Thumbs Up Australia: Hitching the Outback [Paperback]

Tom Parry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2006

On the Road meets Down Under in this really rough guide to the adventures of an English hitchhiker and his reluctant French girlfriend in the Australian Outback! Thumbs Up Australia: A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Real Outback is the true story of Tom Parry's journey through the Outback. As Parry and his girlfriend hitch their way around the near-empty highways, they encounter a wide cross-section of Aussie society along the dusty roads: from a yarn-spinning opal miner turned mechanic, to the grizzled Aboriginal elder with his tales of dreamtime, to the Dutch hitchhiker who paused at a commune twenty years ago and never left. We see a country of opportunity and boundless freedoms, of mountains and beaches and thousands of miles of nearly uninhabited wilderness and, as our travelers come to realize, people whose pioneer spirit is very much alive. Full of wonderful anecdotes and endearing tales, Thumbs Up Australia is essential reading for anyone bound for the bush - or dreaming of it from their backyard.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Standing on near-empty highways, Parry and his girlfriend often meet eccentrics from the outback, Aboriginal elders, road-train drivers, hippies, and fellow travelers who had ventured off the usual tourist routes. His account of their 8000-mile journey is humorous and insightful...Recommended." -- Library Journal, Nov. 1, 2006

From the Publisher

"A very readable and enjoyable tour of Oz that will only inspire the adventurous traveller to get off the well-trodden path and explore the wilderness that is one of this country's greatest assets. And if you're planning on a spot of hitchhiking, then the advice given here is not to be missed."
Real Travel Magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing (July 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185788390X
• ISBN-13: 978-1857883909
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,006,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Thumbs Up, Mates!, January 25, 2011

By 

Gifford Krivak (Fairfax, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thumbs Up Australia: Hitching the Outback (Paperback)

If you have a sense of adventure, grab a copy of this book. While I would probably never hitchike the Australian Outback myself, I really enjoyed reading about someone's adventure doing just that. Tom Parry's book is witty and sharp, and made me laugh at various points, and to comtemplate this wild and untamed land. The book reminded me of another travel adventure, One For the Road, written by Tony Horwitz some 20 years ago. If you have ever had a desire to explore the unexplored, you will enjoy this book -- Thumbs Up!

5.0 out of 5 stars An accurate tale of the outtback, January 16, 2011

By 

SNOOKIE (ARIZONA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Thumbs Up Australia: Hitching the Outback (Paperback)

If you plan a trip to the outback I cannot recommend a better book to take along. A good friend of mine goes every year to fish and I gave this book to him and he reports it is an excellent guide for those who want to excperience rural Austraila.

5.0 out of 5 stars A new view on Australa, March 21, 2006

By 

Christopher John Carr (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thumbs Up Australia: Hitching the Outback (Paperback)

I very much enjoyed this novel and found it to be a real page-turner in that it was a tale of endeavour and continually emergent experiences. This novel touched on an area most Australian's seem to be little aware of and seem themselves to experience almost as a foreign country most notably the centre and north of this massive country/continent. Indeed an area that most of us won't experience whilst traversing the urban parts so well advertised by the brochures. As such I found it a fascinating contrast from that given by the rather conservative and urbanised travelogues I'd read on this country by Bill Bryson's `Down Under' although in itself an interesting travelogue. Bill Bryson's travelogue was the last book I bought for my brother when he left for Australia three years ago, this will be my next one.