Oddly, it appears I have a real love for books about American men pushing middle age heading out into the Australian outback. I wouldn’t have even thought this was a genre. But, I’m currently reading and enjoying a second book on the subject. The first was Tony Horwitz’s One for the Road wherein Horwitz hitchhikes all over Australia. The current one is Roff Smith’s “Cold Beer & Crocodiles: A bicycle journey into Australia” wherein Smith, as you might guess, rides his bicycle around Australia counterclockwise.
Heat and flies seem as constant as the friendly strangers with coolers of beer in their trucks. I think I’m getting to a point in my life where I can start saying for certain there are things that I’m never going to do, even things that seem pretty cool. Wandering into a lonely Australian bush pub by myself is probably one of them. So, I guess I’m living vicariously through guys like Horwitz and Smith. Maybe one of these days, I’ll at least make it to a place like Perth or Darwin or Broome. For the time being, I think I have a hangover just reading how much beer is routinely consumed in that part of the world.
In general, I would check out author Bill Bryson if you haven’t previously, but more specifically I would recommend one of his latest books, In a Sunburned Country, which is his own version of the mid-life-travel-to-the-land-down-under story. Bryson is a hilarious and brilliant travel writer, and I can also recommend his books on the English language as well.
For those who prefer endless ice, snow, the roaring forties and a “never say die” attitude there is always Sir Ernest Shackleton, his the voyage on the James Caird and the trek across South Georgia Island to Stromness.
http://www.jamescairdsociety.com/
I’m impressed you even knew the name of a place like Broome!
Both Horwitz and Smith seemed to have a good time in Broome – that’s probably why it made an impression on me.