Australia

Let's face it...that long haul flight is certainly worth it.

Not only that, any Australian will gladly tell you that there is so much more to see and do than what you just see in the brochure!

That's why it's so important to get your travel plans sorted out properly - whether it's Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, or even the Great Barrier Reef - Australia has it all!

Title : The Fatal Shore: History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia, 1787-1868 (Harvill Panther S.)
Author : Robert Hughes
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Odd

My only gripe was: An Australian author, writing on England (let's face it, it wasn't 'Britain' doing any of this and most people outside Great Britain think Wales and Scotland are just large sities in 'England') and Australia, in English - using American spelling. Every time I saw 'Sydney Harbor' and suchlike, I couldn't help but think a little less of his abilities.

Title : Dangerous Creatures of Australia (Michelin Green Guides)
Author : Marty Robinson
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Don't visit Australia until you have read this book

Researching Australia for an impending trip, I heard all kinds of horror stories about how I could end up being injected with poison by innocent-looking toads, ripped to pieces by blood-thirsty tiger sharks or even have a couple of bites taken out of me by cute-looking caterpillars. What I discovered by reading Dangerous Creatures of Australia however, was that that is all they are; stories. In fact, on the first page the author's opening statement is 'Many people believe that Australia is full of dangerous wild animals. Although it is true that we have many potentially dangerous creatures, most of them are rarely encountered and indeed even hard to find.' Whilst he goes on to admit that 'Australia has more venomous snakes than any other country, both the world's most venomous spiders and the world's most venomous octopuses,' Robinson covers many pages on reassuring the reader via a table of statistics regarding accidental death, that you are more likely to be murdered, poisoned or even struck by lightening than you are to die from a snake bite. There is also material regarding precautions the reader can take to avoid being attacked by a dangerous animal and many maps showing the precise locations of the creatures' whereabouts.

The author splits the book into the following sections: Large land animals (including feral pigs and snakes), small land animals (spiders and scorpions), large water animals (sharks and crocodiles) and small water animals (jellyfish and octopuses). One thing that particularly enthralled me about the book was the strange and sometimes downright bizarre creatures that can be found in Australia. The sea snake, for instance, with its paddle-shaped tail, single lung and short (yet deadly) fangs. Fire coral, as the name suggests, is a type of coral which looks no different than the regular kind, yet one brush against it could cause nasty stinging.

I found the full colour photographs together with the information very useful, as I could get a clear picture of exactly what was being described, should I be unlucky enough to come across the creature in question. Those with a tendency for being faint-hearted should steer clear of the rather nauseating pictures graphically depicting injuries sustained from encounters with leeches and snake bites. Whether you are planning a short break in Australia or a backpacking holiday, the book is very small and lightweight, and therefore can slip into your bag without adding any significant weight. A down side however, is the price #8211; for a book so concise, I found the asking price a bit much.

Anyone with an interest in the fascinating country that is Australia may also like the wonderfully funny 'Down Under' (by travel writer Bill Bryson), or 'Wild Down Under: The Natural History of Australia' (by Damon Smith). Both are excellent, with the latter depicting the natural wonders of the country in hundreds of beautiful photographs. I sincerely hope that I won't bump in to any of the dangerous creatures shown in this book on my travels, but just in case, it's handy to have a copy nearby.

Title : Aboriginal Art (World of Art S.)
Author : Wally Caruana
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Lovely little paper back book about Australian Art

I bought this book for my son as a reference guide for his GCSE Art. The original at school had been knicked as it was so popular.

He produced a Brilliant piece of work inspired by it's content and pictures. He used ther inspiration from the art to produce a map from his home to school in the style of the Aboriginees on a massive pot from BQ.

If you want a great little book on the subject then buy this.

Title : Australia (Lonely Planet Country Guide S.)
Author : Paul Smitz
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Starting Point

No single guide to an entire continent could ever be comprehensive, but the Lonely Planet guide has a good stab at it.

The guide is well presented and well organised, being divided up by state. City and Town sections are presented in the standard Lonely Planet way, with an introduction, maps, lists of places to sleep, shop, eat, drink etc. For me the standout feature is that the guide supplies a web address (where there is one) for every listed establishment, museum, tour company etc. This provides a great starting point to find out if what they suggest might really be for you or not, and to plan your trip. Crucially all of the information that I have relied on is up to date.

Having also looked at the Lonely Planet East Coast, Queensland and Sydney guidebooks I would say that there is enough information in the Australia guide book to preclude purchasing a more specific one.

The only major problem, as I believe with all Lonely Planet books, are the awful town and city maps. While they are just suitable for establishing if a bar you're interested in is anywhere near your hostel, they don't really provide a means of getting you there with much chance of success. The tiny versions of the public transport networks for Sydney and Melbourne are a nice idea, but not practical unless you were to go to the effort of making an enlarged photocopy version. In contrast however, the larger scale maps are quite deceent and fairly useful.

In conculsion I was extremely pleased with this guide, which made an excellent starting point for deciding what to see do and experience in Australia.

Title : The Rough Guide to Australia (Rough Guide Travel Guides S.)
Author : Margo Daly
Rating : 2 Stars out of 5.
Summary : A brief outline...

This book gives a brief insight into many areas but, tries to do too much and fails miserably. The content is generally ok but in some cases outdated. You will not find the information that you need to plan your itinerary in this guide

Title : West Coast Australia (Footprint Travel Guide S.)
Author : Andrew Swaffer
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : A useful guide to Western Australia

The guide's information on the places we visited was first rate and the information on eating out was particularly helpful. We took three guide books to Western Australia in January 2005 (one each) but soon found that the Footprint book gave the best information on restaurants. The restaurant reviews were very accurate and there was only one that did not live up to expectations.

Title : Rough Guide Map Australia (Rough Guide Map S.)
Author : Rough Guides
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : 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.

Australia Work Visa Application and Australia online resources.