The play—in essence a serious drama with some comedic touches—has been called "a deeply moving comedy with insightful ruminations on youth, vigour, aging and death"[2] and is considered one of Williamson's best loved works, that is still performed on occasion 30–40(+) years after it was first written.

The concept of "travelling north" pertains to the Southern Hemisphere (the play is set in Australia), where some persons, particularly those entering retirement, are attracted to travel or relocate from the colder southern regions of the country—Melbourne in this instance—to the warmer, sub-tropical or tropical regions of northern New South Wales and/or Queensland for a more relaxed and predominantly open air lifestyle, with fewer concessions required for cold-weather living.

[1] Subsequently, the play was adapted by Williamson himself, with some changes to the original plot locations, into a 1987 Ben Gannon-produced film of the same name, which starred Leo McKern as Frank, Julia Blake as Frances and Graham Kennedy as Freddy (his final film role), with Henri Szeps reprising his original stage role as Saul.

They are discussing the pleasures of their holiday/road trip to date from cold, rainy Melbourne in the south, and Frank expresses his desire to retire in the tropics north of Townsville, to which Frances is agreeable.

The following five scenes are set in Tweed Heads[a] in the subtropical north of New South Wales, where Frank and Frances occupy an previously neglected cottage, and include the couple's interactions with Freddy, an initially annoying but kindly neighbour, and Saul, the local doctor, who advises Frank to "take things easy" on account of bouts of angina and some lung trouble.

They travel to Sydney for their wedding (and also to attend an art exhibition) and then return to the cottage where Frank's health rapidly gives out; he passes away listening to his favourite classical music in the chair that Frances gave him.

Frances, around fifty-five at the opening of the play, is a somewhat demure and reticent character who has spent her recent years making herself available for the needs of her adult daughters in Melbourne rather than thinking of herself; catching the eye of Frank, at least fifteen years her senior and on the cusp of retirement, she allows him to open the possible door to her own fulfilment through travel and relocation to the tropics, although she does not want to completely sever her ties with the cultural life of the city/s.

The gallery attendant, a female, appears only in a scene where Frank and Frances gatecrash a preview of a supposed Sydney art exhibition by noted Australian artist Brett Whiteley.

The unnamed commentator on the back cover of the 1980 edition of the play text says: "Travelling North is David Williamson's tribute to the generation that fought for change in Australia from the 30's to the 70's; and reaches the rueful conclusion that the legacy of such self-determination is narrow-mindedness and the need for love".

Elsewhere, Philip Parsons writes: "The end of the play, when Frank returns with Frances from voting for Whitlam,[b] announcing 'the tide that is going to sweep in a new era', may at first seem a bitter irony in the light of the subsequent events.

This moment has been carefully anticipated by Frank's wistful memory of his Communist hopes betrayed by Stalin: 'There was a wonderful period after the War when Fascism had been defeated and we thought a new order of justice and fraternity was going to sweep the world.

"[4] Williamson's plays have been described as "holding a mirror up to contemporary Australian life" and Travelling North is no exception in this respect, portraying several societal issues of the day via the mouths of various of the characters.

These include whether or not Australia's willing participation in the Vietnam War should be lauded or disparaged, whether or not society should frown upon a couple living together (back in the late 1960s) without being married (atheist Frank has no problems with this, Catholic Frances has reservations), whether substantial age mis-matches within couples is a good or a bad idea, and expectations for the continuing role of parents (and grandparents) in their offspring's lives once the latter have become adults.

In the introduction to the published play, Philip Parsons writes: "Travelling north, Frances needs to escape from her own sense of guilt.

"[4] Frank is nearing the end of his life (although he does not know it), imagines a retirement of fishing and generally lazing about in the sun, reading books and listening to music, accompanied by the "companionship" of Frances, however he has not fully appreciated her needs and treats her, as well as his new friends, quite badly.

By the end of the story, Frances is strong enough to be her own person and decide for herself what she wants to do with the next stage of her life, without feeling guilt towards the children she is leaving or the necessity to lean for support on either Freddy or Saul.

Williamson says the inspiration for the play came soon after he met his second wife Kristin and she took him up to the Central Coast of New South Wales to visit her mother Hope.

... Travelling North is not concerned with offering glib panaceas to hopeful geriatrics or illusory prospects of perennial Indian summers for the elderly.

People of both genders and all ages live together without being married as a matter of course these days and hence the rather quaint moralistic tone of the play only serves to sound rather self-righteous and old fashioned.

... Set in the years from 1969–1972 and ultimately leading up to the election of Gough Whitlam, Travelling North captures the themes of change and unrest through the story of Frank (Bryan Brown) and Frances (Alison Whyte) ... Travelling North is an excellent character study which exposes many of the beliefs still held about our society; from the good neighbour, Freddy (Andrew Tighe), to the small town doctor, Saul (Russell Kiefel), many stereotypes and behaviours are recognisable.

"[9] Also in 2014, reviewing the same production, Irina Dunn wrote: "David Williamson's Travelling North still has the emotional power to move audiences 35 years after it was first staged and remains one of the playwright's best plays.

... Williamson’s witty one-liners are liberally sprinkled through the script to leaven the increasing sense of doom that overtakes the couple as they realise the seriousness of Frank's illness.

... the play raises serious questions about family, loyalty, tolerance, compassion, the intersection of the personal with the political, and in the end produces a resolution that affirms the human spirit and capacity to love, despite the obstacles.

"[10] The play was adapted by its author into a 1987 Australian film of the same name directed by Carl Schultz and starring Leo McKern as Frank, Julia Blake as Frances, Graham Kennedy as Freddy, and Henri Szeps as Saul.