This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you. If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistable currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback. Ignoring such dangers - yet curiously obsessed by them - Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him? The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging; their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. Life doesn't get much better than this.
This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you. If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistable currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback. Ignoring such dangers - yet curiously obsessed by them - Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him? The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging; their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. Life doesn't get much better than this.
- ISBN:
- 9780552997034
- 9780552997034
- Category:
- Travel writing
- Publication Date:
- 03-08-2001
- Publisher:
- Transworld Publishers Ltd
- Country of origin:
- United Kingdom
- Pages:
- 432
- Dimensions (mm):
- 198x127x27mm
- Weight:
- 0.31kg
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Reviews
1 Review
As an Australian and one who thinks themselves knowledgeable, I found within the first few pages some facts of interest that I never knew before. Bill Bryson takes the everyday and adds a little magic to it. I found this book fascinating and it is yet another reason why Bill Bryson is so renowned.
For the proud Australian or the keen observer, or even the lover of non-fiction, Down Under is a great read.
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