Discover Australia 3 (Lonely Planet Australia) Paperback – January 29, 2014

When Wifi and Internet are hard to connect with, books are important

The book itself seems really good, lots of useful info. The pull-out map is just of Sydney though so that was disappointing as there is so much more to Australia. I gave 3 stars because when it arrived to me it was so beat up from the poor shipping package it looked like it had already been on vacation with someone. It seems to be a common theme with people who sell books online. Trying to save a buck I suppose. I would actually pay a little more to have it arrive pristine.

Bought this for a 3 week trip to Australia. Had a great experience traveling Bali for month with a Lonely Planet guide. But the Australia book is missing a whole section of the country (SW), including Broome, one of the places I wanted to explore. How can you skip a whole territory?

I traveled with Lonely Planet 20 years ago, it was a magical experience and a magical guidebook. Now Lonly Planet has lost it: their guides used to be witty and funny and rich in cultural background and history, they would tell you not only how to get there but WHY in the first place. History section used to be multiple pages, so that later you could connect the dots to a particular event. Now there is nothing. Introductions to cities and regions read like they were written from behind the desk, no history, some pablum about a "vibrant cosmopolitan city with leavy boulevards", that's it!LP became a guide for the idiot traveler.Do yourself a favor: force yourself to not buy LP guidebooks. You may have to settle for no brand publications, but they may evoke better the spirit of what Lonely aplanet used to be.