Revolutionary Ride: On the Road in Search of the Real Iran by Lois Pryce

$22.99 AUD

Category: Travel

SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD ADVENTURE TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR'A warm, funny account of a road trip in contemporary Iran. It's had my whole family howling with laughter and shedding a few tears' - Shappi Khorsandi, Guardian'A proper travelogue - a joyful, moving and stereotype-busting tale' - Nat ional Geographic TravellerIn 2011, at the height of tension between the British and Iranian governments, travel writer Lois Pryce found a note left on her motorcycle outside the Iranian Embassy in London:... I wish that you will visit Iran so you will see for yourself about my country. WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS!!! Please come to my city, Shiraz. It is very famous as the friendliest city in Iran, it is the city of poetry and gardens and wine!!!Your Persian friend,HabibIntrigued, Lois decides to ignore the official warnings against travel (and the warnings of her friends and family) and sets off alone on a 3,000 mile ride from Tabriz to Shiraz, to try to uncover the heart of this most complex and incongruous country. Along the way, she meets carpet sellers and drug addicts, war veterans and housewives, doctors and teachers - people living ordinary lives under the rule of an extraordinarily strict Islamic government.Revolutionary Ride is the story of a people and a country. Religious and hedonistic, practical and poetic, modern and rooted in tradition - and with a wild sense of humour and appreciation of beauty despite the comparative lack of freedom - this is real contemporary Iran.'Within a few pages I'd recognised a kindred spirit' - Dervla Murphy, author of Full Tilt ...Show more

Made in Scotland - My Grand Adventures in a Wee Country by Billy Connolly

$35.00 AUD

Category: Travel | Reading Level: 3 Biography

All roads lead home.'After my knighthood was announced,a woman from the BBC came toGlasgow to interview me. We satdown in a lovely hotel in a nice partof town, and she hit me with her firstquestion- "This must mean a lot toyou, with you coming from nothing?"I looked at her, and I laughed."I did?nae come from nothing,"I told her. "I come from something."I grew up in the tenements ofpost-war Glasgow. I am very proudto be working class, and especiallya working-class Glaswegian whohas worked in the shipyards. I comefrom the working class. And, mostof all, I come from Scotland.Scotland is a unique and wonderfulplace. Its national motto saysa lot about it- Nemo me impunelacessit. A decent translation mightbe- 'By all means punch mein the nose but prepare yourselffor a kick in the arse.?I did?nae come from nothing-I come from Scotland. And thisbook is about why I will always behappy and proud that I do.? ...Show more

Best Walks of Geelong, the Bellarine and Brisbane Ranges: The Full Colour Guide to 40 Fantastic Walks by Julie Mundy

$29.99 AUD

Category: Travel

Best Walks of Geelong, the Bellarine & Surf Coast, a new book in Woodslane's hugely successful walking guides series, introduces the best walks for visitors and residents alike, ranging from leisurely beach-side strolls to the more rugged tracks deep in the bush. Detailed descriptions and maps help the reader explore the regions parks, bushland, rivers, coasts and most interesting urban areas. As with previous titles in the series, the book is richly illustrated with over 150 full-colour photographs and dozens of detailed maps. A summary table of walks indicating distances, facilities and highlights is included to help the reader find exactly the right walk for the occasion. Covers the full coastal stretch from the You Yangs Regional Park in the north, along the beautiful Bellarine Peninsula and the Great Ocean Road, and then on to Torquay. Includes detailed coverage of the best walks in Geelong. ...Show more

Danube by Claudio Magris

$24.99 AUD

Category: Vintage Classics

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD FLANAGAN. In this fascinating journey Claudio Magris, whose knowledge is encyclopaedic and whose curiosity limitless, guides his reader from the source of the Danube in the Bavarian hills through Austro-Hungary and the Balkans to the Black Sea. Along the way he raises the ghosts that inhabit the houses and monuments - from Ovid to Kafka and Canetti - and in so doing sets his finger on the pulse of Central Europe, the vital crucible of a culture that draws on influences of East and West, of Christendom and Islam. ...Show more

Saga Land: the Island Stories at the Edge of the World by Richard Fidler; Kari Gislason

$29.99 AUD

Category: Travel

Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities and the Pleasures of Solitude by Stephanie Rosenbloom

$27.99 AUD

Category: Travel

Travelling with friends and family is usually thought of as a privilege. In theory, anyway. In practice, it's more often about debating which sights to see, panicking over diminishing phone batteries and bickering over what to eat. Not much joy in that. But alone you can do as you please. You can wander markets, relish silence, go to a park. Go to Paris. Why not? In Alone Time, New York Times travel columnist Stephanie Rosenbloom travels alone in four seasons to four remarkable cities - Paris, Istanbul, Florence and New York - exploring the sensory experience of solitude. Along the way she illuminates the psychological arguments for alone time, revealing that whether you recognize it or not, it's good to be alone now and then. This is a book about the pleasures and benefits of savouring the moment, examining things closely, using all your senses to take in your surroundings, whether travelling to faraway places or walking the streets of your own city. Through on-the-ground observations and anecdotes, and drawing on the thinking of artists, writers and innovators who have cherished solitude, Alone Time lays bare the magic of going solo. ...Show more

Insomniac City - New York, Oliver, and Me by Bill Hayes

$29.99 AUD

Category: Travel | Reading Level: General Adult

A moving celebration of what Bill Hayes calls "the evanescent, the eavesdropped, the unexpected" of life in New York City, and an intimate glimpse of his relationship with the late Oliver Sacks. Bill Hayes came to New York City in 2009 with a one-way ticket and only the vaguest idea of how he would get by. But, at forty-eight years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he craved change. Grieving over the death of his partner, he quickly discovered the profound consolations of the city's incessant rhythms, the sight of the Empire State Building against the night sky, and New Yorkers themselves, kindred souls that Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, encountered on late-night strolls with his camera. And he unexpectedly fell in love again, with his friend and neighbor, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, whose exuberance--"I don't so much fear death as I do wasting life," he tells Hayes early on--is captured in funny and touching vignettes throughout. What emerges is a portrait of Sacks at his most personal and endearing, from falling in love for the first time at age seventy-five to facing illness and death (Sacks died of cancer in August 2015). Insomniac City is both a meditation on grief and a celebration of life. Filled with Hayes's distinctive street photos of everyday New Yorkers, the book is a love song to the city and to all who have felt the particular magic and solace it offers. ...Show more

City Mazes: Real Street Map Puzzles to Solve by Lonely Planet Publications Staff

$24.99 AUD

Category: Travel | Series: Lonely Planet Ser.

Ideal for puzzle fans who love to travel, this fun, challenging and beautifully illustrated activity book takes readers on a journey across 30 of the world's greatest cities. Alongside famous sights like the Eiffel Tower and Empire State Building, each maze reveals hidden gems, flea markets, unusual sho ps, galleries, restaurants, and more. ...Show more

History of the World in 500 Railway Journeys by Sarah Baxter

$39.95 AUD

Category: Travel

History is everywhere, and is never as complete as when it can be accessed on a part of history itself.  The locomotive is one of the great steps in progress of civilisation that undoubtably connects us to land and history that was shaped by the machine itself. Although a basic form of railway, or rutway, did exist in Ancient Greek and Roman times - notably the ship trackway between Diolkos and the Isthmus of Corinth around 600 BC - it would take several thousand years before the first fare-paying passenger service was launched in the early nineteenth century. Some two hundred years on, it is possible to travel by train to some of the world's most remote and remarkable destinations, and track the many wonderful legacies of the Earth's extensive history - man-made and otherwise.   From prehistoric rock formations to skyscraper cities, slow steam engines to high-speed bullet trains, let A History of the World in 500 Railway Journeys be your guide. Through its beautifully illustrated pages, and 500 awe-inspiring railway journeys, you can chart your own transcontinental itinerary through time. Chug through canyons, steam past ancient monuments, speed through cities, luxuriate in the railcars of presidents and queens, or make express connections between key historical moments or epic eras, A History of the World in 500 Railway Journeys has it all. A must-read for travellers, railfans and history buffs alike, offering inspiration and information in equal measure.   ...Show more

Great Railway Journeys in Australia & New Zealand by David Bowden

$39.99 AUD

Category: Travel

  35 trips that highlight some of the most interesting, scenic and rewarding railway journeys in Australia and New Zealand. They include the renowned long-distance journeys, such as The Indian Pacific in Australia that takes travellers on a three-day trip from Perth to Sydney or the The Northern E xplorer in New Zealand's North Island that stretches from Wellington to Auckland, as well as those that traverse stunning scenery, such as New Zealand's TranzAlpine train or the Spirit of the Outback in Australia. There are also routes on which restored steam locomotives operate and other lines included for the wonder of their engineering.   Trains are a great way to travel in these countries, taking you at ground level past superb scenery that often cannot be seen by any other means of transport. David Bowden's entertaining text describes the route, the major features of interest along the way and any special technical details about the locomotive or the track.   ...Show more

Beyond the Map: Unruly enclaves, ghostly places, emerging lands and our search for new utopias by Alastair Bonnett

$29.99 AUD

Category: Travel

Geography is getting stranger. Out there fleets of new islands are under construction and eye-wateringly insane micro-nations are struggling into the light; unseen rivers are tumbling under sleeping cites and once secret fantasy- gardens are cracking open their doors. As groups like Islamic State fabric ate proto-states whose boundaries ebb and flow with each passing day, it certainly feels as if all the old maps are being frantically scribbled over or torn up. The world's unruly places, the zones unmarked on any official map, are multiplying and changing fast.In this book, Alaistair Bonnet presents the stories of 43 of these extraordinary places, all of which will challenge the very concept of place. The ever more unruly maps of human and physical geography can seem overwhelming. Perhaps that's why little places, the small secrets, the hidden surprises, have become so important. Alastair will set out on a journey across the world in search of a diverse range of modern utopias, from the Dubai Shopping Mall to the caliphate of the Islamic State, from the Findhorn eco-community in Scotland to Cybertopias such as Second Life.Follows in the great tradition of writing on place and what it tells us about ourselves and the world, and our previous success with Off the Map. Off the Map was very well reviewed and received - would be great title for coverage in national newspapers, and their magazines. Alastair is available for publicity and would be great for radio interviews, for Radio 4 programmes and debates. ...Show more

In Paris - 20 Women on Life in the City of Light by Lauren Bastide; Jeanne Damas; Georgina Collins

$35.00 AUD

Category: Travel

In Parisis a window on the world's most stylish city by two quintessentially Parisian women- Jeanne Damas, the it-girl, model, and actress, and Lauren Bastide, former editor-in-chief of French Elle. Dispelling the myth that there is only one type of Parisian woman, In Parisis made up of profiles of twen ty different Parisiennes aged from fourteen to seventy, living in tiny studios or grand apartments, giving us a rare glimpse into their world- their homes, their careers, their style, and, most importantly, what being Parisian means to them. The portraits are illustrated with gorgeous full-colour photographs in Jeanne Damas' inimitable style, as well as lists of secret Parisian hideaways and style tips- from the five different types of red wine to order depending on the occasion, and the bars to drink them in, to the best red lipsticks, and places to be kissed. ...Show more