Australia

Sun-kissed beaches, the dramatic Red Centre, the spectacular beauty of over 500 national parks, and some of the friendliest people in the world--discover all this and much more with this bestselling guide to the Land Down Under. We know Australia better than anyone--uncover its secrets with us.
BE INSPIRED by our new highlights, itineraries and planning sections；
GET AROUND with the help of over 180 detailed maps, including a full-colour road map section；
DINE OUT using restaurant recommendations from one of the country's most authoritative food critics；
WATCH WILDLIFE and understand the unique environment with the help of our full-colour environment chapter, written by Australia's most prominent commentator in the field；
HANG OUT WITH THE LOCALS after reading our insiders' tips on the best bars, cafes and entertainment spots in the country。


作者简介：
Susie Ashworth，A childhood of hohidays spent in a family caravan and long weekend drives gave Susie a yearning for the Australian highway that never quite left her.In 1997 she succumbed and left Sydney in an old Holden towing a camper trailer to explore outback,coast and country towns for six months.Updating the stunning southern WA section of the country enabled her to indulge her love of long dusty drives,spectacular beaches and forests,and fine food and wine.Susie lives in Melbourne where she works as a freelance editor and as an occasional author for Lonely Planet.

　　When Tony and Maureen Wheeler arrived in Sydney the day after Christmas 1972 after a six month Asia overland trip from Europe they had 27 cents left between them. In late 1973 they started Lonely Planet Publications to publish Across Asia on the Cheap, the story of their trip from London to Australia. From that self-published guidebook Lonely Planet Publications has grown to become the world’s largest independent guidebook publisher with more than 500 titles in print, over 400 staff and offices in London and Oakland as well as the head office in Melbourne.

Excerpted from Lonely Planet Australia (Lonely Planet Australia) by Paul Smitz, Susie Ashworth, Carolyn Bain, Neal Bedford, Verity Campbell, Pete Cruttenden, Susannah Farfor. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Destination: Australia。
Australia is an intriguing enigma not only to people elsewhere in the world, who look at a map and see this curiously chunky bit of terra firma floating way down in the southern hemisphere, but also to the locals, who can spend years making leisurely explorations and still feel they've only begun to comprehend the full nature of their own mammoth back yard. It's not just Australia's size that defies the exhaustion of travel possibilities - Australia also has a sublime, time-bending quality that can't be overruled by any itinerary.
In a city, you'll experience an urban blur of fashion-festooned boutiques, plate-clattering restaurants and vivacious humankind, but suddenly be mesmerized in a gallery or lose yourself in one long fluid moment inside a wine glass. In the interior, you might be surrounded by noise in a beer-washed pub or hear the thump of rocks under your 4WD, only to be transfixed by a slow, silent swirl of outback dust or an outrageously beautiful sunset. Some roads are so long and straight that no matter how fast you go, it's as if you're barely moving. Around the coast, you'll be tasting the foam of ocean surf or pedalling furiously down a mountain, then end up diving down into a coral garden, taking an endless breath in the depths of a rainforest, or slowly realizing you have an entire beach to yourself.
Only one thing is consistent: every traveler in Australia faces the same wondrous dilemma - where to begin...

Highlights
Getting Started
Itineraries
The Authors
Snapshot
History
Environment
The Culture
Food＆Drink
New South Wales
Australian Capital Territory
Queensland
Victoria
Tasmania
South Australia
Northern Territory
Western Australia
Directory
Transport
Road Maps
Health
World Time Zones
Glosary
Behind the Scenes
Index
Legend

书摘
There are two really big factors that go a long way towards explaining na in Australia: its soils and its climate...

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