A new focus on self-sustainability, less pollution and a reminder about what really matters have been some of the suggestions.

To that list, let's add another: the long shutdown of international travel might encourage northern hemisphere-obsessed Australians to get out and have a look at their own backyard.

Instead of Venice, the Victorian high country. Perth, rather than Paris. Athens? What about the Atherton Tablelands.

Domestic sightseeing might begin as a fallback option, but international travel-starved Aussies could soon discover the many benefits.

For one thing, there's no currency exchange involved. The language barrier isn't a problem (add "eh?" to the end of your sentences in North Queensland and you'll fit right in). And you can forget 14-hour flights in economy.

But the joy of discovery remains - of coming across strange customs, unusual practices, thrilling surprises.

Australia, as those who have had a good look at it know, is a number of little countries within a country - states and territories with their own police force, their own health system, their own laws, their own parliament, their own slang.

Your beer glass in the pub will have a different name depending on where in Australia you're sitting on a stool - it might even have a different name depending on where you are in that particular state.

Cross the checkpoint into South Australia's Riverland. Cross Bass Strait. Cross the Kimberley from your bucket list - though you won't go just the once.

In the country's more compact states, beaches, mountains and rainforest can be seen within a day. And in the mammoth states (and Northern Territory) are epic drives the equal of anything in the world.

The coronavirus has forced people to look inwards - inside their home, inside their city, inside their country - but that doesn't have to be a terrible thing.

Australians have tended to look outwards for travel, but they don't have to fly halfway around the world to see something startling or jaw-dropping or peculiar.

It's all here. It's always been here. And we only have to get in our car (once the restrictions allow), choose a direction and start driving.