Customer Reviews:
 Visiting Australia? December 5, 2008
We bought this book on recommendation from friends. It's ok as long as you don't take TOO much notice of the advice and 'go with the flow' when you're actually in Oz! Some of the writers who have written in this book actually do live in the Australian cities they're writing about - so it can be a little biased to say the least! The section about Melbourne in particular, goes on 'forever' about the city and says very little about some of the beautiful areas around Melbourne (Yarra Valley and the Dandenong region - both of which are about an hours drive from Melbourne get hardly any mention yet there are loads to see and do there! Luckily both have excellent Tourist Information Centres which are far more helpful!). There's also little information in this book about the road tolls. It's probably worth going online and looking this up before you go if you intend on doing a lot of driving, as information in Australia itself is also quite confusing and contradicting (in some cities you pay at a booth, in others it's done by 'licence plate tagging' - so you have to purchase via a setup account before you use the tolls). There could be a lot more information for young families visiting Australia in this book. Overall, it's worth buying and I would recommend it for first time visitors/backpackers to Australia but I think the information we found on the web and at Visitor Information Centres in Australia was far more useful.
 Slightly more budget orientated than previous editions January 23, 2008
23 out of 26 found this review helpful
Previous editions of this book have been criticised for focusing too much on mid range and expensive places to sleep and eat whilst leaving out cheaper, more budget-orientated options. This edition (14th) is aimed at restoring the balance slightly, and from what I can see it appears to be an improvement. There are a lot of guidebooks for Australia on the market so it is just a matter of finding one that is to your taste, but this one is definitely full of comprehensive information for your trip.
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