This is the way to travel - Rated 
This book is the de-facto book.
I travelled Oz and Tas on it, as do most other travellers.
If you want a guide book, go get one, this will tell you everything in a concise way - as this is what a traveller needs.
There are many other books out there, rough guides etc, but trust me everyone who is anyone uses lonly planet. They are far from perfect, but it has everything u need in it, prices, phone numbers, how to get around, itineries etc. For the reviwer who said it doesnt have iteneries, did most definatly does - near beginning. but you do have to cross reference each point to other points in the book, there isnt space to repeat stuff!!
You would do well getting this book way before travelling, and planning it using a big map, looking at points of interest in the book, and using the net etc, travelling forums etc.
So get this book, whip out a map, and a highlighter. Travel light, go hard.!!!
Matt
(Travelled Oz and Tasmania for one year in 2005-06)
Disappointing - Rated 
The book gives information on the places you can visit around australia but the layout is uninspiring, the print small and due to the number of places it covers for every budget, alot of it i found wasn't relevant.
On the other side the general information covered about visiting australia is very basic and tends to only touch on subjects. you would learn more spending 10 minutes on the internet.
This book is of no help in planning an intinery around australia unless you can force yourself to read through the whole thing. 1092 pages of small print.
On the plus side the lonely planet guide would be useful to take on your trip to read before you arrived to each destination but due to its weight it isn't a book i would be willing to carry round.
I personnally didn't like this book. i was disappointed and feel i have wasted my money especailly as i purchased the Rough Guide to Asia at the same time and found it to be an extreamly useful tool. A book i couldn't put down and read from start to finish.
Starting Point - Rated 
No single guide to an entire continent could ever be comprehensive, but the Lonely Planet guide has a good stab at it.
The guide is well presented and well organised, being divided up by state. City and Town sections are presented in the standard Lonely Planet way, with an introduction, maps, lists of places to sleep, shop, eat, drink etc. For me the standout feature is that the guide supplies a web address (where there is one) for every listed establishment, museum, tour company etc. This provides a great starting point to find out if what they suggest might really be for you or not, and to plan your trip. Crucially all of the information that I have relied on is up to date.
Having also looked at the Lonely Planet East Coast, Queensland and Sydney guidebooks I would say that there is enough information in the Australia guide book to preclude purchasing a more specific one.
The only major problem, as I believe with all Lonely Planet books, are the awful town and city maps. While they are just suitable for establishing if a bar you're interested in is anywhere near your hostel, they don't really provide a means of getting you there with much chance of success. The tiny versions of the public transport networks for Sydney and Melbourne are a nice idea, but not practical unless you were to go to the effort of making an enlarged photocopy version. In contrast however, the larger scale maps are quite deceent and fairly useful.
In conculsion I was extremely pleased with this guide, which made an excellent starting point for deciding what to see do and experience in Australia.
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