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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many cats were said to be roaming Australia at the time Bryson wrote this book?

2. What did Bryson and Hart do that most Australians never do?

3. Who did Bryson meet up with in Melbourne?

4. Bryson's favorite spots in each city he visited were museums and ____________.

5. How much do most people know about Australia?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Bryson blend history and current interest in this book?

2. What particularly fascinated Bryson about the train ride across the desert?

3. What did early European explorers think Australia was when they saw it or landed on it?

4. How did Bryson find Adelaide to be in spite of what the locals said about it?

5. What is the irony of people not knowing much about Australia?

6. Why did Bryson find the sport of cricket somewhat amusing?

7. To what did Bryson compare the lush Barossa Valley?

8. How did Bryson spend his first day in Sydney?

9. Describe Bryson's trip east from Adelaide to Melbourne.

10. What did Bryson claim to have done that few Australians have ever done?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Create a "character" sketch of the city of Adelaide. What personality shines through for you for this city? Did Bryson make you want to learn more and perhaps visit one day? What would you most like to see? What is the one fact or interesting feature that you can recall about Adelaide? xplain.

Essay Topic 2

Create a "character" sketch of the city of Perth. What personality shines through for you for this city? Did Bryson make you want to learn more and perhaps visit one day? What would you most like to see? What is the one fact or interesting feature that you can recall about Perth? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Bryson ended the book with a wistful tone about what he would miss after he left Australia yet seemed to think that most of what he experienced would leave him at one point. What do you think Bryson was trying to say about his Australian adventures? Would it really be possible to be so personally vested in a place and then forget almost everything about it? Was Bryson just stating the human condition for managing priorities in life? Explain.

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