”¦of the 2023 Logie for the best lifestyle series is – Channel Nine’s Travel Guides!  Which meant that Maldon locals Janetta Stones and Kevin Moloney not only strolled the red carpet at the recent Logie Awards ceremony in Sydney recently.  They also joined their fellow travellers onstage to accept the award. Well done, seasoned travellers!

The [Tarrangower] Times caught up with Janetta (at Debbie the Hairdresser’s, of all places) two days before she and Kevin jetted off to film the eighth series of Travel Guides. For those of you who know nothing about Travel Guides, it’s a reality show that follows five very different groups of people in their travel adventures, both in Australia and abroad. Janetta and Kevin have been part of the show since the first season.  

Do Kevin and Janetta enjoy being part of Travel Guides? Yes, it’s great fun and they’re having the time of their lives. “We started with Travel Guides just as we retired, so it has worked out wonderfully well for us,” Janetta said.

But as well as being exhilarating, flying around the world and being exposed to a range of different travel experiences can be exhausting. It can also take Janetta and Kevin out of their comfort zone, as they prefer comfortable hotel accommodation to camping – and from time to time, they find themselves sharing a tent!

While filming a Travel Guides series, a total of 50 people – fellow travellers, film crew and admin. staff – travel together on the one plane. “We’re never told where we’re going,” Janetta said.  “We’re told what the temperature range is going to be during our trip, and the type of clothes we have to pack. I’m taking three suitcases and I’ve started to pack already.”

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 11 August 2023.