Chapters 1-3 Summary and Analysis

Bryson sets Australia before his readers as a country we know shockingly little about. The amount of coverage Australia receives in western press is far less than most countries in the world. This is ironic as Australia is one of the singular places in the world. It is home to the world's largest living thing, the Great Barrier Reef, and is the habitat of more deadly creatures than anywhere else in the world.

Bryson had only visited Australia for book tours and consequently he had never seen the "real" Australia. He plans to travel the famed Indian Pacific railroad across the continent from Sydney to Perth. On the first day, he takes a brief tour of Sydney during which he visits a local club and spends an embarrassing couple of hours attempting to boogie board at a nearby beach...