Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Walking in Australia

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

LP is a household name and rightly so, the whole empire starting with what was, effectively, just a great idea in the right place at the right time. It's inspiring. And so are some of the walks featured in this book.

Now I'm sure many readers of this review will understand that Australia is... well... kinda large. So the book has been set out according to states/territories and a clutch of signature walks have been selected from each. As such there is probably something for all tastes and something tasty for the prospective walker to look at regardless of what part of the country they live in or are planning to visit. Of course as this book itself indicates a number of the treks in this volume have their own works dedicated to them so if you are looking at going on the Larapinta Trail you would probably do well to buy a book just on that. Oh, and for that one I'd advise taking lots of water!!!

At the end of the day this book covers 60 walks in greater or lesser detail and for the `main event' style walks there are daily route discussions and maps as well as info on getting to/from the start/finish. Of course in any printed work you are always going to find some obsolescence creeping in fairly quickly but the basic frame is there for you to do last minute internet checks before you head into the great outdoors.

Now I'm not going to claim to have been on even a quarter of these walks and I'm not going to claim I've fact checked the whole thing or even read every work in it but taking those points on board I still feel very confident in recommending this book as a great appetite creator and very much something the travel addict in your family may enjoy especially if they have an interest in Australia or trekking. There are plenty of colour photographs and the usual easily readable LP fonts etc and the various boxed text sections are interesting, the whole thing being topped off by a user friendly index.

This will be my main reference for hiking in Australia this winter (well, summer there). Good descriptions, complete information.

I had a chance to look through this book recently at a friends house, and I was pretty impressed. It contains a bunch of useful maps, which from my experience are more than adequate to help you get where your going, or find a place to go if you don't know where you want to be. It also has page upon page of great information on all things walking in Australia. Well worth the price.