EP 133 Hot springs bathing around the world, UK visa changes and inflight skincare tips

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Before he founded the Peninsula Hot Springs on the Mornington Peninsula, 21 years ago, Charles Davidson began exploring thermal springs sites around the world.

His quest has now taken him to 57 countries to explore their bathing cultures, from Iran to Japan, Tanzania to Yemen.

"I really wanted to understand that hot springs had nothing to do with money or wealth, it was all to do with nature and human connection," says Charles of his experiences in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries. "The gift from mother Earth is universal." 

Listen as Charles shares some truly unique and beautiful experiences in hot water. See peninsulahotsprings.com

Also, we talk about the changes to entry to the UK and Ireland for dual citizens, and the UK's new Electronic Travel Authorisation. 

And finally, let us save your skin! With airplane cabins drier than the Sahara desert, it's no surprise to learn flying ages your skin. We're here to help, along with some expert advice from health and wellness expert Dr Vincent. 

Register here for Karryon's TravMedia webinar, which Kirstie refers to: travmedia.com/meetsaus/karryon

The bathing locations Charles mentions in this episode include:

NT Bitter Springs, Mataranka nt.gov.au/parks/find-a-park/elsey-national-park/bitter-springs 

SA Dalhousie Springs southaustralia.com/products/flinders-ranges-and-outback/attraction/dalhousie-springs-witjira-national-park 

NZ Maruia Hot Springs maruiahotsprings.nz/  

JAPAN Kusatsu onsen visit-gunma.jp/en/discover/destinations/kusatsu/ 

INDIA Kheerganga hot springs, Himchal Pradesh

IRAN Gavmish Goli hot springs, Sareyn

YEMEN Damt thermal springs

Follow Kirstie on Instagram here

Follow Belinda on Instagram here

Audio editing by Alaisdair Leith, you can follow him here

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Welcome to the World Awaits. Travel Tales to inspire your Wonderlust. Welcome back to The World Awaits. I hope you've had a wonderful week, everybody. How's yours been, Christine?

SPEAKER_01 0:16

I am working on a really exciting new project at Carry On, which we'll be revealing soon. So yeah, just keep an eye on following and listening to me about that. And you can also catch me and founder of Carry On, Matt Leetham and news editor Mark Harada in a meet with the media webinar, which is with Trav Media. So that's happening next Wednesday, which is the 18th of February. And we'll be talking about Carry-On's move into the luxury travel space, how it's evolved into a hybrid B2B and B2C player, and also how, you know, for those in the industry, how you can best work with us. So, but anyone can take a listen. So if you're interested, um just have a look and register at the link, which we will put in the show notes. And I have also locked in my travel for New Zealand. So um there's a big travel media event up in Sydney called IMM that Belle and I go to every year. Although Belle's not going this year, she'll explain why soon. And um, and I and post that I've got a wedding in New Zealand, and then following the wedding, I'm actually doing a hike, bike, and kayak with the Marlborough Tour Company, which is on the Queen Charlotte track. So this is such an incredible trip. It leaves from this tiny little town called Picton, and you stay deep in the Queen Charlotte Sounds at Punga Cove, which is only accessible by boat, um, foot or mountain bike on the Queen Charlotte track, and also the Portage, which is again uh has really limited um access, and most people get there by boat as well or helicopter. So it makes these places just really incredibly remote, and the scenery is just spectacular. It is actually by far my favourite part of New Zealand, um, as well as Fjordland. And um, and I haven't been there for about 20 years, so I am super, super excited. How about you, Belle? Tell everyone what you're doing, we which means you cannot make it up to Sydney for IMM this year.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

I know. I'm a little bit heartbroken because this is where all like most of the travel media just gets together and um, you know, we spot trends, we find new places that are opening up, get to meet friends that have come across from places like Ireland and the US and um, yeah, all over the world. It's so exciting. So I'm gonna have terrible FOMO. I'm not gonna look at my social media. That is totally not true because I'm gonna be posting like an absolute monster because I will be in South Africa instead. And it's a return, like you know, I spend a lot of time on the continent, but I'm usually on the top, I'm not down the bottom. So it's a return to South Africa after quite a few years. I am checking out a fabulous new boutique hotel in Cape Town, and then I am teaming up with the bad boy, my brother, um, my little baby brother, and the two of us are going to um drive through Kruger National Park. My vision is it's a self-drive. There's two parts to it. One of them is a self-drive, which I am envisaging I'm going to be in like a barina hatchback being chased by lions. That is not necessarily how it's gonna be, but that's what's been playing in my head. So Rory and I are going to be fanging through, doing a self-drive through Kruger, and then we were going to go to one of the most beautiful places in Africa, which is Savi Sabi Reserve, which is a private game reserve that sits alongside Kruger National Park. Um, we have actually had Jacques Smith, the um who who is the face of Savi Sabi. He's we've met him a couple of times. I've actually interviewed him about three times. Um, he was in Australia recently, and we had him on the podcast as well. So you can jump back and listen to him talking about conservation and about that preservation and enhancement of of um of safari in in Kruger in South Africa. And I cannot wait. So that's why that's what I'm gonna be doing. So you're gonna hear all about it in the next couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

So exciting. And I love that you're going with your brother. That's so nice. I didn't that's just gonna be such a what an amazing experience to have with your little brother.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

I know, but I think I'm gonna pack um I'm gonna pack injections of coffee because he doesn't he doesn't operate like you think I'm I I need my my one or two coffee a day. He is shocking. Um, so I'm thinking I might just crab like an epi pen of of caffeine in case he starts to slip down and get rid of and just plug him with him.

New requirements for UK, Irish passport holders

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Oh look, I get me on the day without a child, and and um, yeah, you know that too. I mean, it's isn't it funny we get into these habits and we and we miss our morning bruise? Um, but anyway, look, we're moving on, and the hot topic this week has been all about changes to entry to the UK and Ireland. Now, from the 25th of February, which isn't very far away, both governments are introducing new entry requirements for dual citizens, and the rules apply to anyone who holds British or Irish citizenship, in addition to another nationality like being Australian. Um, and it means that British and Irish Jewel citizens will no longer be permitted to enter the UK or island using a passport from a different country, such as an Australian passport. So the reason they're doing this is um said to be because it aligns with the UK's rollout of the ECA, which is the electronic travel authorization system.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Yeah, this change ensures that airlines can verify that passengers have the right of abode, meaning you can live or work in the UK, which prevents carriers from being fined for bringing improperly documented travelers. But the onus is going to be on airlines and other carriers to enforce these rules at check-in. So if you turn up without the correct documentation, you could be denied getting on the plane. Um, you know, even before you reach the border, you can't get to the border. So airlines, I mean, airlines are going to be subject to penalties for non-compliance. And it's going to be um, it's gonna be costly to renew um to keep that UK or Irish passport valid. Although, remembering, Kirsty, that Australia does have now the most expensive passport in the world.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Well, Nine News actually reported that some Australian British citizens are so upset by the new entry requirements that they're forking out thousands to officially renounce their citizenship. So it quoted a jewel citizen Simon, who says he paid almost$3,000 to apply to have British citizenship cancelled for himself, his wife, and his daughter, which he described as daylight robbery. And he said he'd let his passport, UK passport, lapse due to work reasons and doesn't want to pay to renew two passports for the rest of his life.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

But here's the thing a person gives up their right to live in the UK if they no longer have citizenship. So you also lose the right to UK consular protection. So let's break down the rules. Um citizens must present one of the following if traveling to the UK or Ireland, a valid UK passport, a valid Irish passport, or a foreign passport containing a certificate of entitlement, proving your right of abode in the UK. And you may be considered a UK citizen, even if you hold foreign citizenship elsewhere. If you were born in the UK, have a parent who's a British national, you were a British national, and now have a citizenship of Australia or another country, but you haven't renounced your UK citizenship. Or if you were born outside the UK to a British parent, as citizenship in this case is typically passed down one generation.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yeah. So if you plan to travel to the UK or Ireland after on or after the 25th of February, and you may be a UK or Irish dual citizen, you need to check your citizenship status and if applicable, um, ensure that you hold, like Belle said, a valid passport or foreign passport with that certification of entitlement. And we will put a link to all of this information in the show notes.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

This week, my guest is Charles Davidson, who is the co-founder of the Peninsula Hot Springs on the Mornington Peninsula here in Victoria.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Yes, gosh, what a fascinating um thing to co-find. The um peninsula hot springs. Um would be how fascinating would that be to be the the founder of a bathing hot spring incredible. So what made you want to talk to him besides doing that?

SPEAKER_03 8:35

Well, you've got to hear the story about how he found that there was hot water underneath the peninsula. It's it's absolutely fascinating. Um before Charles opened the peninsula, like he was always a bit of a bathing kind of guy. He'd been based in Japan for years, and he has literally taken himself all around the world in hot water, tubbing it. He basically tubbed around the world. So we are talking about some of the extraordinary experiences you can have in hot, albeit therapeutic, water. Take a listen. Charles, welcome to the World Awaits podcast. Thank you so much for your time.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Thanks, Belinda.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

Look, um, I let's start with a little background uh about how you came to found this iconic Australian experience back in 1997, because at the time before that, you were actually working in international trade. So how did this come to pass?

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Uh it was actually due to my international trade. I was living in Japan and I uh it was 1992. I had moved over for work, and I a friends, while I was studying Japanese, friends said, come on, let's go to a hot spring. And I had no never heard of what it was. I went to this town of Kusatsu and lay in a hot pool, looking up at the uh the the mountains and the trees covered in snow, and just felt like many people feel, why don't we have this at home in Australia? And I just assumed it was because we didn't have any hot water. But uh it was that initial inspiration that got my mind ticking and and the desire to um to bring the culture of hot spring bathing to Australia.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

So did so how then did you find the water? I've always been fascinated. Did you just wander around divining for the next couple of years until you tapped upon this?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

No, look, I I spent about uh well it was about that was 1992, and it wasn't until early 1997 that I'd actually pinpointed the idea. Um I knew I wanted to do bathing, I thought there was no hot water in Australia. I'd changed jobs from working for a Japanese trading company to working for the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, and um I had a a beer after work with the head of the Victorian State Office, and he said to me, this guy called Kevin Knowles, and he said to me, uh, you're a bit too entrepreneurial to be a diplomat all your life. Uh, what do you want to do? And and I had no intention of being a diplomat all my life either. In fact, I wasn't a diplomat, but I worked for the embassy. And I um I said I'd love to do hot springs, hot hot spring bathing. And uh he said, you know, I think there's hot water on the Mornington Peninsula. And it turned out that a um uh report had come across his desk about 14 years beforehand of uh state government had done test drilling across the state. Um they just to check the water resources. They weren't actually looking for hot water, but they came across this hot water on the uh on the Mornington Peninsula and they sent a report across to the Japan office of the state government and uh said maybe you can find somebody interested in um in investing in hot springs in Australia. And 14 years later I walked through the door.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Amazing. So you you've had an epiphany, and then it was fate that brought you to creating the peninsula hot springs.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Yeah, absolutely. And and and interestingly enough, my family had uh been like uh some of the early settlers here in 1842. They actually came down to the Mornington Peninsula, and we've had sort of family property here and connection here since um, you know, but nearly seven generations.

SPEAKER_03 12:30

Wow. Um so let's backtrack a little bit about that because um there's this idea that Australia, like as you say, Australia didn't have hot water and it didn't have a bathing culture. And I mean I'm really interested in your idea that that bait bathing is a culture and it helps you connect with a culture. Did it mean that we we just never we never bothered to sit in all of the hot springs? Because I I mean I remember as a kid, you know, driving through central Queensland and everybody would always stop at at particular springs on the sides of the road. But it was, you know, it was basically a puddle, hot puddle. So was the culture here before we decided to formalize it?

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Oh look, there was. And look when when I I started, I had no idea there was hot springs in Australia. So I'd asked people and nobody, even geologists and um in and uh hydrogeologists in Japan, I'd approached back in the 1997, 98 and said, what are the chances of there being hot springs in Australia? And they associated with hot springs with earthquakes and with mountains and all the Japan's topography. And so they said, look, there's no chance, you know, like it's it's a flat old country, it it doesn't have uh hot water. The reality is, as I've learnt over the years, is that every state has hot hot water. Some of them have natural springs popping out, and as you say, in central Queensland, you've got a lot of the artesian springs, but there are still also some natural springs as well in in certain areas um up north. Um and I um I wondered why um why we didn't have the culture, and we did have a huge culture of bathing. So, you know, we were all always beachgoers, we were swimming in the swimming pools, we were swimming in the in the in the oceans and bays, but uh it was just the hot spring bathing culture hadn't emerged. Um Aboriginal culture has in areas where there are springs, there is some um level of use around them. Uh Delhousie Springs in the center of Australia is one example in northern South Australia, um, where they've got a pool called the Onyri, which means healing waters, and that was traditionally used for childbirth. Um now it's one of about 20 pools or springs, natural springs in that area where people can use. So there's only one that's allowed to be used by the public, all the rest are kept for traditional business or just for nature. Um so um there is where there are springs, there's culture and and a lot of the uh they say the rainbow serpent, in fact, one of the springs out there is called the rainbow serpent spring. And they say that the rainbow serpent goes from spring head to spring head, and that's how it travels. So these sort of dreamtime stories, which is quite easy to understand considering um water was so important, particularly in the outback and in the desert, that you needed to know where the next water source was, whether it was hot or cold, it didn't really matter as long as you could drink it and it was potable, which is the case with most of these springs. It is drinkable, you just have to go downstream until it's cooled down enough to drink. Um, you know, it was very sacred for for the culture.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

I mean, this has been this is an incredible journey in in you know in Australian history, but also it's sent you on a journey right around the world exploring bathing cultures. Um, I mean, some people would say you've probably got the world's best job in that you just sit in hot pools all day and um and uh and enjoy yourself amongst nature. I wanted to, you know, we are a travel podcast and and everyone's got their list of what they want to uh where they want to find and they want to go to the experts for it. So tell us about some of your best global, that your best bathing experiences around the world.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

It was so hard to come up with a a list because there are just so many, and I I I just love the ability of bars to bring you into nature and to bring you into the country. And so it has been a um an incredible uh last uh 33 years or so of uh traveling around the world and exploring how cultures um and how we can bring back elements of those cultures into the Australian multicultural universe that we have here. Um and um so some of the ones uh of course I started off with the Kusatsu in Japan, where my the first inspiration happened, and I have been back there many times, and um it uh I I am very grateful to Japan and to town of Kusatsu for for being that first place. Um other places are things like um uh in in Iran in Iran, I visited a um the uh Gavmish Goli Hot Springs. It's in the town of Surin in in Iran, and um it was uh uh amazing. The male and female have different times of when they can bathe, so they don't not everyone are bathing together. But when we jumped in the pools there, um it was incredible how friendly everybody was, and they were just so fascinated about these uh these white guys jumping in um in the pools and uh being there because they don't, you know, it's not a a tourist hotspot going around Iran. Um and uh but yeah, so super friendly, and it would just made you feel um the essence of hot springs. And for me, it's a cultural melting pot. It's a place where people come together in peace and harmony, where they they're just relaxed, and you you're you're in your your board shorts, unless you're in Japan when you don't have your board shorts. Um just it it's your pure self and very um very very friendly and very um in incredible. So that was one in Iran. Um similar in Yemen, I went to Damp Hot Springs in in Yemen. This was back in 1998 in the early days of exploring cultures, and I really wanted to understand um that hot springs had nothing to do with money or wealth, it actually was all to do with just um n nature and human connection. And in so I went to Yemen because they were the poorest country on earth, and I think they are still one of the poorest countries on earth. They had a GDP of about 300 US dollars per capita per annum, so very, very um impoverished. But I went there to visit springs, and um I went to this spring called Damp Hot Springs, which was about 120 kilometres south of Sana, the capital of Yemen. And it was really set up um been there for thousands of years, mind you, but it had been set up somewhat similar to the European um hot springs like Karlovari or Marian Skolansky or these sort of hot spring healing towns. And this was a healing town in Yemen. It was a tourist town, they call it tourist, but there are a lot of accommodations where people come and stay for a week or two and they're bathing every day and they're taking the healing waters and giving themselves time out. And um, you know, this is uh over a thousand years before uh before the European hot springs were being used in a similar way that they've been using them there. So um the the knowledge of healing is something which um transcends cultures, it transcends um it transcends religion, it transcends, you know, the the the the it it connects people and it is something that in all countries on earth, uh whether it's China or uh American Indians, they've all got these healing places around springs. And this was an example of one in Yemen, um which was which was fascinating because uh it uh it it really went to the the basics of what we were trying to achieve, which is international understanding through hot springs. And so going to countries which were culturally diverse was really important. Um the uh Yeah, there are so many more I could keep keep listing up.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

I'm I'm happy to hear them all because I mean that's it's absolutely fascinating that you've chosen two really incredibly diverse ones.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

You know, you you everybody talks about the the Scandinavian traditions, the Nordic countries, like you know, the Finnish and and Swedish traditions of sauna and then leaping into those, into those, you know, icy, icy experiences, or um, you know, West Coast Ireland, where they infuse everything with seaweed or or the hamam traditions in in in the Middle East, like Morocco and and Turkey. Um and and and how and how they bring their culture in it. As you say, like uh, you know, I was in Tunisia recently, and men are it the the hamams are for men in the morning and women in the afternoon. And that's how it is right across the country. And me looking for a spot in a hamam at nine o'clock in the morning was like, seriously, you're Are so not from here, but um, which I find you know, which I find really fascinating. And you've drawn all of these cultures together in in the hot springs, in at the penitular hot springs.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Totally, totally. And the inspirations come from all countries. I mean, so far I've been to 56, 57 countries visiting hot springs. So from the United States to Russia to to you know to the Blue Lagoon, as she was saying, and and Iceland uh wrapped throughout Europe and Africa and down to Kenya and you know, Tanzania to countries all over the globe. And wherever there is hot water, people have a practice around it. Some are much more simple and very, you know, not well used, and other places um can be much more sophisticated and have a more um established culture around it. So, you know, there's huge diversity, but the gift from you know, what I'd call the gift from Mother Earth, it just comes up from the ground and it's uh it's a nature's gift, um, is quite uh uh uh universal. Um it uh I I hardly found a country on earth that doesn't have hot springs. I didn't find one in Norway and I didn't find one in Finland, but I'm told there is one in northern Finland, but I haven't found it yet.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

So are there any countries that do it better? Um you know, you've you've found you know, like Iran and Yemen that uh are so extreme in their um in their experiences of you know being able to reach them. But are they are there countries that um you think are really nailed the whole hot bathing experience?

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Um I think um look the it's a little bit of a sentimental one as well because it was where I first bathed, but um Japan certainly has turned hot springs into a a very um a culture that is part of Japan. If you look at their visitation, you know, um surveys, the things that people love most out of Japan is uh is food, number one. It's like 95% of people, you know, rave about the food and and at about 90 is hot springs. So that's second or third in terms of the most um um experienced activity. Now in Japan, everybody goes to hot springs. And it's uh it's it's it's part of daily life if the hot springs are close to your house and your property, and it's part of um, you know, your your holiday culture and your rest and relief culture, even if you're not close. So people go every year to to hot springs and it's nearly, you know, nearly universal. It's nearly everybody does it. Um their practices are different. They, you know, you bathe naked, which is physically a much nicer experience, but culturally it means um for them um that there are different bathhouses for women and men, or same bathhouse, different section of the bathhouse for men and women. Um and so and you tend to bathe for a shorter time, you know, it may be anything from 15 minutes, maybe up to 45 minutes, 50 minutes, but not for hours like you can be doing at a at a hot spring where it becomes more a family social um occasion.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

And are there any um surprise or unexpected bathing experiences that you've had along the way?

SPEAKER_00 25:36

One was um in the South Island of New Zealand, and I went there with a friend to go to this spring, but it's called Maria Hot Springs. Um it's on um not far from Hamna Springs, about two and a half hours from Christchurch, and it's in the on the Lewis Pass. And it's a natural spring that comes out of the base of a mountain, and it's about a you know, 1,900 meter mountain, so it's taller than any any mountain in Australia. Um and it um it it's on the banks of a river, it's it you lie in a hot pool and it's just sublime. You feel so small but so nurtured. Um because the the the grandeur, and you can look up in either direction because you're in the valley, and either either side, you're either looking up or down the valley or or up at one mountain or the other, and half the year it's snow covered at the top. So when we went in there, um when I first went there, we were it was actually in must have been June or something like that. And anyway, it was snowing as we were we were going there. And the guy who I was travelling with, uh James White, he um he said, Well, this is a a spot in this area in that valley is where one of the parts of the filming vanania was done. And it was just so the trees were these birch trees were covered in snow and the it it was surreal. And then lying in a hot pool with the snow falling and li and looking out at these mountains was you know just that that was uh surprise and and unexpected. I mean I I was visiting it. The other one was um that I was thinking of was in the in India, um in the town of uh well it's in the state of Himishul Pradesh, and there's uh a town called Mani Karam, which has um Sikh and Hindu temples in there, and they're around hot springs. But you go north from there and you go up a valley up into the Himalayas, so you're the Indian side of the Himalayas, and there's a small town, so you have to hike about half a day up this valley, and um there's a small town called Kirikanga, and it you can lie in this pool and you literally look out at the Himalayas in front of you, and at the front of the pool it's got these little waterfalls that that fall down, and you can look sit down and look at the Himalayas and have a massage of the hot spring water falling, falling on your shoulders, and it's just sort of wild. And the the evening we were there, we were camping actually, we were in tents, and um, there is a town, so you could stay in sort of little pensions, very simple. Um, but we stayed in tents and there was this dog barking all night, and we were going, telling, trying to tell this dog to be quiet all night long. And uh then we woke up and we realized that there was a bear that had been around that not far from the camp and there was a half-eaten deer on board. And so instead of cursing the dog, we were thanking the dog, you know. It was uh so it was pretty wild, you know. You're here in the in the in the uh in these mountain ranges. Um But that was uh that was a a really just spectacular experience. So they're they're two sort of two uh many unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

Well you certainly um you've put the research in on your job, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 29:20

Um you've gone above and beyond. Um let's go back to Australia then. If you had to choose somewhere in Australia that you think is a really uh you know, really quint one of those quintessential experiences. You're not looking at the Himalayas, you know, we don't have the Himalayas. As you said, we're an old flat Earth. Where would you find yourself sitting in hot springs?

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Look, my my favorite couple, um, and mind you, the the that there's not many. This is why we made our business, you know, Penintial Hot Springs close to Melbourne, because there was water, but it was also close to a population, so it could become part of your regular bathing. But um in the Northern Territory, there's a uh town called Mataranka, and it's got a couple of springs, a rainbow springs, which is sort of in these palm trees, and there's another one called Bitter Springs. And Bitter Springs um is fed, nobody really knows exactly where it comes from, but it flows like a river, and and it's these sort of larger lakes, but it's about 38 degrees, something like that. So it's really quite warm, 37, 38. So, and um it's surrounded by beautiful trees and it flows like a river. So you can literally flow down the river. You jump out at a bridge and then you run back round. We were there with our kids, and um, I'd I took uh one of my sons was baby bathing there, and he said, Dad, this is better than the Great Barrier Reef. And he had goggles, and we were diving underneath, and it was crystal clear. There was a limestone on the bottom, so it was like sort of filtered limestone water, crystal clear, and there were fish swimming around, and there was birds above, and uh it was sublime. So bitter springs in Mataranka in the Northern Territory, and then, like I mentioned previously, Delhousie Springs, which is at the end of the Udinadatta track. Um, very hard to get to. It's nearly, it's within like 40 kilometers of the geographic centre of Australia. So if you see the Australian map and you put your finger on the on the center, you're at Dalhousie Springs. Um, and that's got uh, as I mentioned, you one year, or the healing water pool. It's about 300 meters long and about 80 meters wide, it's massive, and um you can swim through it. The source is about 90 degrees Celsius up in up at one end, and you don't go there obviously because you'd die. Um, but um, and as you get closer in the main pool, you can get up to around about 50 degrees, but again, you don't go that close because it slowly gets hotter and hotter. But when you go down the other direction, it drops down as well. So there's most of it, 90% of it is actually very swimmable and and uh incredible. It's got black, like this sort of black mud at the bottom, and you can paste it on your skin and and bake it off, and yeah, beautiful. Um and but that one's tough to get to. In fact, both of them are fairly tough to get to. Dalhousie, particularly, it's um as remote as you're gonna get in the country.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

You've got to work for your hot springs experience, haven't you? That's um there's something beautifully symbolic about the positioning of it being in the in the absolute centre, the geographic centre of Australia as well. I think that it adds a certain romance to the to the whole experience.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

Um probably one other little note on that romance and not really it and how how significant it is, is that there are that those springs, the Delhousie Springs Complex, which is the whole lot of springs around there, are actually not they're run by two, or when I say run, they're they're uh the custodians are two language groups, the Wakanguru and the Lower Southern Oriente people. So there isn't it's too sacred for one group to be the sole custodian of it. So there are two two language groups that are there. Brings in a lot of politics, but it is actually very significant that the culture said that this place is so significant that it needs to have two uh language groups um to be custodians for it.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

Charles, I'm gonna ask you the question that we ask all of our guests, and you might have even answered it with uh the fact that you've been up in the in Hamal Pradesh with a bear nosing around while you're going bathing. Um what is your most bizarre travel experience? And it doesn't have to relate to hot springs, but um I think given your travel history, you're going to pull something pretty great out of the bag.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Yeah, well, look, it it isn't actually hot springs when when I thought about this question, and um I I was um first traveled overseas, or in fact wasn't my first trip, I've been a couple of times before, but when I was I I did a gap year after high school and from when I was 18 and 19, and I um I visited um Morocco and before I went there I'd met a guy called Mohammed Ratmi and he said, Go and visit my brother. And he ac his brother um in fact ran a chicken farm and it was between Tangier and Casablanca, and I was on the train and I I I was hopping off the train and the um conductor said uh excuse me, do you know where you're going? Because this this is nowhere, you know, like this is uh there's there's nobody gets off here. And and anyway, I I said, yeah, and I showed him the piece of paper with the address, and I um ended up um hitchhiking to get to the Rutmys chicken farm as a 19-year-old. I was only just freshly 19 at that stage, and you know, you're just so uh innocent, and uh ended up um you know meeting them, and they I couldn't speak, you know, they could speak of French and and Arabic, and I could speak uh you know German and uh and English. Tiny bit of French. We somehow communicated in French, you know, don't know how because I couldn't speak it, but um, and uh they uh ended up borrowing my pocket knife and they killed a chicken and and cooked it up for me. And he ended up uh asking me, would would you like to have my my daughter, his 12-year-old daughter, as his, you know, he was trying to try to not sell off his daughter, trying to marry off his daughter to me. So it was a really uh really funny experience. I actually actually ended up staying with his parents for one or two nights and uh and you know, but this is a random random thing that happens when you're traveling. And uh so I nearly get married off to, you know, as a 19-year-old.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Um into a Moroccan family. I love it. But also it's the kindness of strangers as well, isn't it? That they conduct that the conductor cares for you, that the family k cares for you so much that they give you a chicken and potentially uh a potentially a wife. I love it. Charles, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_03 36:29

It's been an absolute pleasure to talk to you about the beauty and uh of hot springs bathing, and um look forward to seeing you in the pool sometime soon and following where you're going to be going next.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

That'll be great. Thanks, Belinda.

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SPEAKER_01 36:43

That was Charles Davidson of the Peninsula Hot Springs talking to Belle about some of the world's best bathing experiences. And you can see more at Peninsulahotsprings.com, and we'll put a link to the experiences he mentions in the show notes. If you'd like to help support our production costs, you can buy us a coffee at be.com slash the world awaits. That's ko-fi.com slash the world awaits, so we can continue to bring you inspirational travel interviews with the world's best.

Best inflight skincare tips

SPEAKER_03 37:12

Our tip this week is about how to stop your skin from dehydrating on flights. And I am all up for this. Um, according to leading Australian health and wellness expert, clinical nutritionalist, food scientist, and antioxidant researcher, Dr. Vincent. Flying is one of the most aggressive overlet stresses on skin health, with the effects compounding over time for frequent travelers. Kirsty, let's just um let's just solve this problem. I'm getting stressed just reading it. Go on.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Yeah, I definitely feel dehydrated skin when I fly. Um, well, Dr. Vincent says aircraft cabins have humidity levels as low as 10 to 20%, and that's drier than most deserts. And in these conditions, the skin loses moisture rapidly and over time, which obviously accelerates visible aging. So why does this happen, we hear you ask? At cruising altitude, recycled cabinet and low humidity strip moisture from the skin at a cellular level. The result is increased transepidermal water loss, reduced skin elasticity, heightened redness and sensitivity, and dullness and fire lines that appear more pronounced.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

Yes, literally, I'm feeling my skin drying as we're reading this. So when skin is dehydrated, it becomes less resilient, it's more prone to inflammation. Uh, and that's a key driver of premature aging. And nobody wants that, do we? No, no, no, we don't. Long haul flights, alcohol consumption in the air, and salty airline foods can further compound the damage. But who never said, who never said no to a glass of wine and the and the chips, right? So what can you do to stop it? Um, Dr. Vincent says, start rehydrating from within. We all know this one. Drink water consistently before, during, and during your flight, and try to avoid flavoured water as it might irritate your gut.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Look, I might be a bit of a nerd here, but I do not drink on long haul flights ever. Like, I just don't. I don't, I do no, I won't, I won't take alcohol on a long haul flight because of this, because because um flying for me long haul, um, I find, I know that you don't believe in jet lag, Belle, but um jet lag is very real for me. And and um I just don't want to compound the issue. So I I'm like, I just want to hit the ground running. So yeah, I do avoid alcohol and I don't drink coffee. So there you go. I'm ticking all the boxes. Dr. Vincent says avoid alcohol and caffeine because they're dehydrating and also amplify moisture loss at altitude and try not to eat those salty snacks and meals because they increase fluid loss and worsen dehydration. So he says that cruising altitude, low carbon pressure and dry air can reduce the taste and smell by up to 30% making food blends. So to compensate that, that's why airlines often add extra salt and sometimes sugar. So on most flights, you can actually choose a meal option with low sodium. Um, and that is a really good option if you're worried about dehydration and also your health generally. I mean, people with high blood pressure have to have low sodium diets too.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

Yeah. I mean, that you know, that's why you'll find things like, you know, rich meats and stuff like that on the on the menus. I know Neil Perry has done countless interviews about this as a chef cooking for people in the air. Um his other tips are uh moisturizing before you fly. Um, so applying a barrier supporting moisturizer immediately before boarding to slow water loss, using a facial mist during the flight. I love doing a little mist, um, and which uh apparently a lightweight facial mist can rehydrate the skin. It calms inflammation, supports the skin barrier mid-flight. You can do what this woman did recently, um, and she she did the full uh um face mask, you know, the uh sheet masks, which is which is I've looked I've snuck sheet masks and also the under, you know, the little under-eye ones. Often I pop those under my eyes and then I put the um the sleep mask over my face. So you can't see that I've got those patches on. Whereas this woman that I woke up beside um recently had the full face mask on, it was like, ah, you know, you did have to look twice at her um shamelessly sheet masking ill economy on a daytime flight. And I was like, you go, you're gonna, you're gonna be the most beautiful one back at the boarding gate. Off you go. I I do sneak them in at night, and I think anything goes in business class as well. Um, and also the fact is, too, that you know, the newer the aircraft, the better that this is this cabin environment is actually better for this sort of thing. So um, if you were totally vain, and I'm buying into this completely, so I'm with you on the vanity, Airbus A380s, the Boeing, the Dreamliners, and notice the, I found them noticeably better for the cabin environment and also the noise as well, because you know, if you've got constant airline noise, if you remember on older flights, that is really draining as well. So the advice is very simple hydrate, protect, minimize stress, and treat flying as an environmental challenge, not just as a commute.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Next week, I'm chatting to award-winning author of the Jade Riley Mysteries, Andrea Barton, as well as crime author. Andrea runs a book editing company called Brightside Story Studio, and she's also vice president of the Mansfield Readers and Writers Festival. Andrea is an electrical engineer-turned author and has lived in Nigeria, the US, and Qatar, and her books are based in all the places of her expat life. So we chat about why these destinations are so pivotal to the story she tells, and she has some writing advice for those who want to follow in her footsteps.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

And we'd love it if you followed us on socials. You'll find us at the World Awaits podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And feel free to drop us a line at hello at the worldawaits.au. Or if you're enjoying this episode, please leave us a rating or a review. That's a wrap for the World Awaits this week. Click to subscribe anywhere you listen to your favourite pods. Thanks for listening. See you next week.