Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country

"You are totally at the mercy of nature in this country, mate. It's just a fact of life."

"Describing his experience with the sting of an extremely toxic jellyfish, he did something you don't often see a scientist do: he shivered."

"It was so bad, it was worth more than we paid."

"Perhaps it’s my natural pessimism, but it seems that an awfully large part of travel these days is to see things while you still can."

"The thing about Ayers Rock is that by the time you finally get there you are already a little sick of it."

"He left to do whatever editors do."

"…a waitress came out and plonked in front of each of us a small standard terra-cotta flowerpot in which had been baked a little loaf of bread."What's this" I asked."It's bread," she replied."But it's in a flowerpot" She gave me a look that I was beginning to think of as the Darwin stare. It was a look that said, "Yeah? So"Well, isn't that kind of unusual"She considered for a moment. "Is a bit, I suppose." "And will we be following a horticultural theme throughout the meal" Her expression contorted in a deeply pained look, as if she were trying to suck her face into the back of her head. "What"Will the main course arrive in a wheelbarrow" I elaborated helpfully. "Will you be serving the salad with a pitchfork"Oh, no. It's just the bread that's special."I'm so pleased to hear it."

"[About Uluru] I'm suggesting nothing here, but I will say that if you were an intergalactic traveler who had broken down in our solar system, the obvious directions to rescuers would be: "Go to the third planet and fly around till you see the big red rock. You can't miss it." If ever on earth they dig up a 150,000-year-old rocket ship from the galaxy Zog, this is where it will be. I'm not saying I expect it to happen; not saying that at all. I'm just observing that if I were looking for an ancient starship this is where I would start digging."

"She was torn between her customer service training and her youthful certitude."