Never judge a book by it’s cover – I gave it a brief glimpse and thought the book might be about ice cream. In fact this book is a sort of travel diary of Bryson’s trip around Australia. I am a lover of all things Aussie and immensely enjoyed the time I spent there, so a lot of this book was nostalgic for me. The other attraction the book holds is the amount of pure information! I am a bit of a trivia addict and loved learning the highlights of Bryson’s thorough homework on the subject of all things Australian! Bryson is hilarious – he relates the eccentricities of the Aussies in a hilariously endearing way, and I found myself laughing out loud frequently. He clearly felt the same affinity to them that I did, and a lot of the book rang true to me.
Some of it didn’t, though. He pays a lot of attention to the dangers of Australia, and quite frankly seems to be a total wimp! I’m terrified of anything creepy-crawly, but don’t remember being particularly spooked by Australia – he REALLY is! But I expect he did more research prior to his visit than I did and was therefore better informed.
Definately worth a read for anyone with an interest in Australia – I have actually dreamt about Australia a lot since reading the book – it will make you want to go there and probably teach you things you didn’t know! Remote Australia isn’t in the news a lot, you know!
