'You see,' Bryson observes, 'Australia is an interesting place. In such a rarefied world of contentment and inactivity, comprehension would become a distraction.

It actually helps not to know quite what's going on. He finds ridiculous place names: 'Mullumbimby Ewylamartup, Jiggalong, and the supremely satisfying Tittybong,' and manages to catch a cricket game on the radio, which is like listening to two men sitting in a rowboat on a large, placid lake on a day when the fish aren't biting it's like having a nap without losing consciousness. He discovers that Australia, which began nationhood as a prison, contains the longest straight stretch of railroad track in the world (297 miles), as well as the world's largest monolith (the majestic Uluru) and largest living thing (the Great Barrier Reef). When he isn't dodging Portuguese man-of-wars or considering the virtues of the remarkable platypus, he visits southwest Gippsland, home of the world's largest earthworms (up to 12 feet in length).

And that's just the beginning, as Bryson treks through sunbaked deserts and up endless coastlines, crisscrossing the 'under-discovered' Down Under in search of all things interesting.īryson, who could make a pile of dirt compelling-and yes, Australia is mostly dirt-finds no shortage of curiosities. Bill Bryson follows his Appalachian amble, A Walk in the Woods, with the story of his exploits in Australia, where A-bombs go off unnoticed, prime ministers disappear into the surf, and cheery citizens coexist with the world's deadliest creatures: toxic caterpillars, aggressive seashells, crocodiles, sharks, snakes, and the deadliest of them all, the dreaded box jellyfish.

Down under bryson