Frommer's Australia 2007 (Frommer's Complete) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased book a week before my trip and read on flight to Sydney. Soon determined there were a number of inaccuracies in the attraction pricing and other minor specifics (e.g., per Frommer there were 30 Explorer bus stops in Blue Mountain...there were actually 27, which Lonely Planet had right). The organization layout could be more simplistic (i.e., one attraction was discussed in various areas of the same section - used labeled flags to facilitate use). The book is bulky to carry around in backpack - editions should be available for specific regions (e.g., Sydney and surrounding). Worship service times and places could be added. Sydney is home to one of the most popular, largest non-denominational churches (Hillsong) and there was no mention of this (or other churches, other than the architecturally impressive cathedrals). Lastly, it would be great if Frommers would add local sites and activities. For instance, there is mention of the Sydney fish market but I found out through a local that cooking classes are offered. That would have been a fun "local" activity to have known about. I will buy the competitor book on my next trip and will then place my loyalty on one.

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Frommer's. The best trips start here.
Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer.
From Adelaide to the Melbourne Zoo, our authors show you Australia in all its amazing diversity.
Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.
Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget.
Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.

Find great deals and book your trip at Frommers.com and download a free companion podcast about Australia!

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The Rough Guide to Melbourne Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I wanted a guidebook to take on my Oct 2010 trip to Melbourne, but I really could not find one that I liked. I settled on this one. It contains all the basic travel info (electrical current, etc.), short history and major sites as any other guidebooks, but not much beyond. The listings for restaurants, bars/pubs & live music are pretty limited, and the full color insert on "eclectic multicultural cuisine" was short and don't add much more than a few pretty pictures. It does offer good coverage of major attractions around Melbourne proper like museums, the gaol, the state library, etc. However, while the book covers Southern suburbs like Toorak & Prahran and as far down South as St Kilda, it only goes as far North as Carlton & Fitzroy, completely omitting North Melbourne, Brunswick & anything beyond.
It does cover some areas outside of Melbourne like the Great Ocean Road and the Yarra Valley, but someone like me who intended on spending most of my time really getting to know & soaking in the life of the city, I thought this book does so at the expense of giving a more in-depth details of Melbourne itself.
The book is split up into sections for different parts of the city with a map of the area at the start of each section. But I was disappointed that the map of the larger Melbourne area at the beginning of the book do not cover enough area so that I had to keep flipping between the various maps in the book to figure out where I am & where I'm supposed to go.
Overall, I didn't like this guidebook much. It's serviceable, but I would have loved to see more tidbits on the culture, cuisine and music scene mentioned in the product description. This book really doesn't delve into any of them more than a few sentences. I did enjoy the section in the back that list some notable Australian books & movies (some of which I did check out prior to my trip), but overall I didn't think it offers much to set it apart from most other city guidebooks.

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"The Rough Guide to Melbourne" is the ultimate travel guide with clear maps and detailed coverage of all the best attractions Melbourne has to offer. Discover Melbourne's coolest bars and the hippest Melbourne hotels to the immense changes to the fabric of the city itself. Packed with detailed, practical advice on what to see and do in Melbourne, get the lowdown on Melbourne's renowned live music and club scenes and whet your appetite for its restaurants with a full-colour insert on its eclectic multicultural cuisine for all budgets. Features of this title include detailed coverage on the lively Melbourne city centre and dynamic outer suburbs; the cafes of Fitzroy, Prahran and South Yarra shopping, and the beaches of St Kilda to wine tasting tours of the Yarra Valley and road trips along the magnificent Great Ocean Road. You'll find authoritative background on Melbourne's history, film and books. Explore all corners of Australia's fastest growing city, with the clearest Melbourne maps, street plans and full-colour tram and train maps of any guide. Make the most of your holiday with "The Rough Guide to Melbourne".

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Fodor's Australia 2009 (Fodor's Gold Guides) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this guide book to help me plan and execute a route through Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Since I did not want to buy three books (one for each state) I opted for this one from Fodor's. It's probably one of the least useful guidebooks that I have ever owned. While it IS difficult to make a guide book on an area as large as Australia, the authors spend an awful lot of space on describing single restaurants that they fancy in detail, while leaving out other helpful listings. So if you are not into the same food that evening you stay in a particular town, you are on your own. The authors have a tendency to list a lot more luxurious places instead of a nice mix across all budgets.
The section on Sidney is still acceptable but western Victoria, South Australia (which pretty much does not exist east and south of Barossa) and Tasmania are so bad, I trashed the book in Sydney rather than taking it home (I have never done that before!).
The book can be used for general planning purposes (which part of Australia do I want to visit in which season and roughly what are the major things that I could see along the way) but while you travel its place is on your bookshelf at home and not in your glove compartment of your campervan.

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Fodor's. For Choice Travel Experiences.Fodor's helps you unleash the possibilities of travel by providing the insightful tools you need to experience the trips you want. While you're at the helm, Fodor's offers the assurance of our expertise, the guarantee of selectivity, and the choice details that truly define a destination. It's like having a friend in Australia!•Updated annually, Fodor's Australia 2009 provides the most accurate and up-to-date information available in a guide book.•Fodor's Australia features options for a variety of budgets, interests, and tastes, so you make the choices to plan your trip of a lifetime.•If it's not worth your time, it's not in this book. Fodor's discriminating ratings, including our top tier Fodor's Choice designations, ensure that you'll know about the most interesting and enjoyable places in Australia.•Experience Australia like a local! Fodor's Australia 2009 features information from local experts.•Indispensable, customized trip planning tools include "Top Reasons to Go," "Word of Mouth" advice from other travelers, and tips to help save money, bypass lines, and avoid common travel pitfalls.•Crisp, clean maps with more depth and detail to make it easier than ever to sail in, out, and around town.Visit Fodors.com for more ideas and information, travel deals, vacation planning tips, reviews and to exchange travel advice with other travelers.

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Frommer's Australia from $60 a Day (Frommer's $ A Day) Review

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(More customer reviews)Very informative. Great practical info. They tell you straight up the good and the bad. There are lots of little tips as well. I really got a lot out of the book.

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Frommer's is the name you can trust for great travel bargains. Our acclaimed $-a-Day series is not for backpackers who want to rough it, but for travelers with taste, who've outgrown their student lifestyle and demand comfortable accommodations and good, authentic meals at a reasonable price. Each guide is loaded with detailed listings for mom-and-pop motels, B&Bs, comfortable guesthouses, good-value bistros, and ethnic restaurants. You'll find a bargain-hunter's shopping guide, affordable fun after dark, and complete sightseeing coverage, including the best things to do for free (or almost).
Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go—they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. Every Frommer's $-a-Day Guide is up-to-date, with dozens of maps and exact prices for every expense, so you can plan each day's budget. Frommer's knows that affordable travel doesn't have to mean making sacrifices. It's about having fun and getting a great deal!
Australia seems like an expensive proposition for a vacation. But it doesn't have to be. With Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day, you'll save money every step of the way, whether you're snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, sharing a pint at an Outback pub, spotting 'roos and koalas, or snagging discount tickets to the Sydney Opera House.
Our authors, longtime residents of Australia, have uncovered hundreds of fabulous, affordable places to stay; you'll find candid, detailed reviews of motels, apartments, B&Bs, and more, all with exact prices. It all comes with dozens of accurate maps, a complete sightseeing guide, and details on the best of Australia's glorious beaches and bush walks, plus the most affordable diving. You'll even get a free color foldout map!

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Lonely Planet East Coast Australia (Regional Travel Guide) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is perfect for seeing the east coast of Australia by car, but will work just as well if traveling by bus, moped, etc. A friend and I had been planning to drive the east coast, visiting national parks and doing lots of hiking, so when I saw this book I knew it was perfect. As with all titles in the LP family, it lists many places to stay/eat based on price range, which is really nice when you are traveling on a limited budget. There are many hikes listed in the book, along with museums, oddities, and points of interest along this 'classic overland route.' My only complaint about the book is that I wish the authors had listed traveling distances between major cities at the beginning of each section, so the reader doesn't have to add up each little segment on the maps. Otherwise the book is very complete.

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Discover East Coast AustraliaDangle your legs off a jetty in far east Gippsland and share the dusk with a mob of kangaroosLearn to surf on the curving, idyllic beach of your dreams - we list 10 surf schools in NSW aloneSail away on a 15-knot wind with a crew of new mates in the WhitsundaysFloat on your back in a cool rainforest creek, looking up at the canopy of greenIn This GuideEight authors, seven months on the road, a gutful of great meals'Detour' boxes feature the best scenic backroads in every stateMore reviews of organic food places and ecofriendly accommodation than any other East Coast guidebook

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Australia & New Zealand on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet) Review

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(More customer reviews)It's a great book. It is very complete and very accurate, most of the times.
I didn't gave it 5 stars because sometimes it isn't very easy to find the information.
I recommend it.

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Guide to Australia and New Zealand written by a team of local authors and specialist contributors.

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Living and Working in Australia: A Survival Handbook (Living & Working in Australia) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this book when I found out that my company had actually agreed to transfer me to Australia ... but they were giving me very little help in what to expect. This book is not a "travel" guide. It's a practical guide on how to settle down in Australia - things like, how to get a drivers licence, where to apply for a tax file number, even how to do a hook turn in Melbourne. It has never steered me wrong, and I've recommended it to many expat friends.
A must-have if you're thinking about moving there.

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Written in an entertaining style with a touch of humor, Living and Working in Australia is designed to provide newcomers with the practical information necessary for a relatively trouble-free life. Its contents include finding a job, permits & visas, health, accommodation, finance, insurance, education, shopping, post office and telephone services, public transport, motoring, TV and radio, leisure, sports and much, much more. It is packed with vital information and insider tips to help minimize culture shock and reduce the newcomer's rookie period to a minimum. Living and Working in Australia is essential reading for anyone planning to spend an extended period in Australia. Printed in color.

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Lonely Planet Australia (Country Travel Guide) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Since the late 90's Lonely Planet have been dwindling down the number of destinations and hostel listings in these guides and replacing that space with more five star hotels, fine dining and other useless information backpackers will never use. In this edition Lonely Planet lists the most expensive Hotel in Australia, Palazzo Versace in their Gold Coast accommodation listings. They are so out of touch with their target market now it is not funny.
Buy the Backpackers Ultimate Guide (BUG) Australia instead as it is what Lonely Planet and Lets Go used to be. A comprehensive coverage of all hostels in a destination, not just the one or two that pay to be listed and no weight increasing space taking up useless information that we backpackers do not want to lug around an entire continent.
If you can find an old copy from ten years ago buy it otherwise give Lonely Planet a miss!


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No one knows Australia like Lonely Planet'remember, we live here! We know where Sydney's best surf beaches are, where to get the best coffee in Melbourne's cobbled lanes, and how to cross the great red plains in a van without getting scorched.Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.In This Guide:Full Coverage. Bustling cities, outback trails and everything in between.Road Atlas. 16-page color map section, to navigate the country's highways and bywaysUnique Green Index to help make your travels as ecofriendly as you wish

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Lonely Planet East Coast Australia (Regional Travel Guide) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Just received this newly updated August 2011 edition. We are planning trip next year to East coast of Australia. We haven't traveled yet, so can't vouch for the reliability of the data. But, on initial review it looks quite good. Well organized. Easy to find stuff based on location or interest. Good maps. A lot to digest... but I think this will be the one guide we take with us on our trip next year. Compared to another East Coast Australia guide we bought, this one seems to have a lot more bang for the buck.

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'Beautiful beaches, cosmopolitan cities, rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef are just a few reasons why so many fall under the spell of Australia's east coast." - Regis St. Louis, Lonely Planet WriterOur PromiseYou can trust our travel information because Lonely Planet authors visit the places we write about, each and every edition. We never accept freebies for positive coverage, and you can rely on us to tell it like we see it.Inside This Book'8 authors94 maps1 Big Banana18,000 km of coastlineInspirational photosClear, easy-to-use mapsAt-a-glance practical infoYour Reef Trip planning featureComprehensive planning toolsIn-depth background

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Lonely Planet Discover Australia (Full Color Country Travel Guide) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)At the outset, you have to realize that this sort of a guidebook just can't contain enough information on any particular location to serve adequately to guide a newcomer to a country as vast as Australia. Imagine trying to cram a guide to the United States -- the lower 48 states are about the size of Australia -- into 400 pages. A guide like that could give you the high spots of some of the bigger cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles -- and paint with a broad brush over vast areas of the country like New Mexico and New Jersey -- just to give you an idea of what the authors are up against.
It's very much the same with this pretty guide to Australia. The photographs are excellent, beautifully reproduced; the authors are almost all Aussies very knowledgeable about their country; and the itineraries for specific areas are excellent, based on my own travels in this fascinating country.
At the same time, much detail must be left out. One reviewer here rightfully criticizes the book for giving short shrift to the the wonderful Kangaroo Island -- only four pages -- but that is one percent of the entire book -- and at least the authors let you know that wonder exists.
That's the way I would use this book: read it over before actually travelling to Australia. Once you've decided on where you want to go, get a more detailed guide to actually make your plans. Or, use it like I did this morning: just page through it and remember what I've already seen and wish I could go again and find new discoveries.
Robert C. Ross 2010

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Experience The Best of AustraliaMake the most of your trip abroad - Lonely Planet's full color Discover guides highlight the best a country has to offer while still providing an authentic and memorable experience.Full Color ThroughoutFull of color images and maps - makes planning as inspiring as the journey itselfColor-coded navigationEasy-To-Use StructureEasy-to-use tools include: color-coded chapters, color thumb tabs, dynamic color spreads on major highlights andEasy-to-read planning sections throughoutHighlightsSpecial front-of-book chapter on the top 25 can't-miss experiencesFeatures the must-see attractions and unbeatable experiencesFocuses on key cities and regionsItinerariesCountry-wide itineraries take you step by step though the country - broken out by interest, theme and length of tripRegion-specific itineraries help you plan more deeply for the regions you are most interested inLocal Experts Major attractions include insights from local experts on what not to miss

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The Rough Guide to Australia (Rough Guide Australia) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book was a lifesaver for us on our three week vacation to Australia. The maps within it were fantastic especially on our four day drive up the coast. It was very helpful with regard to accommodation, and finding tourist information offices. We didn't leave our room without it on any day of our trip.

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"The Rough Guide to Australia" is your indispensable guide to one of the most unmissable countries on earth. It is packed with practical information on once-in-a-lifetime experiences in Oz, from sunrise walks around Uluru to viewing Kangaroo Island's wild seals, sea lions, kangaroos and koalas; bush-camping safaris in UNESCO World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park to exhilarating helicopter flights down the dramatic gorges of Aboriginal-owned Nitmiluk National Park - not forgetting the stunning harbour side bars and restaurants of Sydney. Written by a team of widely-travelled, dedicated authors, this "Rough Guide" will help you to discover the best hotels, restaurants, cafes, shops and festivals around Australia, whatever your budget. Plus, you'll find expert background on Australia's history, wildlife, cinema and fascinating aboriginal culture and the clearest maps of any guide. Make the most of your trip with "The Rough Guide to Australia".

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