The first thing we felt after arriving in Sydney, was that we really wanted to know everything about this country. We wanted to learn the way people live their life, how they are thinking, and about their culture and habits as well. 
One of my friends suggested reading Down Under by Bill Bryson, which was actually a really good idea. Meanwhile more of our friends - mainly non-Australians either - were also talking about stories told in this book. It is a relatively well known and popular work of Bill Bryson both among Australians and among travelers. Unfortunately we have not read other books of him yet, but we certainly can recommend you this one. Bill Bryson has a good sense of humor, and gives quite a lot of information about places and the local life, general habits, etc. You feel as if you were there and as if he tells exactly the same as what you felt in those places/situations.
If you wish to laugh while reading about his journey through Australia - from Sydney through Perth to Darwin and Queensland, etc. - then take this book and start it. We are looking forward to your opinion and we are curious to hear your stories too.
Here are some quotes to get you in the mood:
“But then Australia is such a difficult country to keep track of. On my first visit, some years ago, I passed the time on the long flight from London reading a history of Australian politics in the twentieth century, wherein I encountered the startling fact that in 1967 the Prime Minister, Harold Holt, was strolling along a beach in Victoria when he plunged into the surf and vanished. No trace of the poor man was ever seen again. This seemed doubly astounding to me - first that Australia could just lose a Prime Minister (I mean, come on) and second that news of this never reached me.” (p. 15.)
“This is a country that loses a Prime Minister and that is so vast and empty that a band of amateur enthusiasts could conceivably set off world`s first non-governmental atomic bomb on its mainland and almost four years would pass before anyone noticed. Clearly this is a place worth getting to know.” (p.18.)
“Five hundred miles from any real town to east or west, a hundred miles from he nearest paved highway to the south and over a thousand to the north, Cook (pop. 40) exists solely to water, fuel and otherwise service the trains that pass through. Beside the track stood a sign that said: `No Food or Fuel for Next 862 Kilometres` - rather a daunting thought, what?” (p. 61.)
“But all of these are as nothing compared with the delicate and diaphanous box jellyfish, the most poisonous creature on earth. We will hear more of the unspeakable horrors of this little bag of lethality when we get to the tropics, but let me offer here just one small story. In 1992, a young man in Cairns, ignoring all the warning signs, went swimming in the Pacific waters at a place called Holloways Beach. He swam and dived, taunting his friends on the beach for their prudent cowardice, and then began to scream with an inhuman sound. It is said that there is no pain to compare with it. The young man staggered from the water, covered in livid whip-like stripes wherever the jelly-fish’s tentacles had brushed across him, and collapsed in quivering shock. Soon afterwards emergency crews arrived, inflated him with morphine, and took him away for treatment. And here’s the thing. Even unconscious and sedated he was still screaming.”(p. 84)
(Bill Bryson, 2000: Down Under)
- Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. He is a best selling author of humorous books on travel, the English language and on Scientific subjects. Some of his famous titles are “The Lost Continent”, “Made in America”, “Notes from a Small Island” and “A Short History of Nearly Everything”. Down Under is also published as “In a Sunburned Country”.
- More information can be found on the official Bill Bryson website, or on Wikipedia
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
February 10th, 2009 at 7:24
Nagyon jó az oldal,csak így tovább!
April 28th, 2010 at 8:54
Cash loans companies http://cash-loans-us.com/oklahoma/Norman/Check%20Into%20Cash%20Advance%20Payday%20Loan%20Center/73071/
Cash loans in the US cities. Get money today!
May 18th, 2010 at 2:53
Animal Sex Pics
May 18th, 2010 at 2:54
Unedited Group Sex
May 18th, 2010 at 2:55
Krystil Diamond
May 18th, 2010 at 2:56
Busty Torture
May 18th, 2010 at 2:57
Sadistic Sluts
May 18th, 2010 at 2:59
Tan Line Sex
May 18th, 2010 at 3:00
Lick Ass And Gag
May 18th, 2010 at 3:01
Glamour Tryouts
May 18th, 2010 at 3:02
Naughty Daisy
May 18th, 2010 at 3:03
Boobs
May 18th, 2010 at 3:04
All Fits In
May 18th, 2010 at 3:05
Holli Paige
May 18th, 2010 at 3:06
Face Down Ass Up University
May 18th, 2010 at 3:07
InFocusGirls
May 18th, 2010 at 3:08
The Training of O
May 18th, 2010 at 3:09
Stockings Heat
May 18th, 2010 at 3:10
Interracial Gay Dating
May 18th, 2010 at 3:11
Lucy Daily
May 18th, 2010 at 3:12
Teen Gay Hardcore
May 18th, 2010 at 3:13
Teen Kasia
May 18th, 2010 at 3:15
Fatties on film
May 18th, 2010 at 3:16
Kelli USA
May 18th, 2010 at 3:17
Alicia Loren
May 18th, 2010 at 3:18
Hogtied
May 18th, 2010 at 3:19
Sweet Denisa
May 18th, 2010 at 3:20
Addicted To Boobs
May 18th, 2010 at 3:21
Sandra Syn
May 18th, 2010 at 3:22
Kimber Kira
May 18th, 2010 at 3:23
Rachel Aziani
May 18th, 2010 at 3:24
Miss Bella Bellini
May 18th, 2010 at 3:25
Fucking The Help
May 18th, 2010 at 3:26
Sexy Petite
May 18th, 2010 at 3:28
Gay Cravings
May 18th, 2010 at 3:29
China Irish
May 18th, 2010 at 3:30
Outdoor Bondage
May 18th, 2010 at 3:31
Squirting Snatches
May 18th, 2010 at 3:32
Lezbe Girlfriend
May 18th, 2010 at 3:33
Porn Mega Pass
May 18th, 2010 at 3:34
We Love Latinas
May 18th, 2010 at 3:35
Cierra Spice
May 18th, 2010 at 3:36
Twink Dreams
May 18th, 2010 at 3:37
Hidden Camera Tapes
May 18th, 2010 at 3:38
My Friends Hot Mom
May 18th, 2010 at 3:39
TS Porn
May 18th, 2010 at 3:40
Porn Addict
May 18th, 2010 at 3:42
Naughty Sarah At Home
May 18th, 2010 at 3:43
Big Muscles Big Cocks
May 18th, 2010 at 3:44
Horny Teen Harlots
May 18th, 2010 at 3:45
Sinful Spanking
May 18th, 2010 at 3:46
Hospedaje en Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua cerca al Nuevo Consulado Americano
May 18th, 2010 at 3:47
Lesbian Training
May 18th, 2010 at 3:48
Red Hot TV
May 18th, 2010 at 3:49
Pacinos World
May 18th, 2010 at 3:50
Milk Juggs
May 18th, 2010 at 3:51
Audrey Bitoni
May 18th, 2010 at 4:03
Stella Heart
May 18th, 2010 at 4:04
Halo Sweet
May 18th, 2010 at 4:05
Sex Movies Network
May 18th, 2010 at 4:06
Hairy Pussies Sex
May 18th, 2010 at 4:07
Shyla Jennings
May 18th, 2010 at 4:08
Hottie Hollie
May 18th, 2010 at 4:09
Cam Show Latinas
May 18th, 2010 at 4:10
Teen GFs
May 18th, 2010 at 4:11
Naughty Hillary
May 18th, 2010 at 4:12
Buttfuck Bonanza
May 18th, 2010 at 4:14
Layla Ko
May 18th, 2010 at 4:15
Shelby Virgin
May 18th, 2010 at 4:16
Savanna Virgin
May 18th, 2010 at 4:17
Cute Cristina
May 18th, 2010 at 4:18
Mommy Got Teamed
May 18th, 2010 at 4:19
Butt Machine Boys
May 18th, 2010 at 4:20
Boys Sperm
May 18th, 2010 at 4:21
Katsuni
May 18th, 2010 at 4:22
Sex City Asia
May 18th, 2010 at 4:23
Hottie Hollie
May 18th, 2010 at 4:24
My Dirty GF
May 18th, 2010 at 4:25
Monster Cocks in Tight Holes
May 18th, 2010 at 4:26
Bisexual Fuckers
May 18th, 2010 at 4:27
Morgan Dayne
May 18th, 2010 at 4:28
123 Amateur Amy
May 18th, 2010 at 4:30
Alternative GFs
May 18th, 2010 at 4:31
Annabelle Angel
May 18th, 2010 at 4:32
We Love Bjs
June 9th, 2010 at 18:35
I believe I just have been acknowledged about this issue
at pub 1 day ago by a colleague, but at that moment
it didn’t caugh my attention.
June 10th, 2010 at 16:04
I feel I just have been told about this topic
at work yesterday by a friend, but at that moment
it didn’t caugh my attention.
June 14th, 2010 at 15:03
As your conviction is strengthened you will-power find that there is no longer the requisite to take a intelligibility of oversight, that things inclination progress as they last will and testament, and that you discretion surge with them, to your extraordinary gladden and benefit.
June 26th, 2010 at 15:49
To be a good lenient being is to have a make of openness to the in the seventh heaven, an skill to guardianship unsure things beyond your own manage, that can front you to be shattered in unequivocally extreme circumstances for which you were not to blame. That says something exceedingly outstanding relating to the get of the righteous passion: that it is based on a trust in the uncertain and on a willingness to be exposed; it’s based on being more like a plant than like a jewel, something kind of tenuous, but whose acutely item beauty is inseparable from that fragility.
July 11th, 2010 at 16:26
n the whole world’s existence, at some pass‚, our inner throw goes out. It is then bust into passion beside an face with another hominoid being. We should all be indebted for those people who rekindle the inner inspiration