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Thumbs Up Australia: Hitching the Outback
On the Road meets Down Under in this really rough guide to the adventures of an enthusiastic hitchhiker and his reluctant girlfriend on their quest for the real Australia.
Hitching lifts with the desert's dodgiest drivers and taking breaks in the roughest roadhouses, this is Tom Parry's witty, warts-and-all tale of hitchhiking 8,000 miles across - and around - the Australian outback with his thumb, his backpack and his French girlfriend, Katia. As the couple hitch their way around the near empty highways, they encounter as wide a cross-section of Aussie society as you could ever hope to meet. In cattle stations, Aboriginal communities, remote waterholes, caravan parks, hippy communes and roadhouses, they see a country that remains as extraordinary today as it was for the first nineteenth century settlers.
Loosely following the routes carved out by the legendary explorers who first traversed the great continent, the couple get to grips with the country's fascinating history. Set against a backdrop of the real Australia - not 'as seen on TV'- Thumbs Up Australia is full of wonderful anecdotes and endearing tales of some of the country's most idiosyncratic characters, from the grizzled Aboriginal elder with his tales of dreamtime, to an amphetamine-swallowing road train driver. And at the end of their journey, it is ironically Katia who suggests thumbing a lift to the airport!
Hitching lifts with the desert's dodgiest drivers and taking breaks in the roughest roadhouses, this is Tom Parry's witty, warts-and-all tale of hitchhiking 8,000 miles across - and around - the Australian outback with his thumb, his backpack and his French girlfriend, Katia. As the couple hitch their way around the near empty highways, they encounter as wide a cross-section of Aussie society as you could ever hope to meet. In cattle stations, Aboriginal communities, remote waterholes, caravan parks, hippy communes and roadhouses, they see a country that remains as extraordinary today as it was for the first nineteenth century settlers.
Loosely following the routes carved out by the legendary explorers who first traversed the great continent, the couple get to grips with the country's fascinating history. Set against a backdrop of the real Australia - not 'as seen on TV'- Thumbs Up Australia is full of wonderful anecdotes and endearing tales of some of the country's most idiosyncratic characters, from the grizzled Aboriginal elder with his tales of dreamtime, to an amphetamine-swallowing road train driver. And at the end of their journey, it is ironically Katia who suggests thumbing a lift to the airport!
- GenresTravelNonfiction
228 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 16, 2016
A lot more navel-gazing than I would have liked, but overall interesting.
November 22, 2017
3.5 stars
A somewhat dated but enthralling memoir of a young man and woman hitchhiking across Australia, loosely following the historic paths that long ago were traversed in an attempt to prove (or rather disprove) the idea of an inland sea deep within the outback. He recounts histories of these surveying expeditions intertwined with his own experience with the people who gave them rides through the outback.
As I have a close friend in Australia this book made me think of him and have a better idea of some of the places he has mentioned to me.
Still, I’d like to see it for myself.
A somewhat dated but enthralling memoir of a young man and woman hitchhiking across Australia, loosely following the historic paths that long ago were traversed in an attempt to prove (or rather disprove) the idea of an inland sea deep within the outback. He recounts histories of these surveying expeditions intertwined with his own experience with the people who gave them rides through the outback.
As I have a close friend in Australia this book made me think of him and have a better idea of some of the places he has mentioned to me.
Still, I’d like to see it for myself.
June 6, 2017
Informational with humorous anecdotes.
August 2, 2011
This book was a disappointment. For a travel writer, he hasn't seemed to found his voice. He switches back and forth between scholarly tone and street lingo. For all the places in Australia that Tom Parry visited, he rarely DOES anything. He just hitches. So you take ride after ride with him. And he glorifies thi...s explorer (Stuart) who is credited for rail routes and various settlements, but he doesn't touch much on the heart of Australia TODAY. Why bother going to see what it's like today, if you're just going to live in the past?
March 31, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure this couple took while hitchhiking throughout the continent of Australia. It gave a good taste of what it would be like to do this! A fun vacation without leaving America.
"Standing on near-empty highways, Parry and his girlfriend often meet eccentrics from the outback, Aboriginal elders, road-train drivers, hippies, and fellow travelers who had ventured off the usual tourist routes. His account of their 8000-mile journey is humorous and insightful...Recommended." -- Library Journal, Nov. 1, 2006
"Standing on near-empty highways, Parry and his girlfriend often meet eccentrics from the outback, Aboriginal elders, road-train drivers, hippies, and fellow travelers who had ventured off the usual tourist routes. His account of their 8000-mile journey is humorous and insightful...Recommended." -- Library Journal, Nov. 1, 2006
December 6, 2012
Parry and his girlfriend set off with the intention of hitchhiking the whole way around Australia, and bar one coach journey they manage to do it.
They manage to meet the whole spectrum of people in Australia, from the single mum to the road train driver. Most of the time they are humbled by the generosity and welcome attitude of the people, but there are one of two dodgy individuals that they meet!
Really enjoyed it, but I didn't think that the historical references to John McDouall Stuart, one of the first guy to transverse Australia, were completely necessary all the way through
They manage to meet the whole spectrum of people in Australia, from the single mum to the road train driver. Most of the time they are humbled by the generosity and welcome attitude of the people, but there are one of two dodgy individuals that they meet!
Really enjoyed it, but I didn't think that the historical references to John McDouall Stuart, one of the first guy to transverse Australia, were completely necessary all the way through
January 15, 2016
I liked this story of the author and his girlfriend mapping a route to hitchhike their way through South Australia and back down to the Gold coast and over to Adelaide. It was informative and some of the people they encountered were interesting to say the least.There was a lot of information about history and It was told in a humorous fashion and easy to read. I feel I know more about Australia
May 9, 2008
I've always been interested in Australia and this book gives a beyond-the-guidebooks account of being there. It's often funny but I got a little bit tired of the "we met, then we left" format that seemed repetitive and, ultimately, a bit superficial.
November 19, 2014
We need an option that enables us to say we gave up on reading a book. I just couldn't get into this one.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews