How can you resist a tour 'bus' that is actually a very cool classic car? asks Emilia Mazza.
For travellers who prefer to earn their insider knowledge on the ground, the idea of a guided tour seems more gauche than gratifying. But finding myself curled up in a gorgeous aqua-coloured 1964 EH Holden for a tour of inner-city Sydney one late-summer afternoon, with very stylish owner/operator Richard Graham, held more promise than anything a big red bus could offer.
For a tour operator, Graham is about as offbeat as they come. He's all pencil-thin moustache, checked shirts and skinny jeans - hardly the usual look. But, as it turns out travel and adventure is more than just Graham's passion, it's in his bones. By 18, he had seen every continent on the planet, thanks to parents who thought private school education money was better spent on providing enriching travel experiences - experiences he says were chock-full of adventure and never followed the tourist trail.
With the company motto declaring visitors will get the sort of experience that will make them a "local in a day", hitting the inner-city suburb of Redfern feels like an interesting starting point. Once divey and run-down, the demand for inner-city housing has meant suburbs like this have been transformed into enclaves of coolness.
But the first stop we make isn't for coffee at any number of the very cute looking cafes that are dotted around the streets, it is in fact at Graham's house. The downstairs front room doubles as a gallery for local artists - and while it's a slightly discombobulating experience being in someone's lounge looking at art for sale, Graham is the perfect host, and the offer of home-made cake makes things feel much less awkward.
