Let's Go Australia - Let's Go

...My personal copy was called Let's Go! Australia, on a Budget.

Let's Go is an American series of travel guides but despite being English myself I still found it very useful.

I bought this travel guide from Borders before I went to travel the east coast of Australia (for 2 months as part of my gap year) in February 2008. It appealed to me as it seemed suited to the younger traveller (I'm 19) and specifically those on a ...
...standard price for travel guides as they tend to be pretty thick books!

I found it especially useful as it didn't waste pages (or what I saw as wasted pages), like the lonely planet does - telling me of the top places to eat, stay, party, etc...all I wanted was cheap and cheerful.
My edition was published in 2007, and most hostels had gone up by $1 - $2 (AUD) by the time I was using this, though I am aware prices do vary throughout ... more

I assume my book is the same as the one shown, though the front cover is much more "funky". My personal copy was called Let's Go! Australia, on a Budget.

Let's Go is an American series of travel guides but despite being English myself I still found it very useful.

I bought this travel guide from Borders before I went to travel the east coast of Australia (for 2 months as part of my gap year) in February 2008. It appealed to me as it seemed suited to the younger traveller (I'm 19) and specifically those on a budget. I think it cost approximately £15, which is a standard price for travel guides as they tend to be pretty thick books!

I found it especially useful as it didn't waste pages (or what I saw as wasted pages), like the lonely planet does - telling me of the top places to eat, stay, party, etc...all I wanted was cheap and cheerful.
My edition was published in 2007, and most hostels had gone up by $1 - $2 (AUD) by the time I was using this, though I am aware prices do vary throughout the seasons.

The whole book gives prices in AUD which is useful if you're not from America.

I used this book mainly for finding hostels - it gives reviews for the main hostels in most areas but does not always give the whole picture. Generally it gives positive reviews but not all the hostels, ie. Bunk Brisbane (which was apparently Brisbane's "pick of the bunch") lived up to their reviews. However on the most part it tended to be accurate, and if it rated the hostel as good then it was.

The only problem I did have was it's recommendation of a hostel in Kuranda - I think it was just called Kuranda Backpackers. It said it was a good place to stay but was right on the edge of town and seemed creepy, I don't know if it was a converted church but there were crucifixs everywhere on the outside, and felt like a horror movie! This hostel wasn't advertised in the Lonely Planet so I think it's best to use both this guide AND word of mouth...

The lists of thing's to do are generally suited to the age groups 18-30 and are pretty good - especially as it tries to give examples of the free things to do.

I can't say for the whole of Australia but it had coverage of every place we stayed on the East Coast - usually at minimum a page even if it was a small place. It was also useful if you had a working visa as it has a section at the front about working in Australia and often recommends places that are good for work.

It has a good section at the front on general life in Australia, the usual bits on prices of food on average, the climate and stuff like tipping. It also included phone numbers of all the hostels and companys you may want to ring for stuff to do.

It tells you at the front how to use the book, and generally it's very simple with a good index at the back - each place is split into sections of accomodation, food, places of interest, nightlife, so it's an easy book to navigate and is written in a clean and simple manner.

It also has a good Aussie Slang section at the back - which admittedly is similar to English slang a lot of the time and mainly seemed aimed at Americans who don't recognise the word "bloke" and the "boot" of a car etc!

Overall I'm rating this as good as I did find it very useful on my travels, but you may prefer a specific Lonely Planet guide for the East Coast, or if budget isn't an issue then this isn't the guide for you as it's only aimed at the poor backpacker! 

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