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It was a waste of money. This book tries to say something about every place in the entire country, and in doing so, says nothing about anything. It gave no recommendations of worthwhile sites vs tourist traps, etc.
Photographs are also excellent. discusses money and special events. I would recommend this For a trip to Australia, this is an excellent guide. It lists all places of interest, hotels and restaurants.
The Eyewithess Travel Guides are the best way to obtain that overview and prioritize where you want to go. Eyewithess Travel Guides give the most complete overview of any travel book or other travel product - good organization; great pictures, maps and other graphics; interesting & concise text and descriptions about history, national foods and beverages, etc.; good suggestions for lodging and eating. The Australia guide is enormous help to us with our planning. Australia is a large country and this book covers alot of territory. They are excellet resource and reference books, but they are concise enough to give a relatively complete overview but short enough to quickly convey information, especially if you do not have a lot of free time. I believe that carefully reading about a desination is important for planning any trip.
For example, the 2006 version does not cover the most significant new building in Brisbane, the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), which cries out for inclusion in such a guide. In addition, I am not sure how rigorous the update process is. This building was completed in 2006 and under construction for some years before.Probably best as a supplementary guide or photo history of your travel. I live in Australia and wanted a nice guide, and have always been drawn to the DK travel books with their lush photos, beautifully illustrated maps, building cut aways etc. In addition, this book was the 2006 version, latest update and later than many of its competitors.As another reviewer has noted, all these photos and illustrations come at a price, which is lack of detail.
DK books make you want to engage and get you excited to travel.Only downside to the series is that they can be a bit more expensive than other books though amazon has good prices compared to other stores. I highly recommend this book and any other DK books offered for your next trip because unlike other travel books they not only offer an insight to the history and culture of the region but also offer info on the sights you may want to see. The thing I love the most is unlike other travel guides DK isnt just in black and white (thin pages) which are sometimes difficult to read and not as appealing to the eyes. I love the DK eyewitness travel series because of the fine detail in describing geographic regions of the world while also including useful information about accommodation based on your budget, how to get around etc. Also they havent got books for many other countries/regions of the world, so Ive had to use other brands, I recommend Fodors Exploring series, theyre also colourful and affordable. The Australia book was very useful on my holiday over to Queensland and New South Wales. The books have valuable information about each country ranging from culture and history to government and natural beauty. I had never been to Australia and so it was nice to have a guide that provided not only visual appeal with its pictures of the landscape and coloured maps but also had info detailing places to stay and see.
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