Oceania Books

Rob Kay provides far more than just a survival guide in this wonderous creation. This book will take the reader on the most magical journey into Fiji's history, geography, language and art, and much much more.

Upon opening this book, the reader will never be able to put it down as each detail expand's the limits of one's imagination. The reader will lap up and hang onto every word as the mind enjoys its feast.

If you never traveled to Fiji, you definitely will want to after reading,or even skimming this incredible book.

I go to Melbourne fairly regularly for business (from Sydney). I am looking for some interesting things to do and this book meets that need. It is comprehensive, and in a plus for Lonely Planet, the maps are good. Real street maps, not out of scale, sketch maps.

I am taking the family there for a holiday soon and this book will be invaluable.

Recommended.

This book is the best I have found about New Caledonia. It is so hard for Americans to find good accurate info on New Caledonia but this book does it all. I knew more about some places than many of the locals. It helped me understand where I was going and helped me better integrate into the society there. Wonderful book. I am a lonely planet person now. :-)

We just got back from a trip where we traveled some on our own in NSW. It seemed that there was helpfull info for every place we hit.

how to avoid breaking my ankle--which I did! The guide, like all Lonely Planet publications I've used to date, is ecellent.

If you're planning a holiday...this is the book for you!

I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Sydney -- only one week, and I wouldn't have seen half the things I did without this guide! It's small and portable, with a nearly indestructible cover. More importantly, it hits the highlights with some detail and gives little interesting things to see and do, not just the standard touristy stuff. Great maps and helpful phone numbers and even business hours for some places...I will definitely get a similar guide for future trips.

Having just got back from Tasmania with this book in tow I can highly recommend it to everyone, from locals, all Australians and the overseas visitor. This book has not only the history of this State but everything thant you could want to know about the flora and fauna, where to stay including the very basic accomodation through to the most luxurious, there are in depth maps, where to do the best shopping for your souveniers, where to eat whether it be fish and chips, vegetarian or a steak. This book was my bible and did not let me down once. We even found some short cuts with some lovely hidden treasures of nature displayed for us just by following the maps. The good thing was that the book does not only give information for the big towns but also many of the smaller ones hidden away,by visiting some of the smaller places It made my holiday that bit more personal and memorable. Read the book and you'll want to come and visit this wonderful isle.

Last summer, a friend and I went on a road trip in WA. We hadn't made any plans for accommadations when we got there and all we had was a 4X4 camper and our trusty Lonely Planet Guide! We were able to plan out our whole trip using this book as we went along. I suggest it to everyone going, even if you want to plan before. It also has a lot of historical and everyday information, that can complement a trip. TAKE THIS WITH YOU!

D'Entrecasteaux was a talented French navigator, tapped in 1792 to lead a "rescue" operation to find the great French explorer La Perouse, whose Pacific expedition had vanished without a trace in 1789. The collective French desire to find and rescue this great man was intense, and transcended political boundaries. Indeed, in his last moments before facing the guillotine, King Louis XVI had asked "What news of La Perouse?" When the expedition did sail, however, it was torn between three conflicting directives; first, the "official" rescue mission, second, pure scientific research and discovery; third, to check British influence in the Pacific region. Thus it was that D'Entrecasteaux ended up zig-zagging around the South Pacific in an effort first to check whether the British were truly settling the Admiralty islands (they weren't), then to look for La Perouse (they didn't find him) and then to seek out new discoveries (he discovered the Recherche Archipelago, among others). Sadly, however, D'Entrecasteaux died of scurvy in 1793, and his expedition was commandeered by d'Auribeau, a royalist sympathizer determined to stop the ships falling into the hands of the new republic. He surrendered the expedition to the Dutch authorities in Java, and through this and a series of further misadventures, the expedition's papers were not published for another ten years.

Horner's account is through and enjoyable, and pays particular tribute to D'Entrecasteaux's contribution to Australian exploration, notably in Tasmania, where he discovered the celebrated D'Entrecasteaux Channel, an excellent deep water channel separating Bruny Island from Tasmania's east coast, which is now a highly popular cruise ship destination.