This book was first published in 2000 but I have only just acquired a copy. I have previously read a few of his other books, definitely ‘Notes for a Small Island’, ‘Notes from a Big Country’ and ‘A Walk in the Woods’.
Bill Bryson visited Australia on a few different occasions to travel around, see the country and annotate his experience. Sometimes he travelled alone, on other occasions he travelled with a photographer or friend. His first journey was by the Indian Pacific Railway from Sydney to Perth which is 2720 miles!
He has investigated towns, cities, villages and woods on foot and taken on huge car journeys on narrow two lane roads across arid desert. Throughout the book he imparts interesting bits of information about how Australia as a country, and some of the different cities, were founded. He tells of how it is the country in the world with the largest number of dangerous and venomous creatures - both on and off land.
At a number of different stopping points he has found museums of great interest telling the history of local activities and also some areas where nothing can be found at all about momentous events which have taken place and shaped the communities to what they are today.
Overall I enjoyed the book and feel I now know a lot more about the history of Australia. There were occasions where I didn’t like Mr Bryson very much. He seemed to be over critical about some things and has even quoted himself as being quite rude to people at some of the hotels he stayed at during his travels.
I have a copy of ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ which comes to me highly recommended and I am looking forward to reading.
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