Amanda Wilson, Hokies Abroad marketing intern, shares a worthwhile read for all travelers heading to Australia soon:

In his novel In a Sunburned Country, author Bill Bryson shares the story of his Australian travels along the Eastern Coast. Bryson writes of the novelties Australia has to offer from grotesquely large insects and vast tracts of land, to giant statues of fruit and quick-witted Aussies.

Cover image from barnesandnoble.com

The account of his travels is laced with a subtle humor that transports the reader Down Under. Bryson professes his love for the country writing:

“The people are immensely likable — cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted, and unfailingly obliging. Their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water. They have a society that is prosperous, well ordered, and instinctively egalitarian. The food is excellent. The beer is cold. The sun nearly always shines. There is coffee on every corner. Rupert Murdoch no longer lives there. Life doesn’t get much better than this.”

Throughout the entire novel, Bryson seems to always get back to the same question, “How could something so newsworthy about Australia never reach him across the globe in England?” He illustrates the point by detailing how in 1967 Prime Minister Harold Holt swam into the surf and never returned.  He states, “This seemed doubly astounding to me—first that Australia could just lose a prime minister (I mean, come on) and second that news of this had never reached me.”

Bryson excellently conveys much of Australia’s little known history and endearing oddity. In a Sunburned Country is one of the best (and humorous) ways to get to know the country before visiting.

If you’re heading on an Australia program this summer, then I encourage you to read it!