2 comments about Still Cruising- A Family Travels the World: Australia to Asia, Africa and America.

1. This is an excellant follow-up to the book, "Just Cruising." It is written in everyday language with descriptions and annodotes that puts the reader in the boat with the Copelands. As in her first book, Mrs. Copeland covers the subjects most sailors are interested in and leaves out the mudane. No maps and positions, no how to repair or replace, just good fun on a trip around the world. Read, "Just Cruising," first and then this book and you'll be packing the kids and heading for the boatyard...



2. I read Liza's first book "Just Cruising" and couldn't wait to read the sequel. I really enjoyed reading about her trip around the world. I wanted to leave my job behind and join her family. What an exciting life!

No comments about Twisting Throttle Australia: A Kiwi's Hilarious Trip Around Aussie on the Seat of His Pants.

No comments about Fodor's Exploring Australia, 7th Edition (Exploring Guides).

No comments about Australia the Land (Lands, Peoples, and Cultures).

5 comments about Beam Ends.

1. This book is a great read! It's stylish, witty, action packed and full of youthful bravado. A barely twenty year old Flynn and three chums set sail up the east coast of Australia in a sail boat Flynn acquires during a binge. While not all the details are exactly true, the nuts and bolts of his story are. You're right there with him,and at the end, wish he'd written more - before his demons dragged him down. If you're a Flynn fan, or just love a good tale, this book won't disappoint. Errol was a talented man; "Beam Ends" gives us a glimpse of what might have been.



2. It's amazing, the power 'Television' has to control
   an entire population, not only its action but thoughts as well!!
   Particularly with some specific meadia!!!
   
   It is almost Orwellian, Down Under, these days!!!



3. I did not know what to expect when I ordered this book. I found that I enjoyed the wonderful adventure described as well as the language used to convey it. It is a great first book for a then twenty-something author. The characters, the passion for sailing and the descriptions of even the smallest of plants and sea life come alive vibrantly. The author clearly read and learned from the classics, and his wonderful, sharp sense of humor comes through with precise, but natural, timing. This is a book that one will truly enjoy reading over and over again. Errol Flynn's second novel "Showdown" is also a fantastic, entertaining read that is again, full of life, passion and clarity and a book worth reading many times over. Mr. Flynn was a multi-talented man whose talent for writing and storytelling should have been supported and encouraged. His "devil may care" attitude and behavior offscreen masked the damage and insecurity caused by a sad childhood and upbringing. It is unfortunate that he was typecast and that tabloid writers seemed to relish riding the coattails of his fast-rising star and then proceeding swiftly to strike him down.



4. I love Errol Flynn so wanted to read his work, but it was too much sailing and fishing for my taste. He writes well, very conversational, as if you were right there sitting across the table and he were telling you stories. I liked one of his other books better, My Wicked, Wicked Ways just because it had more interesting stories to me. If you like outdoor stories, though, you will like it.



5. I read his autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways (also terrific) just before I read this book. It is apparent that the autobiography (MWWW) which was co-authored, really was Flynn's book - he probably just dictated it to the other writer credited along with Flynn. The reason I say this is because by the way that Beam Ends is written,(descriptions mainly),it is clear that Errol Flynn had a true writing talent. Flynn wrote this book when he was about 28 years old. It's a treat for the Errol Flynn fan because you can really hear him speaking throughout the book. The subject is the voyage he and a few friends made from Sydney, Australia to New Guinea aboard his boat the Scirocco. You can see how much Flynn had already lived at that tender age and also how much of a sensitive man he really was. I look forward to reading his one and only novel, Showdown, even though it didn't get great reviews. I really like the way he wrote. His desciptions are very vivid. I highly recommend this book. Men, especially, I believe will find it fascinating. It's a true adventure by one of the world's most adventurous men.

No comments about New Guinea and Polynesia: Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea and the D'Entrecasteaux Islands: a Cruise in Polynesia and Visits to the Pearl-shelling Stations in Torres Straits of H.M.S. Basilisk.

5 comments about From Alice to Ocean: Alone Across the Outback.

1. I bought this book while on a visit to Australia in 1990 and read it on the flight home! I was completely entranced by this woman's tenacity and determination to complete her often difficult but life expanding trek ALL ALONE! I had lost this book in a fire in 1993 and felt like I had lost a friend - I am soooo happy to see it is back in print! The incredible photos that accompany the journey are worth every penny!



2. This book breaks all the boundaries - combining Photography, digital media and narrative to capture the wild spirit in us all. Makes me want to buy and camel and set off!



3. The combination is a winner because of:
   * the stunning page and a half photo spreads of Australian desert and scenes showing Robyn's trek with the camels
   * engaging narration by Robyn that shows you the beauty, fear, boredom, and other feelings that accompany her on the months of solitude crossing 1700 miles of outback Australia
   The photographer represented National Geographic, and the photos have that look the magazine readers expect. Interesting panoramas, the light playing on the spinifex, the wrinkled face of an Aboriginal tracker, the otherworldly red dirt, the camels silhouetted against the skyline.
   Robyn represented only herself and undertook the trek for reasons even she did not understand. Seeing her develop and expand her thinking during the days and weeks and months on the track makes this a fascinating book.



4. Although large in size, and filled with breathtaking photographs, this book includes so much more than the regular "picture book". Robyn's thoughtful words make you feel as if you are traveling right along with her and her famous camels. The story is engaging and heart-wrenching; and the reader runs through the same emotions that Robyn feels at each leg of the journey, from the tragedy of loss to the jubilation of completion.
   
   Beautiful and introspective - and very highly recommended.



5. I first saw a picture or two on some program to download desktop photos. I followed some info cuz I was captivated by the Alice pictures. I discovered Robyn's journey, story and this story book. I considered buying a used one, but decided to get a new one. I just love the whole of it and so appreciate the author not only taking the journey but sharing it with the rest of us. Even if some of the sharing was against her original plans. Thanks Robyn. Your journey touches deeply in inexplicable ways.

5 comments about Throwim' Way Leg: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums, and Penis Gourds.

1. I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful book! In it, mammalogist Tim Flannery regales us with tales from his many years in New Guinea, searching for new species of mammals on the island, the second largest in the world. A difficult island to work in - highly mountainous; extremely few roads, most villages so isolated that they can only be reached by small planes flying to landing strips hacked out of the jungle; parts of it some of the rainiest spots on earth, some areas receiving 11 meters or more of rain a year; possessing many dangerous animals ranging from crocodiles to snakes to huge spiders; tropical diseases and parasites a real problem in many areas (including malaria and scrub typhus, from which Flannery almost died from when bit by an infected tick) � Flannery had his work cut out for them as he spent over two decades on the island, both in the eastern half, the independent nation of Papua New Guinea, and the western section, Irian Jaya, part of Indonesia.

   Flannery is a highly accomplished scientist, having discovered 16 new species of mammals in Melanesia, many of them in New Guinea. Many of these and others are described in the book, and make for fascinating reading. We meet the Black-tailed Giant-rat, the bite from its two centimeter long razor sharp incisors much feared by the inhabitants of the island. The Three-striped Dasyure, a vividly marked rat-sized marsupial predator, one of New Guinea's few mammals active during daylight hours. The Snow Mountains Robin, one of the rarest birds in the world, found in the high alpine regions of the Meren Glacier in Irian Jaya, one of the very few equatorial glaciers in the world. _Antechinus, a small carnivorous marsupial notable in that the male only lives for 11 months, existing only to breed. The diminutive, dingo-like New Guinea singing dog, which arrived in the islands some 2,000 years ago. The six o'clock cicada, a tremendously loud insect that received its name from its trill it emits roughly 6am and 6pm daily. The famous Birds of Paradise, breathtaking in their beauty, several species of which are extremely rare. He also describes the Long-fingered Triok, a black and white skunk smelling possum with the fourth finger of each hand a great elongated probe for finding insect larvae; you never know what he is going to find next lurking in the barely explored misty peaks and dripping jungles of the island.
   
   Three of the most remarkable animals are ones that Flannery discovered or in one case rediscovered. One is _Maokopia ronaldi_, an extinct marsupial herbivore that once dwelt in the high mountain forests. Panda-like in appearance, size, and probably habits, Flannery named this new genus and species from fossils he found in Irian Jaya. Bulmer's Fruit-bat, a bat though extinct for 12,000 years, the largest cave dwelling bat in the world, Flannery was elated to have found them alive in extremely rugged western Papua New Guinea. The one though that Flannery is the most proud of discovering was the Dingiso, a new species of tree-kangaroo he found in the alpine areas of Irian Jaya, a beautiful black and white animal, surprising tame, threatened but fortunately partially protected by native taboos against harming them.

   However, as remarkable as all of that is, one could argue that the real stars of this book are the people of New Guinea, particularly the indigenous Melanesian peoples that Flannery spends a great deal of time with and clearly loves. Much of his time researching in the field he was based out of the villages of such people as the Wopkaimin, the Telefol, and the Goilala where he became fast friends with many throughout the island, in both countries, viewing them not as savage barbarians, but as noble, often quite kind people, their older generation vast repositories of cultural and natural history lore. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the books were the many stories about life in those villages, some of the tales tragic, others heartwarming, and many hilarious.

   Particularly fascinating was what he wrote about the history of cannibalism on the island. Apparently it did exist in the not too distant past, actually in the living memory of some of the villagers he encountered. Though not an every day occurrence by any means, cannibalism was an important part of New Guinea life; indeed, one group Flannery spent some time with, the Miyanmin, were once avid raiders, and actually referred to the neighboring Atbalmin people as �bokis es bilong miplea,� which more or less translates into something like �our refrigerator.� Though cannibalism is now a thing of the past, its effects are still felt he writes, as villages once got some of their population from raids of other villages, the adults of that village were consumed and the children raised as their own; now, that is no longer a source of new people for villages and some are facing some depopulation as a result.

   Flannery sounds several cautionary notes in his book. Several species of New Guinea mammals and birds are in serious danger of extinction from over hunting. Though New Guinea is still a land largely without roads, more and more appear all the time, opening up virgin lands for hunters, loggers, and miners. Indeed in Irian Jaya the latter two are devastating ever larger sections of the island; the massive Freeport mine, which exports over ten million dollars worth of minerals daily, has destroyed large sections of forest with waste mine tailings.

   He also worries about the future of the people, particularly in Irian Jaya. He believes that in an attempt to make that land more like the rest of Indonesia it is causing not only environmental damage but also cultural damage. Indeed there are concerns over human rights abuses in Irian Jaya, of dissidents disappearing, of remote villagers forced to wear modern clothing and abandon their pig eating culture by distant Muslim politicians, who often find native culture abhorrent.

   Recommended.




2. Flannery is one of a kind. He is to New Guinea what Perry and Amundson are to the poles, a first-comer .... one of the first to explore and document the stone age peoples of the mysterious island wilderness in the last days of its age of innocence.
   
   Yes, there are cannibals, with bones in their noses and gourds worn on their penis, yet Flannery somehow manages to get the reader to empathize with these people, to understand their foibles and traditions, and to feel regret that their ancient ways are going, going, gone ... forever. Take the chapter where he goes in pursuit of the Bulmer's Fruit Fly Bat -- you suffer with him the agonies of failure and the desperations of the search, and the exhilaration of success. Or follow along with his learning experiences among the native tribes and come to actually understand the hows and whys of the way the led their lives, even to discovering there were (to the natives) valid reasons for their rare acts of cannibalism.
   
   Although he describes some of the most spectacular natural wonders of the world, the reader comes to know that Papua New Guinea will never rate very highly as a tourist destination, but you'll have to read this book to appreciate the reasons why.
   
   Think you couldn't possibly be interested in such things? Try twenty pages of this charming book; the images will lived in your memory forever.
   
   Hooroo, Tim! Bonzer yarn, mate!



3. Without a doubt Tim Flannery ranks with the world's greatest scientist/explorers. He has a wealth of fascinating and valuable tales to tell from his travels to New Guinea. However, the book has little coherent structure. It's just a series of (mostly) unrelated stories, like he might recount over dinner. The details of his trips are incredible, but by the time I was half way through, I began losing my interest and felt I was re-reading previous passages.



4. Flannery is the Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum. This book recounts several of his expeditions in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya in the 80s and 90s.
   
   He's the opposite to Douglas Adams. In approaching some similar topics in his `Last Chance to See' Adams was primarily a writer. Flannery is primarily a biologist - the writing came second. Thus there's not the wit, and the style is often understated. In some cases this is quite charming as he pretty casually relates some harrowing incidents (such as getting stuck alone in an underground crevice). In contrast his vocabulary can get a bit ostentatious: he'll use always use a word like `ossuary', for example, rather than graveyard, and in one case he used a word I've forgotten now that from the context must mean something like overeating, but didn't even appear in my complete Macquarie dictionary. (Ah, another amazon reviewer had the same problem, although they were impressed by the obscure vocabulary, while I was unimpressed by same: 'farcarted' gets nothing from any online dictionaries - the only place it turns up in a google search is in these perplexed amazon reviews. Maybe it's an in-joke.)
   
   These are exotic places and creatures, and Flannery capably recalls some real adventures. Part of the strange appeal of this book is shaking your head at some of the near-insane deprivations and risks his biological obsession has entailed (hence the insightful description of another reviewer, `bloody mad scientist'). Moreover half the fascination is anthropological. He generally does very well walking the line between eulogising and demonising the tribal Papuans. He ably conveys some of the dilemmas of contact between ancient and modern, such as the time when in all good faith he acceded to requests to sharpen all the knives in a village, but then was appalled to see several villagers accidentally cutting themselves deeply because they'd never had anything but blunt edges. He does tend towards the assumption that any loss of traditional culture is automatically bad, but honestly allows us to see some ugly things that challenge this assumption.
   
   Towards the end of the book, as much to his chagrin as ours, we're not able to merely enjoy the excitement of discovery of species because of the context of ugly mistreatment of Irian nationals by their Indonesian conquerors. I got the feel that none of us wanted this to be a `political' book, particularly not a partisan one, but in telling his story it becomes unavoidable. Flannery again to his credit is very careful not to say `all Indonesians', or `all the mining company workers', but sadly his biological expeditions are somewhat overrun just at the end by encounters with some brutal racism, at times incidental, at others structural.



5. I had never heard of this book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is about a biologists experiences over years in New Guinea. The animals were interesting, but the stars of the show were the people. Flannery has the ability to see beyond the obvious in people and recognize intelligence, kindness, leadership where they exist not where you expect them to exist. It is also a good primer to today's New Guinea, it's culture, geography, and politics.

No comments about East Coast Australia, 3rd: Tread Your Own Path (Footprint - Travel Guides).

2 comments about Melbourne (City Guide).

1. The Lonely Planet city guide to "Melbourne" was put together by Simone Egger and David McClymont. The guide I am reviewing is the 5th edition of the guide, so please take note that a 6th edition will be out soon, and it is almost always best to go with the latest edition of a travel guide.
   
   I may update my review after my trip, but from my first reading of the guide, I found it to be fairly comprehensive. It covers the city as well as some things to do in the immediately surrounding region. There are sections which cover the culture (`City Life', `Arts',' Food', `History'), the area (`Neighbourhoods'), and most importantly for the traveler, things to do (`Eating', `Drinking', `Sleeping', `Walking Tours', `Entertainment', `Sports, Health, & Fitness', `Shopping', and `Excursions').
   
   I found this guide to be very helpful in my planning, and only found a couple areas where it wasn't accurate. The first was in hotel costs, and that is undoubtedly due to the fact that I am going to be there during a holiday. The guide is also from 2004, so there would undoubtedly be changes each year anyway. The other area where they might want to update is for getting a visa. Tourist visas for many countries can now be applied for online, but they do not mention that. I feel that one of the most useful sections of this book will probably turn out to be the `Directory' section, which covers a wide range of topics from transportation, money exchange, embassies, tipping, tourist information, and much more.
   
   As the city guide for the city in which Lonely Planet is based, my expectations were very high, and so far they have been met for the most part. As I indicated earlier, I may come back and edit this review after my trip, but for pre-planning, these is easily a four star reference. However, I do see that the 6th edition is due out in October of this year, so if possible I would suggest waiting for the more up-to-date version of the guide.



2. We bought both this guide and the Rough Guide to Melbourne before our recent trip to Melbourne. This one had some out-of-date pricing, but otherwise I didn't find anything to dislike about it. The Rough Guide, however, was most suited to our personal reading styles, because my husband and I both preferred it. This guide requires a bit more ability to focus and read longer essay-type writing on topics. In fact, I may read it now that I am home, more for the interesting data it offers, as opposed to for the guerrilla-style-week-of-Melbourne that I was engaged in when I was actually there.