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ISSUE 54 | September 2025 TRUSTED LOCAL NEWS
www.greaterblacktownnews.com.au
Travel Well with Emma Wilson
STORY OF BLACKTOWN’S HERITAGE TRAGEDY
TRAVEL: CASE FOR A CULTURAL ADVENTURE
WEXPO DEMYSTIFYING AI
ONE NIGHT. ENDLESS IMPACT Inside Travel Group has been connecting people, places and culture for 25 years.
The case for a Cultural Adventure Beyond the guidebook:
Connect with local culture
OR some, having time away to get lost somewhere completely new and different isn’t a nice-tohave: it’s a necessity. A cultural adventure means going beyond the guidebook to experience the people, landscapes and food that make a country what it is. Inside Travel Co-Founder and Director, Alastair Donnelly, says this style of experiential travel is all about encountering what is completely normal for locals, but like nothing visitors have ever seen before. “Everybody loves to travel. Whether it’s a weekend getaway, a day trip close to home or an overseas adventure – travel refreshes, inspires, strengthens relationships and provides fresh perspective. “It’s a chance to put the day-today aside and experience life in a different way – even if that’s just for a short time – all while creating memories that last a lifetime.” Donnelly said.
It’s often the places and experiences travellers don’t expect that make a trip exceptional. Inside Travel weaves the lesser-known into each trip – including those big, bucket-list sights, too. Whatever sparks curiosity about a country, each trip is
F
I
T began in Western Sydney 20 years ago and is now a worldwide movement, ensuring homelessness is merely a chapter rather than a whole story in the lives of so many people. The Vinnies CEO Sleepout has raised almost $110M to help the homeless in Australia since an intrepid first group of business and community leaders joined Bernie Fehon in sleeping out in the stands of Stadium Australia in 2006. Across the Blacktown LGA alone Vinnies supported 4,000 people and provided $230,000 in financial and material assistance, almost half coming in the form of housing assistance in the last financial year. More page 6.
designed to emphasise what excites the traveller, offering a few surprises along the way. Say a trip to Cambodia is on the cards, and history is the main draw. Visitors can connect with a team of conservationists to slip behind the scaffold at Angkor Wat, revealing how Cambodia’s emblematic
temple is more than a building: it’s a sculpture. Or, if the dream is to make kroeung to flavour Cambodian curries back home, Inside Travel knows just the cookery master who’ll be only too happy to share their craft.
Inside Travel: Get beneath the surface For the past 25 years, B Corp Certified Inside Travel – the team behind award-winning brands InsideJapan and InsideAsia – has lived and breathed travel to Japan and Asia. The company’s founding concept was not built around traditional tourism, but rather on a desire to share the places they loved with as many people as possible, through the lens of experience and connection.
www.insidejapantours.com/au/ Vietnamese Pottery
www.insideasiatours.com/au
Sleepout participants.
FAM
FEST F O O D. A RT. M U S I C
FAM Fest is proudly funded by the NSW Government’s Open Streets Program, led by Transport for NSW.
Saturday 27 September Noon – 10 pm Warrick Lane, Blacktown blacktown.nsw.gov.au/FAMFest