copy of locations to the usual suspects but where is the fun in that? We want to rock up to the special spot one day and be confronted with discarded nappies, ciggy butts, and some van-life tosser filming himself with an intrusive drone”
Needless to say, the “usual suspects” are also keen to get their teeth into the next great spot to flog mercilessly.
We spoke to an influencer who told The Times,
“Not many know this but I was actually instrumental in overexposing the Karijini pools. Some of my early influencing work really lay the groundwork for every single tourism page on social media to rip my photos and promote it every single week. I’m proud of that”
She also went on to claim credit for ruining Hamelin Bay but to be honest she had plenty of help with that one.
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