The meaning and relevance of the film and source stage play's 'Travelling North' title is, according to 'Wikipedia', ''in the context of the southern hemisphere in which the film and its original play are set, denotes transitioning from the colder, business-dominated southern regions of the Australian continent to the notionally more relaxed and warmer subtropical or tropical northern regions such as northern New South Wales (in the play) and ultimately, far north Queensland.''
During the shoot, actor Graham Kennedy one night watched 'The Blue Lagoon' (1980), a movie which co-starred his co-star in 'Travelling North' - Leo McKern. Kennedy was curious as to how they got a crab to crawl out of McKern's mouth in a tight close-up shot. McKern told Kennedy that the scene was his idea and that there were no special effects nor trick photography. McKern simply put a live crab into his mouth, waited a few moments, and after he heard 'Action!', opened his mouth, and out crawled the crab.
The film was ''sold in the United States as 'On Golden Pond' down under'' according to the 'Oz Movies' website. Film Critic Kevin Thomas, in his review in 'The Los Angeles Times' on 11th March 1988, described the movie as ''a Down Under 'On Golden Pond'.''
The classical piece of music repeatedly heard throughout the film was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quintet No. 4.