For my latest long haul flight back home, I’d bought a couple of second hand books to keep me entertained for the flight. Of the two, the most appropriate one for my trip back to Australia was Bill Bryson’s Down Under. Anyone who has read any of his books will agree with me that Bryson has a talent for producing entertaining writings about the most insignificant event, making almost every part of his books enjoyable reading materials.

In this particular book, Bryson manages to travel to all parts of Australia including the more commercial capitals and, more interestingly, a number of the smaller towns that either made it into the news for some particular event, or played a significant part of Australia’s history. The amount of travelling he achieves in Australia is impressive and undoubtedly exceeds far more than many Australians have, or will ever do. It certainly exceeds the amount of travelling I’ve done within Australia.

Bryson writes about local customs, Australia’s history and quirks that may appear strange to outsiders (and with some being truly quirky). Some of them you can interpret as being slightly biased by his own roots, but for the most part are both accurate and succinct. I found this book engaging and almost too easy to devour in one sitting and I think it is a great read for anyone visiting Australia. Be wary though as Bryson has a tendency to exaggerate, so make sure you take what he writes with a grain of salt. It’s not like every day, all around Australia people are dying from red-back spider bites or crocodile and shark attacks. I am certain that any Australian will be able to relate to certain parts of the book and will hopefully find it as entertaining as I did.