Product Description

Introduction

Australia is massive, and very sparsely peopled: in size it rivals the USA, yet its population is just over eighteen million - little more than that of the Netherlands. This is an ancient land, and often looks it: in places, it's the most eroded, denuded and driest of continents, with much of central and western Australia - the bulk of the country - overwhelmingly arid and flat. In contrast, its cities - most of which were founded as recently as the mid-nineteenth century - express a youthful energy. The most memorable scenery is in the Outback, the vast desert in the centre of the country west of the Great Dividing Range. Here, vivid blue skies, cinnamon-red earth, deserted gorges and other striking geological features as well as bizarre wildlife comprise a unique ecology - one that has played host to the oldest surviving human culture for at least fifty thousand years.

The harshness of the interior has forced modern Australia to become a coastal country. Most of the population lives within 20km of the ocean, occupying a suburban, southeastern arc extending from southern Queensland to Adelaide. These urban Australians celebrate the typical New World values of material self-improvement through hard work and hard play, with an easy-going vitality that visitors, especially Europeans, often find refreshingly hedonistic. A sunny climate also contributes to this exuberance, with an outdoor life in which a thriving beach culture and the congenial backyard "barbie" are central.

While visitors might eventually find this Home and Away lifestyle rather prosaic, there are opportunities - particularly in the Northern Territory - to gain some experience of Australia's indigenous peoples and their culture, through visiting ancient art sites, taking tours and, less easily, making personal contact. Many Aboriginal people - especially in central Australia - have managed to maintain their traditional way of life (albeit with some modern accoutrements), speaking their own languages and living according to their law (the tjukurpa). Conversely, most Aboriginal people you'll come across in country towns and cities are victims of what is scathingly referred to as "welfare colonialism" - a disempowering system in which, supported by dole cheques and other subsidies, they often fall prey to a destructive cycle of poverty, ill health and alcoholism. There's still a long way to go before black and white people in Australia can exist on genuinely equal terms.

For visitors, deciding where to go can mean juggling with distance, money and time. You could spend months driving around the Outback, exploring the national parks, or just hanging out at beaches; or you could take an all-in two-week "Reef, Rock and Harbour" package, encompassing Australia's outstanding trinity of "must sees".

Both options provide thoroughly Australian experiences, but neither will leave you with a feeling of having more than scraped the surface of this vast country. The two big natural attractions are the two-thousand-kilometre-long Great Barrier Reef in far north Queensland, with its complex of islands and underwater splendour, and the brooding monolith of Uluru (Ayers Rock), in the Northern Territory's Red Centre. You should certainly try to see them, but exploration of other parts of the country will bring you into contact with more subtle but equally rewarding sights and opportunities.

The cities are surprisingly cosmopolitan: waves of postwar immigrants from southern Europe and, more recently, Southeast Asia have done much to erode Australia's Anglocentrism. Each Australian state has a capital stamped with its own personality, and nowhere is this more apparent than in New South Wales where glamorous Sydney has the iconic landmarks of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Elsewhere, the sophisticated caf society of Melbourne (Victoria) contrasts with the vitality of Brisbane (Queensland). Adelaide, in South Australia, has a human-scale and old-fashioned charm, while Perth, in Western Australia, camouflages its isolation with a leisure-oriented urbanity. In Hobart, capital of Tasmania, you'll encounter fine heritage streetscapes and get a distinct maritime feel. The purpose-built administrative centre of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, often fails to grip visitors, but Darwin's long overdue revival enlivens an exploration of the distinctive "Territory".

Away from the suburbs, with their satellite shopping malls and quarter-acre residential blocks, is the transitional "bush", and beyond that the wilderness of the Outback - the quintessential Australian experience. Protected from the drier interior, the East Coast has the pick of the country's greenery and scenery, from the north's tropical rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef to the surf-lined beaches further south. The east coast is backed by the Great Dividing Range, which steadily decreases in elevation as it extends from Mount Kosciusko (2228m) in New South Wales north into tropical Queensland. If you have time to spare, a trip to often-overlooked Tasmania, across the Bass Strait, is worthwhile: you'll be rewarded with vast tracts of wilderness as well as landscapes almost English in their bucolic qualities.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90988 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1255 pages

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

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

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

Customer Reviews

The OLD edition, and very lite in places
We recently (April, 2008) travelled on the East Coast of OZ and where very disappointed by this book. It is very dismissive of some places and did not have a great range of accomandation.

BUT the biggest issue is the book is now well out of date having been printed in 2005, at least buy the 2007 edition

Map review
The rough guide map is great. I am looking to travel in Oz next year and needed a planning map. All the other maps concentrate on each state, or area. This one is perfect, as it covers a large area of the country on each side, yet you feel that it can be used to get about as a normal regional map.
Excellent value for money

Where would I be without this book?
this book was easy to use, very useful when I was travelling on my gap year and the reason that I managed to make it safely round oz. it guided me to some of the best places to stay and warned me off a few that I tried anyway and then realised the wisdom in their words after I had made my mistake. Buy this book if you are travelling oz, heed its words, take its advice but also don't be afraid to do a little experimenting of your own as I found many a gem of place to stay/ eat and see that were not included in the book - but then you cant expect them to know everything, it is only a rough guide but a very nice one to have by your side when you feel like you are on the other side of the world, it lends a big helping hand in making your travels that bit simpler. Buy.