Australia:The Rough Guide (2nd Edn) (Rough Guide Travel Guides) - Softcover

Dehne, Anne; Leffman, David; Daly, Margo; Rough Guides

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1858281415 ISBN 13: 9781858281414

Publisher: Rough Guides, 1995

Synopsis

This guide to Australia features: accounts of every region, from Tasmania to the tropics, from bushwalking in the national parks to Melbourne cafe society and gritty Outback pubs; first-hand recommendations of where to stay, eat and drink, whether backpacking across the country or living it up in the cities; insider advice on all kinds of activities - diving the Great Barrier Reef, off-roading it through the Outback, cruising around Sydney harbour, and more; and background information on topics as diverse as bush tucker (how to cook witchetty grubs), wildlife, Aboriginal issues, and Australian fiction and cinema.

About this title

Review

The Rough Guide to Australia is one of the most impressive additions to the already prestigious Rough Guide series, and weighing in at over a thousand pages, it's also one of the most physically imposing. But anything short of this would hardly be appropriate to this most breathtaking of continents, and it has to be said that the team of contributors have covered the country in the most thorough and masterly of fashions. The maps are always a speciality of this series, but the prospect of exploring even the remotest corners of Australia is rendered more than achievable by the cartography on offer here.

What the guide sets out to do, however, has something in common with all the series: to inspire us to visit the country by some of the most tempting photography (along with the text) -- and the latter is a particular asset here. Of course, there is so much to explore in Australia that it is difficult to know where to begin. But such sections as that on the Gold Coast Hinterland will inspire the more fit explorer to tackle the rugged (and less readily accessible) walking tracks and hiking trails, taking in the beech forests and waterfalls.

But the guide will also have you wishing to experience Marine Mountain, a volcanic plateau near the Gold Coast which still has pockets of rainforest, and once was the haunt of the Wangeriburra Aborigines.

As all of this implies, the experience that Australia has to offer is a million miles away from more restricted horizons. If your taste is for nightlife, that's also comprehensively covered here, and (once again), the received opinion that Australia is a philistine country is thoroughly trounced by the detailed coverage of the highly impressive venues for the arts. Let’s face it, this is quite likely to be the only guide to Australia that you will ever need. --Barry Forshaw

Review

A perfect companion, it's all there. -- Courier Mail, Brisbane, Australia

All you need to know, with comprehensive coverage and detailed advice...an invaluable travelling companion. -- Australian Outlook

Comprehensive, clearly laid-out, well sign-posted. -- Far Eastern Economic Review

Detailed advice on exploring the great outdoors. -- Sunday Times, Perth, Australia

The definitive handbook. -- Adelaide Advertiser, Australia

Edition details

• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1858281415
• ISBN 13: 9781858281414
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 896