Day Trip Melbourne: 52 Nature Adventures
Guidebook
Day Trip Melbourne: 52 Nature Adventures - Book Review
This series of books continues on from the previously released Day Trip Sydney: 52 Nature Adventures and its partner
Day Trip Melbourne: 52 Nature Adventures is first and foremost a guidebook designed to encourage the average person to get out and about in Melbourne and the surrounding region.
The walks are identified in a number of ways with the walk key at the front of the book being an integral part of choosing a walk. The first key identifier is by direction from the city CBD and South, North, East and West. Within those directions are grouping distances from the CBD – 23-130 km to the west, 22-103 km to the north, 32-120km to the east and 2-119 km to the south including the CBD – which is a great way of identifying how much time you need to get to the walk start. From there the key provides the basic information such as walk distance and difficulty along with facilities including cafes, BBQs, picnic areas, dog access and more which is an easy way to identify what sort of experience is right for you.
The images in this book for each of these walks, like its Sydney counterpart, can be best described as ‘hero images’. More so in this book is the use of drone images, and something you don’t commonly see is hikes done in the snow as the walks were undertaken in the Victorian winter. Many pre-existing guidebooks, while full of information are very basic in their use of images and by using quality images, and book production to go with it, you can flick through this book and identify what you wish to see even before you read any detail.
The details on each of the walks includes enough of the main features to allow you to get there and do the walk without going heavily in-depth but it does provide what’s necessary including small maps. The layout of the book, the language used and the overall presentation are all designed to encourage the average person to get out and visit these hikes and in that respect they have hit the mark. The walks cover a range of locations and provide a variety of payoffs from beaches, to views, to urban hikes and everything in between including hikes in the snow if you feel so inclined.
This guidebook is very well done and importantly it encourages you to get out and explore. I’m not familiar with many of the shorter walks in Victoria and this book has provided me with a ‘to do’ list to work my way through when I’m next on a visit.
Chapter Headings
Day Trip Sydney: 52 Nature Adventures
- Introduction p5
- Trip list p6
- Daytripping p8
- CBD & South p11
- North p51
- East p79
- West p157
- Acknowledgements p238
- About the authors p239
We Like
- Written for the average person but will enthuse keen hikers as well
- Great selection of Melbourne walks that will keep you busy as time allows
- Some lovely artistic photos (hero shots) of trail highlights that encourage visitation
- Well set out walk guide at the front of the book to help select your adventure based on distance from CBD, trail distance and walk difficulty
- Basic maps to show the walks
We Don't Like
- Not a details book but it does provide enough information to help you step through each walk
Buy One
You can purchase Day Trip Melbourne: 52 Nature Adventures from Amazon Australia
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Investment
AUD $34.99 RRP
Day Trip Melbourne – book cover image
A walk front page example showing the walk map and and a hero shot
A walk front page example showing the walk map and a hero shot. There’s also an overview of the key facilities available on the trail
The walk write ups consist of a hero shot and a map followed by a few more photos and walk details
Disclaimer
This review was done with product provided by the publisher, Thames & Hudson