1: Almost completely useless
My husband and I like travelling. We are used to Lonely Planet series.
But this one has been almost completely useless. We are always careful to get the most up-to-date version, and if it hasn't been updated in the last two years we definitively don't rely on it alone, only as background information.
On the inside of the cover, it is said this 2006 version has been lately reviewed. However EVERYTHING except some addresses were out of date.
Furthermore the guidebook doesn't provide a lot of information or description as we were used when using Lonely Planet guidebooks for our travelling in Asia.
We got much more and for free at the Tourist Information Office, which address it is true we had found in the Lonely Planet guidebook. But even the address of the Cairns' QWSP Office(Queensland Wildlife Bureau, where you can get park permits) was wrong. The cost of living, including restaurant were all wrong. It is NOT true that vacation is cheap there. It is definitively more expensive than the US. Indeed Queensland has learnt the value of the Great Barrier, and how much money they can get for it from the tourism. It is a real business.
Saying that we enjoyed very much our time there: people are nice (I love their humour), landscape and 'seascape'were marvellous, food expensive but very fresh and tasty, especially seafood. It was just a pity we had to be careful over our spending because we didn't expect and so plan the local expenses.
To come back to Lonely Planet guidebooks, it is the second one in few months that has disappointed us. The first one was on Kauai Island, Hawaii. May be we should only consider Lonely Planet for Asia and Latin America destinations.
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