English version below

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Bill Bryson berichtet unterhaltsam von seinen Aufenthalten in Australien und lässt jede Menge Informationen über Flora, Fauna, Geographie und die Geschichte Australiens einfließen.
Nur die Ureinwohner sind meiners Erachtens ein wenig zu kurz gekommen, was auch daran liegen mag, dass man sich offenbar im Land selbst so wenig wiemöglich mit den Aborigines beschäftigt.

Es macht immer Spaß Bill Bryson zu lesen. Hier ist es jedoch manchmal ein bisschen anstrengendend, weil er uns extrem viele Informationen auf knappen Raum präsentiert.
Dennoch habe ich eine Menge über australien gelernt und hatte eine gute Lesezeit.

3,5 Sterne.

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Bill Bryson gives an entertaining account of his stays in Australia and includes a lot of information about flora, fauna, geography and the history of Australia.
Only the Aborigines are, in my opinion, a bit neglected, which may also be due to the fact that in the country itself there is apparently as little attention paid to the Aborigines as possible.

It is always fun to read Bill Bryson. Here, however, it is sometimes a bit exhausting because he presents us with an extremely large amount of information in a short space.
Still, I learned a lot about Australia and had a good read.

3.5 stars.

Book on CD narrated by the author
4****

Bryson turns his journalistic skills to an exploration of the only continent that is also a country, and an island.

I loved the small details that he included, was enthralled by his adventures (whether in person or through research), and really felt that I got a good sense of the country, the people, the customs and the landscape (varied doesn’t begin to describe the latter aspect). I felt as giddy as a child discovering a new wonder when I read about one obscure fact after another, or imagined myself traversing the outback in a four-wheel-drive vehicle (with TWO extra containers of petrol) with hardly a person, gas station, shelter or convenience store in sight. I could feel the cooling sea breezes, was just as annoyed as Bryson by the flies, delighted in the droll explanations of the locals, was warmed by his descriptions of desert-heat, and longed to witness the marvels of nature he depicted.

It’s a wonderful memoir / travel journal. If Australia weren’t already on my bucket list, it certainly would be now.

Bryson narrates the audiobook himself. I found his delivery rather dry and somewhat slow-paced; he hardly sounded excited about any of the sites he saw. I wound up reading at least half the book in text format, and found I preferred the “voice in my head” to the author’s actual voice on the audio.

Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country (Broadway, 2000)

I originally encountered the writing of Bill Bryson in a small article he wrote for National Geographic on the Orkney Islands a year or so ago. By the time I had finished the article, I was (and still am, to an extent) seriously considering relocating to the Orkney Islands. Well, I've now finished In a Sunburned Country, Bryson's travelogue of Australia-- and I never, ever want to go there.

Bryson gives us the world's forgotten continent (really, how many of you who don't live there can name Australia's Prime Minister?), mixing personal experience, history, and bewilderment in roughly equal doses. While the history does bog down in places, I found myself-- especially in the book's first section-- glad that I was the only person in the room while reading it, since I might well have been committed involuntarily for laughing so hard in stretches. The most disturbing thing is that I was laughing about the sheer number of things in Australia which are capable of killing human beings. This is not a place you should go if you fear death. "The sea snakes are especially unnerving, not because they are aggressive, but because they are inquisitive. Stray into their territory and they'll come to check you out, all but rubbing against you in the manner of cats seeking affection. They are the most sweet-tempered creatures in existence. But cross them or alarm them and they can hit you with enough venom to kill three grown men." Not only will the unfriendly creatures kill you, the friendly ones will as well!

Those who have read more Bryson than I have hastened to say that this is a less humorous book than his others. I'm not sure I could stand the others, for I might die of asphyxia before reaching the end of chapter one. This is good stuff, funny most of the time, sobering on rare occasions, and always edifying. And don't be concerned if you forget three quarters of what's in here by the time you're finished, including the name of Australia's present prime minister (or the name of the silicon-tipped grass I've been wracking my brain for for a week now). According to Bryson, there's something about Australia that causes people to forget it exists, so as long as you remember there are seven continents on this planet, you're ahead of the game. ***

Bryson’s writing is teeming with life and his observations of Australia are engrossing. He begins with his train and road journey along the Indian Pacific. The discussions about the historical background to these places reveal copious amounts of research. We breathe freshness in his description of Australia’s flaura and fauna. As we traverse through the outback along with Bryson, he ushers us to Australia’s approach to literature and their unofficial national anthem—Waltzing Matilda, which feels like an early morning lullaby. Bryson then provides an inkling of his childhood and how up until he visited Melbourne during a lit fest, touring Australia wasn’t on his bucket list. In the last chapters, he discusses the origins of the Australian community and his travel experience at the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland and some places in the southwest. Overall, a good attempt to cover one of the world’s largest countries in one book.
https://booksfoodmylife.blogspot.com/...

A Bryson favorite, one to re-read. The segment set in Southwest Australia was particularly appealing, a part of Australia I'd most like to revisit. The forest there surprisingly impressive to one accustomed to the trees of the Pacific Northwest. (Hitched a ride on the back of a slow moving farm truck through the Karri forest. In USA, it would have be like riding through the Redwoods in the bed of a 1930's era flat-bed pickup at 20 mph.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyp...

Good companion book might be "Cold Beer."
Cold Beer and Crocodiles: A Bicycle Journey into Australia

4.5 stars

What an utterly splendid journey. I'm always happy to ride shotgun with Bill Bryson, but I was particularly enthusiastic on his travels through Australia. (For one thing, there was much less hiking in this one!)

Australia's a fascinating place, period. Chuck Bill Bryson into the Outback, and you've got a winner. His rolling monologue on all things Aussie charmed the socks off me. I have traveled to Australia four times and loved each and every adventure. It's really true what Bryson says: by the time you finally arrive there, you just can't believe that this amazing place exists at the end of the world. It's both incredibly remote, but incredibly familiar - and dare I say probably slightly better than wherever you flew in from! If there was a vote for best country, Australia would get mine. And once Bryson starts digging in, that's it - Australia's the hands-down winner. Everything is just better there.

I laughed out loud at Bryson's descriptions of cricket commentating, and couldn't stop chuckling at the spartan accommodations at Daly City in the Outback. Bryson's always fantastic with a companion and his stints in Melbourne and Cairns/Darwin/Alice Springs are some great pieces of travel writing.

I picked up about a million fascinating tidbits of information, on everything from intrepid explorers to ancient living rocks, and loved it.

I will say, though, that the Sydney Olympics Appendix was pretty dreadful and I had to stop reading lest I ruin the previous 330 pages of fun.

I really enjoyed the education and the entertainment of this book! I feel as if I've just returned from a trip to Australia having seen all of the most interesting sights on offer, without all the time and effort to get there! The history and descriptions were wonderful. The only thing is that the book is now about 20 years old. I would like some updates as to changes and discoveries in Australia recently. It needs a sequel! :)

I highly recommend this book -- especially if you enjoy Bill Bryson and his style of humor. It made the book for me!

This book is so funny, so well-written, and so interesting I couldn't stop reading it, even when I had to use a caver's headlamp and stuff my pillow into my mouth to keep from waking my family with my laughter. Bryson is a master writer, and hilarious. His tour of Australia is interesting, and he does not gloss over the "problem" of the relationship between European Australians and the Aborigines. Though I was occasionally put off by seemingly random sexist comments, I still enjoyed the heck out of this book and can't wait to read more of his stuff... which says a lot, as I usually avoid non-fiction like the very plague!

For those who don't know, I don't give a star rating to nonfiction book.

What have I learned? Everything in Australian is trying to kill you (probably). The people are very nice, but also very into themselves (I would be too with that accent, honestly). Don't try to go into the outback alone (seems like a pretty common sense thing to me). Don't go swim with the sharks (immediately no).

That's all. Bill Bryson is an excellent travel writer, I always enjoy his books.

If you want a book that entertains and informs I recommend this one. This might not be Bryson at his best (I enjoyed A Walk in The Woods more) it is still an elucidating look at a forgotten continent, Australia. His strengths of combining interesting facts and tidbits with personal observations are fully on display. He clearly has a love and appreciation for the country of Australia and its many unique inhabitants. His love of the natural beauty is evidenced by his travails to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the canopies of a forest region. I enjoyed that he went to some of the popular locales (Sydney, Melbourne) along with some out of reach locations. He was able to admirably show multiple sides of a nation with such a diverse and varied landscape. I also learned the word pelagian/pelagianism (which is the idea that humanity is basically good and unaffected by the Fall of Adam/original sin). Minor quibbles I had with this book would be that sometimes Bill Bryson can come across as slightly condescending. I understand that most people do not want corporatizing of their area but him carrying on about a Kmart in the middle of some far flung location left me cold. As a person who wants to imbibe in the local color and flavors of the areas he goes to, it is understandable but people still not stores of convenience and accessibility. Overall, you could tell he really loves Australia and the book is a love letter to that affection.

Bill Bryson delivers! Even though I have never been to Australia I was delighted with this book. Bryson gives the full range – history, natural history (botany, zoology. paleontology...), people insights, cities, outback towns and scenic wonders of which there are plenty of in Australia – a truly Renaissance view of the continent. Plus it’s hilarious – his encounters with other tourists, seedy hotels, pubs, waiters and hotel receptionists – but especially cricket!

The man ingests humour into diverse situations and the book radiates with enjoyment and makes Australia out to be a remarkable place one wants to visit. If it wasn’t for the enormous distance I’d board a plane tomorrow. And its’ the distances within the place too – I didn’t know that Uluru (more commonly known as Ayers rock) is smack in the middle of the country. It’s true as Mr. Bryson says that it is the great distances that make the country so fascinating. Its’ a sparsely populated and urbanized country, with vast unknown tracts of land with unique animals and plants scattered hither and thither, amidst a wonderful geographic landscape.

We are also presented with a sad view of the Aboriginal people of Australia who have been co-opted out of society and live in a fringe and destitute world.

All and all it’s a great read for all Bryson fans!

A short excerpt (page 182, my book)
“The Chinese restaurant was just across the road as promised, but according to a sign in the window it was not licensed to serve alcohol and I couldn’t face small-town Chinese food without the solace of beer. I have travelled enough to know that a chef does not, as a rule, settle in a place like Macksville because he has a lifelong yearning to share the subtleties of 3,500 years of Szechuan cuisine with sheep farmers.”

I had read this book when it first came out but then having watched ‘Great Australian Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo’ and ‘Griff's Great Australian Rail Trip with Griff Rhys Jones’ recently I thought it was time to dust off this paperback from the loft and read it again. I am so glad I did.

There are so many laugh out loud moments for me. He begins in Sydney where he takes the Indian Pacific train to Perth stopping off at Broken Hill and visiting a couple of other remote mining towns en route. As ever, you are treated to an education in the telling of historical stories plus Bryson’s own keen and often hilarious observations. These are the kind of travelogues I love.

His genuine affection for Australia is all there on the page as he drives from Sydney to Canberra and goes on to visit other cities like Adelaide, Melbourne, Alice Springs and Perth. This does not stop him writing about the plight of the Aborigines. Not in the ‘I’m going to give you, dear reader, a lecture’ kind of way that some travel writers like Simon Reeve love to do but in facts. He will tell you if he has no idea how to solve a problem.

He is a wonderful guide to this fascinating country but I still feel he has only scratched the surface. It is a huge country as he constantly reminds us. The population was only 19 million at the time. You can add another 6 million to that total now. With all that is going on in the world now with the restrictions I am not sure I’ll ever get out there. It seems that the cost of travelling anywhere after this pandemic will be inhibitive unless of course they bring prices down so more people travel. We’ll have to see. I’ll stick with reading and watching travelogues.