Down Under (book)

Down Under

Author	Bill Bryson
Subject	Australia
Genre	Travel
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	2000
Pages	319
ISBN	0-552-99703-X
OCLC	46662535

Down Under is a 2000 travelogue book about Australia written by best-selling travel writer Bill Bryson. In the United States and Canada it was published entitled In a Sunburned Country. It was also published as Walk About, which included Down Under and another of Bryson's books, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, in one volume.

Summary

Bill Bryson describes his travels by railway and car throughout Australia, his conversations with people in all walks of life about the history, geography, unusual plants and animals of the country, and his wry impressions of the life, culture and amenities (or lack thereof) in each locality.

In a style similar to his book A Walk in the Woods, or William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways, Bryson's research enabled him to include many stories about Australia's 19th-century explorers and settlers who suffered extreme deprivations, as well as details about its natural resources, culture, and economy.