In a Sunburned CountryEvery time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. This time in Australia. His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. In A Sunburned Country is his report on what he found in an entirely different place: Australia, the country that doubles as a continent, and a place with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. The result is a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiousity. Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. Wherever he goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging, and these beaming products of land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine fill the pages of this wonderful book. Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 19
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... kangaroos, flushed by the train, bounded across the foreground. It was an exciting moment. We were definitely in Australia now! We arrived at Broken Hill just after eight and stepped blinking from the train. An airless heat hung over ...
... kangaroos, flushed by the train, bounded across the foreground. It was an exciting moment. We were definitely in Australia now! We arrived at Broken Hill just after eight and stepped blinking from the train. An airless heat hung over ...
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... kangaroos and occasional basking goanna, a large and ugly type of monitor lizard. Goodness knows how any living things survive in that heat and aridity. There are creekbeds out there that haven't seen water in fifteen years. The supreme ...
... kangaroos and occasional basking goanna, a large and ugly type of monitor lizard. Goodness knows how any living things survive in that heat and aridity. There are creekbeds out there that haven't seen water in fifteen years. The supreme ...
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... Kangaroos hopped into the expansive foreground and began grazing picturesquely, and the sun plonked onto the horizon, like a stage prop lowered on a wire, and the towering western skies before us spread with color in a hundred layered ...
... Kangaroos hopped into the expansive foreground and began grazing picturesquely, and the sun plonked onto the horizon, like a stage prop lowered on a wire, and the towering western skies before us spread with color in a hundred layered ...
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... kangaroos sipping at billabongs or swagmen gathered around a lonely coolibah tree. They were undeniably hokey, but charming even so and without question from a gifted hand. Almost involuntarily we found ourselves advancing slowly up the ...
... kangaroos sipping at billabongs or swagmen gathered around a lonely coolibah tree. They were undeniably hokey, but charming even so and without question from a gifted hand. Almost involuntarily we found ourselves advancing slowly up the ...
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... kangaroos. If this sounds like a living death, don't be misled. I was having the time of my life. There is something wonderfully lulling about being stuck for a long spell on a train. It was like being given a preview of what it will be ...
... kangaroos. If this sounds like a living death, don't be misled. I was having the time of my life. There is something wonderfully lulling about being stuck for a long spell on a train. It was like being given a preview of what it will be ...
Contents
Part Two Civilized Australia the Boomerang | |
Chapter 10 | |
Chapter 11 | |
Chapter 12 | |
Chapter 13 | |
Chapter 15 | |
Chapter 16 | |
Chapter 17 | |
Chapter 18 | |
Chapter 19 | |
Dedication | |
Bibliography | |
Part Three Around the Edges | |
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Common terms and phrases
Aborigines actually Adelaide Alice Springs Allan American asked aviation beach beer Bill Bryson box jellyfish Broken Hill Bryson building Canberra Carmel coast couldn’t couple course crocodile Daly Waters Darwin desert didn’t distance driving earth empty feet flight Games half highway hills hundred miles Indian Pacific kangaroos kilometers Kingsford Smith land landscape living look Melbourne million minutes morning museum named nation nearly never nodded Nungesser Olympics once outback Park passed Perth place called plane Queensland realized reef road rock seemed seen smile South Wales sport stand stood story street stroll stromatolites Sturt Highway Surfers Paradise swimming Sydney television tell There’s things thought thousand took town trees turned Uluru Victoria visitors walked watched Western Australia What’s wonder young