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 Lovely little... Jan 28, 2010
Other reviewers do a nice job with what this book is about. Let me share that it became a chore to read after initially drawing me in with the promise of travel and adventure. It really is just a memoir of descriptive after descriptive accompanied by a good dose of the look and feel of the landscape, with a good bit of redundant language, i.e. "..it was a lovely little town.."
It does cover a tremendous amount of ground about the Australian landscape and botanical facts, and it is littered with some really fun stories along the way. The reader is a witness to her travels, watching her wander about, but there is just.. much that is repetitive. Perhaps if one were planning or reliving a trip to Australia, more of its charm and detail would become accessible.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Waltzing Australia Jan 09, 2010
After years of dreaming and planning, author Cynthia Clampitt quit her job, packed up her life,and followed the siren call of Australia. Part travelogue and part personal journal, WALTZING AUSTRALIA is the diary of her journey. Clampitt mixes snippets of anthropology, cultural history, geography, natural history, and sociology in a beguiling narrative about her breakout six months traveling on her own through Australia, giving the reader a detailed look at the wonders of the land down under.
Often personal, but seldom deeply introspective, Clampitt's glowing travel diary should inspire all who dream of traveling to a new land, of kicking off the traces of the day-to-day, or simply of visiting the land of kangaroos and koalas.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Will make you want to go to Australia immediately! Dec 25, 2009
Cynthia Clampitt had a secure job with a steady paycheck and decided to leave it all behind to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. She packed up her stuff and headed to Australia where she spent the next 6 months recording everything she saw, did and felt. She spent time in the cities but really connected with the country and bush areas of the continent. She did everything from hiking, climbing, and horseback riding to shopping, eating great food, and relaxing. She experienced as much as she could in those 6 months and turned those experiences into, "Waltzing Australia", one of the best travel books I have ever read.
Within the pages of this fabulous travelogue Ms. Clampitt manages to express the beauty of the places she visits in a way that makes it easy for the reader to picture. She also throws in a little history here and there which made it even more interesting to me. However, what I enjoyed the most were her descriptions of her encounters with the people of Australia. When I was there I found the people to be extremely friendly and helpful and it was nice to see that Ms. Clampitt had the same experience with those she met throughout her journey.
Whether you have been to Australia or not, I highly recommend "Waltzing Australia" as either a great introduction to one of the most spectacular places on Earth or as a wonderful reminder of your past trip. Either way, this beautifully written book that will have you planning a first trip or a return visit in no time!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
RedreviewsBooks------AUSTRALIA Nov 23, 2009
Waltzing Australia takes the reader on a guided journey through many places in the outback country.
I chose this book because my tween age son wants to go there and has wanted to for about four years. My son has dreamed and talked of Australia. I had a swap with a native of Australia and he was thrilled to have a little piece of Australia. I am having him read this journey/book also so that he can feel as if he were almost there. I can now see his fascination of it and I also now dream of going there one day. So if you ever thought you would want to go to Australia, read this book and go along as the author does throughout many places.
Guided by the authors narration, it is a journey, a quest, a sole searching event. Just wonderful how the dream is made a reality. You feel like you could reach out and touch the many places she describes through this story. The details the author uses makes it fascinating and really let you imagine each place that she travels. You will become acquainted with locals as she is throughout the journey. The story makes images come alive and just how beautiful this wonderful place must be.
The story or journey as it feels is becomes also my dream to one day see and experience all that Australia has to offer. It is a first-hand account of a marvelous place that would fascinate readers who are interested in Australia or have not ever thought of Australia, learn the people, the place and just feel like you also have escaped to down under. Quite a detailed journey so be ready to sit back , relax and take the time and have your own travel through your mind using this book. Just a great book about a person who took that chance and made a dream come true. A great read for a adults, teens and possibly tweenagers. Sit back on a rainy or snowy winter day and enjoy a trip to Australia through this book. Remember its summer there.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Tour Australia through American Writer's Eyes... Sep 16, 2009
"As I sped over the soft earth, the wind in my face, the colors crowding in around me, I felt fleeter and freer than I can ever remember. Such is the liberating quality of joy."
You could read Waltzing Australia by Cynthia Clampitt and thoroughly enjoy a great travel book. This highly recommended journal is full of the history, the beauty and the mystery of Australia. In fact, if you suffer from occasional wanderlust, you should keep this book on your permanent library shelf so that you can escape into the various parts of Australia whenever you wish! I personally would visit Tasmania more often since Cynthia immediately captured me through the stories of her travels there.
But if I told you only about traveling through Australia, you would not be prepared and perhaps not realize until it is later in the book, that there is a very personal story being told. It's about one of our present-day female role models we should share with our children. It's about a gutsy woman who, while being in a successful corporate career realized that it was not what she wanted for her life. She wanted a writing career. Leaving the security of her corporate role, she first chose to fulfill a lifetime dream. She spent six months touring Australia!
There is little that Cynthia writes about herself, but when she does add those personal comments, such as the one quoted above, I urge you to stop and consider those words about your own life--Can we say that we experience "the liberating quality of joy"? Let your heart decide whether Cynthia has a special message for you that will run throughout this book... If so, then sit back and enjoy waltzing along with Cynthia as she tests her limits, especially physically, and in many other ways!
"My spirit seemed to vibrate...in sympathetic response to...innocence, the fierceness, the solitude...I studied them a while longer, smiled..."
This lengthy journey covers approximately 20,000 miles as Cynthia toured Australia. The book has been easily divided into parts of the country so that you can hone in on that section if you are fortunate to have a few weeks to travel to a specific spot. It is written in a travel diary format that provides broad strokes as well as daily activities of events. There will be information about the history of the location being traveled, notes on wildlife as well as the land and water displays. To give you a taste, I'll share with you just some of the details that show the variety of information and that were especially interesting to me:
· Nearly everybody knows the old song about the Kookaburra. It is the largest member of the kingfisher family and is best known for its rollicking "laughter."
· Wages were once paid in "rum."
· "Beyond words" can only be used to describe the beauty of the rainforest.
· Everything, including cars, the weather, life...is referred to as "she."
· The riverboat postman on Hawkesbury River carries not only mail, but food, medicine and even people!
· Captain Cook traveled along the coast naming bays, islands and landmarks. He "peacefully changed the map of the world more than any other single man...."
· Rub a large stone...in the fertility cave to become pregnant, according to Aboriginal legend!
· The Stirling Bells grow nowhere else in the world other than the Stirling Ranges; each of the seven varieties has its own mountain, growing nowhere else in the ranges!
· Tasmania's Wallabies are only 2 to 3 feet and they grasp fingers to eat out of your hand.
· Wombats have short necks, making it impossible to look up, so they beg for food by trotting up and staring at your ankles.
· Tasmanian devils owe their names and reputations to the insanely wild screaming/choking/snarling/roaring sounds they make for normal conversation!
· Sydney's opera house cost $102M, raised mostly through lotteries.
With that last I must stop. There seems to be one overlying theme about Australia that is readily apparent. People are happy, friendly and proud of their country. People open their homes to strangers. When a car or bus is broken down, everybody stops to help. I love the Australia that I read about in Waltzing Australia by Cynthia Clampitt. I was 18 when I, too, thought of traveling to that country. If I never get to, though, Cynthia has given me a taste of that "heaven" that I missed. Perhaps you, too, have a dream...
"I wondered again, as I have wondered before, why this place moves me so. I am drawn to the remoteness, to the vigor, the fierceness...and its spirit whispers to my spirit..."
G. A. Bixler
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