Frommer's Australia 2005 [Paperback]

Marc Llewellyn (Author), Lee Mylne (Author)

Book Description

Series: Frommer's Complete Guides | Publication Date: October 22, 2004

You'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. 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. No other series offers candid reviews of so many hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Every Frommer's Travel Guide is up-to-date, with exact prices for everything, dozens of color maps, and exciting coverage of sports, shopping, and nightlife. You'd be lost without us!

Completely updated every year (unlike most of the competition), Frommer's Australia features gorgeous color photos of the spectacular scenery and amazing wildlife that await you Down Under. This extraordinary and opinionated guide is personally researched by a pair of lifelong residents, who'll show you how to discover the real Australia. We'll start off in Sydney, then head off to the Great Barrier Reef, where you'll find complete details on the world's most beautiful beaches, magnificent snorkeling and scuba diving, and other eco-adventures. From the urban pleasures of Melbourne to the rustic, untamed Outback, Frommer's Australia covers it all, with all the advice you need to make the most of your time and money. Whether you want to stay in mom-and-pop motels, wildnerness lodges, elegant B&Bs, or luxury beach resorts, this guide will help you design the Australian adventure that's right for you.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer. Frommer’s. The best trips starts here.

• The best outdoor activities from the Great Barrier Reef to the Outback and beyond.
• 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

About the Author

Marc Llewellyn is the winner of several travel writing awards, including the Australian Society of Travel Writers’ Travel Writer of the Year award 2001/2002. His latest travelogue, Riders to the Midnight Sun, tells of his cycle journey from the Ukrainian Black Sea to Arctic Russia—in a bid to escape the Australian heat.

Lee Mylne writes for a broad range of consumer and travel trade publications. Born and raised in New Zealand, she traveled widely before finally figuring out she could make a living out of it. She has lived in Australia for the past 17 years and is a Full Member of the Australian Society of Travel Writers. Her books include Frommer’s Portable Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Product Details

• Paperback: 699 pages
• Publisher: Frommers; Revised edition (October 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764571540
• ISBN-13: 978-0764571541
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,483,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A few comments & some comparisons, July 27, 2005

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frommer's Australia 2005 (Paperback)

I'm surprised this is only the second review on this book. I agree with the previous writer that one probably needs to read more than one travel guide on a country as big and diverse as Australia, but I would definitely give this guide more than just 3 stars. I think it deserves at least a four, but to sort of counteract his paltry three stars, I'm going to give it a 5. :-)

For one thing, although he's right about the photos being rather sparse, having worked in the publishing field for a few years once, this is obviously intentional to keep the costs down. It more than compensates for that by having detailed, well written, informative text. Also, I have a recommendation below on how to approach these guides in terms of how to use the shorter, more photographic guides, versus the longer, less visual ones like Frommer's.

For example, if you want beautifully illustrated, glossy photos of Oz, you can pick up the Insight guide, the Dorling Kindersley, or the Nat'l Geographic guide, all gorgeous guides visually, but they are five to seven dollars more than this one, and contain 200-300 fewer pages of text. They are truly beautiful, stunning, and graphically very well-designed and laid out books, and after looking at them, I almost felt like I didn't need to spend $4000 on a real trip to Oz anymore since the photo essays in these books were so good. You can take an armchair excursion for $30 for the DK book and save yourself several thousand dollars. Plus you don't need to sit in those cramped coach seats for 14 hours, which doesn't especially appeal to me since I'm 6'4" and I'm not exactly built for that.

My recommendation here is to spend a couple of hours with any of these guides just looking at the great photos on the glossy pages in the cafe of a Border's or B & N bookstore, make mental notes on what you're interested in from there, and then buy and use the bigger but less lavishly illustrated Lonely Planet, Fodor's, or Frommer's guides to get more information. If you use this two-pronged approach you'll get the most for your money, or you could even buy one of each if you're flush with cash. The DK, Insight, and Nat'l Geographic guides are great too, I just happen to prefer getting two to three hundred pages worth of information and fewer photos for 30% less.

For one thing, most of us have seen all the amazing pictures of Oz to begin with. And I'd seen several nature specials on Australia, and I didn't need to be convinced of how cool a country it is to visit from a natural beauty and photographic standpoint, or I wouldn't be thinking of plunking down thousands of dollars of my hard-earned money to fly half way around the world for a vacation in the first place. :-)

Whichever way you decide to go, happy travel guide browsing and buying!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most practical guide to mid-price travel, October 16, 2005

By 

birdmanct (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's Australia 2005 (Paperback)

I tend to prefer the layout of Frommer's guides, and this one was no exception: easy to read with easy to find, relevant info. Of course, no one guide to a country this size can cover it all in depth. Insight and Nat'l Geographic have the best pictures, and Let's Go is the best budget travel guide and might be worth buying even for non-hostelers. Daytrips to Eastern Australia is a good supplement for longer stays there.

The first reviewer said Frommer's has only 30 pages on Melbourne (it has 46) and 30 pages on Sydney (it has 90). That's plenty for a country guide, and Frommer's gives a good variety of restaurants, hotels, and sights both in the cities and the countryside. Don't expect 90 pages to say it all about a city of 4 million. Check the Internet, AA club guides, city books, tour companies, and spend all the time in Oz. And buy this book. It's the most complete I've seen.

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Accurate, May 4, 2006

By 

Sara Jacobsen "sfaithj" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frommer's Australia 2005 (Paperback)

Pretty accurate however some of the prices listed in the Guide Book are outdated so double check all quoted prices.