Recently I read again the book about Australia, which I read before our departure to Perth: Bill Bryson’s “Down Under”.

This is a very amusing book about the wonderful queer things which happened and are still happening every day here in Australia.

I vividly remember that I loved the book, but unfortunately I didn’t take it seriously. I had a fun time reading that book, but I just couldn’t imagine that Bill Bryson was right and the things are really that way he describes them.

Bill Bryson talks in his book about the accidentally discovery of the continent and that Australia was really close to be french. You learn a lot about discoverers and pioneers, about disappeared prime ministers (he went surfing and never came back, and noone really cared) and other scurrile folks.

He talks also alot about the dangerous fauna in Australia. Actually, it’s the fault of this book that I am quite paranoid when it comes to sharks and jelly fish and spiders.

Further he reports that many books were still under censorship in Australia long after all other countries had no problems with these books anymore. The Australian kids could appreciate the “Catcher in the Rye” much later than the rest of the world. By the way, the Catcher in the Rye is world literature today and much read in schools now.

Bill Bryson reports also about all the beautiful places here in Australia. We haven’t been at the East Coast yet, but we will soon go there and follow his recommendations.

The Down Under book is really easy to read and very enjoyable, even if you don’t plan to visit Australia. My mom had read it and she liked it alot. The only downside is now that she is always worried about me swimming in the sea because of all the dangerous animals in the ocean.

If you think that Bill Bryson exaggerate some things in his book, rest assure, out of our experience life is really that scurrile here in Australia and sometimes even more so than in the book described.

The book is available at amazon.