According to Bill

Bill Bryson wrote a book called In a Sunburned Country. It isn't the only book that he wrote, but I think it is probably my favorite. Not that I've read all of his books, but this one is about Australia, so I'm a little biased.

My sister suggested the book to me. It was one of the first things she said to me when I told her that I am going to Australia. "Read this book!" she said. I bought it and have been reading it since. It is a book of Bill Bryson's impressions and experiences in Australia. He is a very good writer, and I'm loving the book.

According to Bill Bryson,

Australia is the world's sixth largest country and its largest island. It is the only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is also a country....[and] is the only nation that began as a prison....It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world's ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures...are the most lethal of their type in the world. This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you....If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback. It is a tough place... (6)

And this is where I am going on a mission. :)

Bill Bryon also says this:

Let me just say right here that I love Australia---adore it immeasurably---and am smitten anew each time I see it....The people are immensely likable---cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted, and unfailingly obliging. Their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water. They have a society that is prosperous, well ordered, and instinctively egalitarian. the food is excellent. The beer is cold. The sun nearly always shines. There is coffee on every corner. Rupert Murdoch no longer lives there. Life doesn't get much better than this. (10)

Those quotes I've just shared with you are simply in the introduction. He goes into more details, obviously, as he travels the country. Reading this book--- this is where I feel like I am on Reading Rainbow--- has made me realize two things, if not more:

1- Australia is dangerous.
2- I'm gonna have a blast!

I CANNOT wait until I go to Australia. It is as simple as that. I love reading about it, watching shows about it and its animals and people and I simply cannot stop thinking about it. I believe wholly that it is where I am supposed to go. And I can't wait.