A Land of Two Halves: An Accidental Tour of New Zealand

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Overview

After 10 years in New Zealand, Joe Bennett asked himself what on earth he was doing there. Other than his dogs, what was it about these two small islands on the edge of the world that had kept him—an otherwise restless traveller—for really much longer than they seemed to deserve? Bennett thought he'd better pack his bag and find out. Hitching around both the intriguingly named North and South Islands, with an eye for oddity and a taste for conversation, Bennett began to remind himself of the reasons New ...

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More About This Book

Overview

After 10 years in New Zealand, Joe Bennett asked himself what on earth he was doing there. Other than his dogs, what was it about these two small islands on the edge of the world that had kept him—an otherwise restless traveller—for really much longer than they seemed to deserve? Bennett thought he'd better pack his bag and find out. Hitching around both the intriguingly named North and South Islands, with an eye for oddity and a taste for conversation, Bennett began to remind himself of the reasons New Zealand is quietly seducing the rest of the world.

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Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
Fifteen years ago, Englishman Bennett (Fun Run and Other Oxymorons: Singular Reflections of an Englishman Abroad) arrived in New Zealand to teach English for a year. These many years later-though he's given up teaching to write full time-he's still there, living in Christchurch. Wondering what has kept him, he sets out hitchhiking around the country to find out. Similar only in premise to Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson's Slipping into Paradise: Why I Live in New Zealand, Bennett's first-person narrative of his exploits is witty, self-effacing, and compelling. While readers may never quite understand why Bennett has stayed, they come away wanting to visit this beautiful, unique, quirky country on the far side of the world. Indeed, Bennett's travelog is a joy to read-not only for those interested in traveling to New Zealand but for anyone with an appreciation of fine wit. Recommended for libraries with travel collections.-Louise Feldmann, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A transplanted, middle-aged Englishman hitchhikes the length and breadth of his adopted country. Bennett wanted serendipity to guide his ramble about the two big islands that make up New Zealand, thus his decision to become a pilgrim of the thumb. "I've seen much of this country over the years, but I have never traveled merely to observe it," he writes, so on this trip he worked hard at the exigent art of seeing: everything from muttering magpies, glow-worm caves and bad hotels to high-country sheep stations, trout streams and a sky the color of a thrush egg. With an unselfconscious, wry tone, that carries the clarity of the plainspoken, Bennett neatly delineates landscapes: the feral indifference of the wild West Coast of South Island; the dwarfing, wordless northernmost outpost, where two oceans clash. The drivers who picked him up gave Bennett insights into the towns and countryside he would never have been able to discern otherwise. But what really got to him was the fleeting intimacy they shared; each of his hitches was like a confessional on wheels, a psychiatric couch barreling through the landscape. He learned things about his traveling companions that they likely never shared with their mates, and if they turned creepy sometimes, at least he knew that soon he would never see them again. No national character emerges in his narrative, but readers do get a good, long look through the eyes of working-class New Zealanders, as truck drivers were Bennett's most common tour guides. As they got on with their work, he was "swanning, going where I wish at the pace that I wish, and exploiting their goodwill to travel for free."Shrewd entertainment.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780743263573
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
  • Publication date: 5/28/2005
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 1,384,303
  • Product dimensions: 5.20 (w) x 7.60 (h) x 0.86 (d)

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