If you are a lover of the New Zealand outdoors and of adventurous challenges then this is the book for you, or the perfect gift for someone who is. “You don’t have to be a millionaire or a world beater. You just have to be made of stern stuff and have a sense of adventure.”
Author, Ray Salisbury, has selected eleven particularly challenging and noteworthy forays into the extreme corners of New Zealand, and some of New Zealand’s most memorable extreme athletes – Graeme Dingle & Jill Remain, Paul Caffyn, Steve Gurney, Brando Yelavich and Lisa Tamati feature . The people followed in this book all fully deserve a place in New Zealand’s history books. For that reason alone this book is a keeper, or as a wonderful gift for growing family members with a love of outdoor adventures.
One minute you are paddling a kayak against a tidal rip, the next frozen near death on a mountain top or bushwhacking the Te Araroa Trail alone. One particular chapter that stood out for me was “Wildboy’ when 19 year old Brando Yelavich takes on a challenge to try and overcome his dyslexia and ADHD by doing a complete circumnavigation around the NZ coastline on his own. As Ray says “ this is the story of a boy becoming a man”.
Another feature of this book are the Appendices (NZ Traverses) & (Kayak Circumnavigations). The Index is significant – “people and places of adventure”. Definitely a perfect addition to your personal collection.
