Sean & David's Long Drive

by Sean Condon

Release Date: May, 1996

Edition: Paperback

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Not your everyday travel guide

I found this book interesting in the begining and sometimes really funny but as it went on it got a little dull and at times quite predictable. If ayone were to use this book as a travel guide, he or she would probably find Australia very ordinary. I have myself been to Australia and there are quite an exciting array of things to do and see. Read it as you would a novel and you should be fine. Here you will read about how an Australian sees his own counrty which I found rather interesting. His humour is one of a kind and he definitely has a way of describing his fears for speed and David's driving skills. Now that I have finished the book I know if I ever travel, Sean is definitely not on my list of possible travel partners.

An entertaining slacker travelogue of Australia

I'm an American who will be traveling to Australia for the first time in one week, so I read this book for "background." It's quite funny-- Sean Condon has a certain sarcastic yet empathic way of looking at the world. He's sort of a Gen-X cross between Bill Bryson and Dave Barry.

What was also interesting to me is the degree to which American pop culture had totally saturated Sean and David's worldview and vocabulary as they talk back and forth during the trip. They not only reference the easy stuff that everyone in the Western world knows-- Charlton Heston, Disneyland-- but also obscure pop cultural references that I thought we had agreed to keep within our own borders-- e.g., The Hawaii epsiodes of "The Brady Bunch" and Snuggle the Bear. It sort of depresses me; I wished there was more of an even exchange, but I guess the only Australian pop cultural references shared by my generation here in the US are that "Kookaberra/gum tree" song and Crocodile Dundee.

All in all this is an entertaining book. It shatters the impression of a desolate Outback when Sean can tune into bad TV shows from a hotel near Ayers Rock. I'm really looking forward to their next book, their drive across the US.