Australia Adventure

Tasmania to London. One end of the globe to the other. Eight hundred hitchhiking rides. Eighteen thousand miles. Four seasons. Three continents. Nineteen countries. How many rides does it take to hitch from Tasmania to London? Rogue wanderer Jamie Maslin decides to find out, propelling him into a high-stakes adventure of a lifetime that sees him tackle searing desert, freezing mountains, tropical jungle, and barren steppes on little more than a thumb and a prayer.

Bondi Beach is an icon of Australian culture. This one kilometre, or 1090 yard, strip of golden sand lures thousands of tourists and locals every day with its promise of sun, sand, and exposed skin. It is Australia’s see-and-be seen spot. Here, the world sheds its clothes, waves crash, and cultures collide. Located only seven kilometres, or just over four miles, from Sydney’s business district, Bondi is known as the beach with a city built around it.

In the lonely expanse of Northern Australia lies the second biggest national park in the world. It is a place where fire transforms landscapes, floods drown flatlands, and ancient writing haunts cliffs. In this tropical wilderness, ancient fish spit water at passing insects, unnamed waterfalls tumble into vast gorges, and giant crocodiles rule the dark rivers. This is Kakadu National Park - Australia’s natural and cultural treasure.

Sydney Harbour is the heart of the city of Sydney, capital of New South Wales. The harbour and its attractions are very much a part of the city’s identity. And while it is very much a working harbour it is also a space for the people of Sydney to relax. The harbour is home to many of the city’s well known events.

Uluru is the indigenous Australian name for an enormous rock formation found in central Australia. Made from sandstone, Uluru is a rock monolith or an ‘island mountain’, a formation that geologists refer to as a monadnock. It stands 318 m (986 ft) high and has a circumference of 8 km (5 miles). It is located 335 km (208 mi) south west of the nearest rural centre, the large town of Alice Springs.

On this adventure we're travelling right around the world - to visit Australia! We're going to learn about everything this brilliant vibrant county has to offer. We're going to learn about the amazing Great Barrier Reef, see the magnificent Uluru, encounter some wonderful wildlife and we might even have time to take in a performance at the Opera House.

The Great Ocean Road extends 400 kilometres, or 248-and-a-half miles, along the southwest coastline of Victoria, which is Australia’s most southern mainland state. It takes the traveller through sandy coastal villages and glitzy holiday towns, from dramatic beach cliff-faces to old-growth rainforests and from surfing havens to waterfalls. To drive the length of it takes about four hours from near Victoria’s capital city of Melbourne to the impressive coastal rock structures known as the Twelve Apostles.

This charming account of the voyage of two men in a small boat half way round the world from Plymouth to New Zealand in 1953 is a rare insight into a time, not long ago, when sailors had no GPS, electronics, radio or any of the mod cons that we take for granted today. Without lifejacket or a life raft, they 'just took what came along', hand steering all the way, navigating by sextant, hand-cranking their engine and using oil lamps for light at night and for navigation. Sailors will be staggered how primitive conditions were only a few decades ago, even though it was the norm at the time.

Stifled by English society, Molly Bentley has always yearned for adventure. When her father offers to send her to the bustling port town of Albany in Western Australia, Molly readily agrees, even if it means assuming a secret identity. With only her chaperone Mrs Caldicott to answer to, her life of freedom can finally begin. Until Molly is knocked down in the streets, nearly trampled, and a threatening letter is slipped into her hands.

At the tender age of eight, chimney sweep Tom Appleby is convicted of stealing and sentenced to deportation to Botany Bay. As he sails out with the First Fleet, Tom sadly realises that he will never set foot on English ground again. Luckily, not long after Tom’s arrival in the colony, the fair and kind Sergeant Stanley decides to take on Tom as a servant. Together, Tom, Sergeant Stanley and his son, Rob, build a house, set up an orchard and a vegetable garden for themselves - and thrive, unlike many others in the new colony.

A powerful debut novel that continues the legacy of ‘Master of the Genre’ Desmond Bagley with a thriller set in Australia, also appealing to a new generation of readers of who adore Jane Harper and Chris Hammer. The Sequel to Desmond Bagley’s DOMINO ISLAND Insurance investigator Bill Kemp...

Two young women are trapped in a deadly chase through the beautiful, dangerous waters around Australia in the new thriller from the bestselling author of Our Little Secret—perfect for fans of The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Drowning Woman. Ivy is in trouble. A recent break-up has left her...

Sandy Thorne launched the first bestseller I've Met Some Bloody Wags!: By Biting the Top Off a Stubbie of Beer on the Midday Show, and has spent over 20 years travelling the world spinning bush yarns and humour. Battler gets a vacation when his missus wins a holiday on the Gold Coast. The kids have never seen the sea and Battler has never seen the brief-as-brief bikinis…they're all just about to go completely woomba! Please note: Battler O'Brien is no softie.

Socialite Abigail Mulholland has spent a lifetime surrounded by luxury…until her scenic flight plummets into the remote Australian wilderness. When rescue doesn’t come, she finds herself thrust into a world of deadly snakes and primitive conditions in a landscape that is both brutal and beautiful. But trekking the wilds of Kakadu means fighting two wars—one against the elements and the other against the magnetic pull she feels toward fellow survivor Mackenzie, a much younger man.

An irresistible debut novel about the wisdom of the very young, the mischief of the very old, and the magic that happens when no one else is looking Millie Bird, seven years old and ever hopeful, always wears red gumboots to match her curly hair. Her struggling mother, grieving the death of...

The town of Wirrawee is emerging from war, slowly, like a flower after a cold snap. Businesses are starting to reopen, the school has re-commenced classes, and local farmers are gradually repossessing their land. But it's not the same Australia as before the war. A new nation exists just a few miles away, a new border that separates Australia from its invaders. Or does it?

Acclaimed explorer Rob Nash has lost his way. Grieving the death of his wife, and blaming himself, he sees no reason to carry on. But when 'Uncle' Frank Douglas offers him the chance to lead a cave-diving expedition in the jungles of Papua, Nash can see some light at the end of the tunnel. But the expedition might not be what it seems. With a decades-old Japanese submarine buried deep in a cavern, and a team hellbent on unleashing the treasures it hides, Nash finds himself on a ship heading for danger.

Young wombat Lola doesn’t quite fit in. Wombats are supposed to be shy and quiet, but Lola is talkative, curious, and always getting into trouble. When her village is attacked by a Tasmanian devil leading a group of swamp rats, Lola’s parents are captured - and the rats say it's on the orders of the queen! To rescue her parents, Lola will have to leave home for the very first time and set off on a wild adventure. Even with the help of friends she meets along the way, Lola will need every ounce of her bold bravery to help rescue her family and save the kingdom!

Australia is different - a vast island continent with distances so great that the capital of Western Australia is closer to Singapore than it is to Sydney. The landscape embraces magnificent tropical rainforests and deserts the size of several European states; temperate areas that sustain a flourishing wine industry, making Australia the world's fourth largest wine exporter; and a 16,000-mile coastline of breathtaking beaches. Plus its unique fauna is testament to the country's down-underness.

A mystery illness is making people bake ancient cakes, speak dead languages and then fall asleep and never wake up. When Trilby Moffat's mother catches this strange sickness, Trilby must find her only other surviving relative, a 300-year-old aunt who lives in a secret antique shop on the edge of time. Ahead of Trilby lies an unusual inheritance, an opportunity that will never be repeated and a man in a top hat who will try to kill her...more than once.