No comments about Melbourne & Victoria (City Guide).

No comments about Sydney & New South Wales (Regional Guide).

5 comments about Papua New Guinea (Lonely Planet Travel Guides).

1. Having spent over 30 days travelling around N. Guinea I found this book to be heaven sent. From the Highlands to the Sepik or Lae to Madang all information re: lodging, transportation,& places to see were correct and found as described in the guide. I refuse to travel abroad without my first buying the LONELY PLANET guide to help plan my trip in that country. Jerry Silverman silverj@nical.com Dobbs Ferry, New York USA



2. We traveled to Mt. Hagen and Port Moresby last March for the first time. What a great and beautiful country, and what a perfect travel guide to orient you. While this book is nice enough to have on the shelf, ours is worn from use... and usefulness. As a bonus, it's also well-written and a great book to read!

   Lonely Planet has again done a superb job combining art, graphics, maps and information in exactly the right proportions. There are a collection of excellent color and black & white photos and graphics. The history and cultural background is extensive owing to the three experienced traveler-writers. They make great use of side-bars to highlight special features and information (a trade mark of most Lonely Planet materials).

   All the regions are treated pretty equally and include useful maps that otherwise would be tough to find anywhere.

   If you could only buy one book in preparation for your trip, you would not have any problem making this your "Bible". It is also a great size at 5 x 7.25 x 5/8's inches and printed on high quality paper.

   I will always look to Lonely Planet as my first choice in travel books.




3. Even though this edition is already some years old it is still THE guide for independent traveling in this awesome country.

   I was traveling in 2000 for about 8 weeks in PNG and found the book a real help for getting around in a country that is far away from being touristy. Whether you are looking for a bus stop, the next spots for hiking or diving, hotel information or information on culture and religion this book has it all in detail.

   Especially in this kind of less developed country every bit and piece of information in this book is worth every cent you spent for it.




4. Having been a collector, affectionate reader, and on-the-field user of Lonely Planet guidebooks during my numberless and continuous travels, I can indeed witness that this one is one of the best. Some guidebooks try to cover too much, e.g. all of West Africa or all of Central Asia, and don't do the job so well (inevitable and still better than carrying one book for each country, but to the detriment of the quality). Another common problem, is the author's favourable bias towards the country she or he is covering, as if it were the most marvelous place on Earth - I think here of the LP guidebook to Libya. In other books still, some regions are covered more in-depth than others: the Indonesia guidebook only has seven pages on East Timor, which would in fact deserve a whole chapter if not a whole book on its own ! Instead, in covering the fascinating land of Papua New Guinea, this author has done an excellent job, and not much else really needs to be added: this is indeed the Lonely Planet standard, that is to say, an excellent standard. For those who may not be familiar with it, this means excellent, up-to-date, accurate coverage of all areas of the country, with information (primary basic facts as well as further data for perfectionists) about accommodation, getting around, eating, entertainment, etc. Despite the vastity of this land and the difficulty of getting to the most remote areas, the author has managed it. The chapters on history and culture, especially in this guidebook, I find to be extremely well-written and researched. This one is indeed an excellent tool not only for the traveller but also for the armchair traveller who may wish to know more about PNG without necessarily going. It is extremely enjoyable and pleasant to read, thus combining the unrivalled qualities of a guidebook from Lonely Planet, with great information and facts about the mysterious land of Papua New Guinea.



5. And the only one worth carrying for independent, budget travellers, I might add.
   While this book was never perfect, and I would only have rated it 4 stars even when it was brand new (because its coverage of certain areas is really sketchy, and it curiously ignores some long-established budget places to stay), the new "PNG & Solomon Islands" guide that was published in 2005 to replace it is so much worse that it makes this guide seem 5*+ in comparision.
   While the new guide is almost totally written for those going to PNG to stay in ultra-expensive resorts and see the country on guided tours, this 1998 edition still has the usual, more backpacker-oriented style many readers expect from LP guides. It will tell you about budget places to stay, remote areas to explore, and in general give you ideas on getting off the beaten track and experience some of the best PNG has to offer on your own.
   Of course you will find that prices have risen considerably in the past years, but once in PNG, you will quickly figure out quite how much (they are up 2-3 times in Kina terms, which means much less an increase in foreign currency).
   There are also a few new (mostly upmarket) places to stay now, and some shipping routes have changed (even since the 2005 edition!).
   So if you are obsessed with having the latest available information in your guide, you may also want to buy the new edition in addition to this one.
   I have both, but if I had to pick only one to carry along on my next trip to PNG, I would definitely take this one.

5 comments about Lonely Planet New Zealand.

1. The Guide is very informative, but there is a new edition that has come out in October, so wait to buy the new one!!



2. I looked at and compared this to all the other guides from Frommer's, Eyewitness, Footprint, Rough, Insight, Moon, and Fodor's, and I thought this one was the best.

   I used this guide on an intensive, 3-week trip to New Zealand several years ago in which I drove over 6000 kilometers and got to just about every part of the country except Ninety-Mile Beach on the tip of the north island. I visited spots ranging from Stewart Island, Doubtful and Milford Sound, and Queenstown in the south, to the Coromandel Peninsula in the east, to the Franz-Josef glacier and the small western town of Greymouth in the west, to Lake Taupo and the capital city Auckland in the north. I crossed the southern Alps several times, and got to just about every major city and town, and I found the book very useful and accurate and a very valuable resource on my trip.

   New Zealand is one of the most beautiful and delightful places you can visit, and there is something here for everybody. There is still quite a lot of wildlife, and in the south I saw lots of Tui birds, who are like myna birds in that they can immitate just about any noise, and shellducks, which are larger than any American ducks I've seen. One of them even raced me in my car on a road crossing the Alps for a while, until he surprised me by flying under my car and losing all his feathers. Oh well, I hope he grew back those feathers.

   If you're into wildlife, another fun activity is to see the little blue penguins and the yellow-eyed penguins in the southeast coastal town of Oamaru. But watch out for those big shellducks. The big Kea parrots in the southern mountains are surprisingly bold. They come right up to you and you can get great pictures. A famous kea was the one that lived in a park in Sydney, Australia. This might be the only world-famous bird I've ever heard of. He would let the air out of automobile tires while people watched and laughed, which he seemed to do for the fun of it. As the New Zealanders say, they're cheeky little buggers.

   Another thing not to miss is the New Zealand Wildlife Refuge on the main road north of Wellington on the way to Auckland. Several of the other things that I enjoyed that I learned about first from the book were (on the south island) the Te Anau glow- worm caves, the big boat tour of Doubtful Sound, the boat tour of Milford Sound (the wettest place on earth at sea level, with 25 feet of rain per year), and (on the north island) the Maori cultural town of Rotorua, which smells like rotten eggs everywhere because of all the volcanic steam vents containing sulfur dioxide. In fact, the steam comes out of the ground just about all over the city.

   If you're the adventurous type, don't miss Queenstown in the south, the self-styled (and rightly so) adventure capital of the world. There you can do things like bungee-jump from a helicopter, and fly this interesting plane around which is tethered to a central pole. I don't know how many people do those things, but a popular attraction here is a jet-boat tour up one of the rivers. The aerial tramway in Queenstown up to the top of a local mountain gives you a spectacular view of the entire area. There is a decent restaurant at the top, which makes for a popular dining spot with a great view in the evening.

   On the north island, another interesting and fun thing I did in Auckland was to take the Rangitoto Island tour in Auckland Bay on my last day there, which takes you around this small, volcanic island in the middle of the bay. Also Waiheke Island made for an interesting overnight stay in Auckland bay before flying out the next day. Kelly Tarkington's Arctic Experience is worth seeing. And last but not least, Auckland has some surprisingly good restaurants and dining.

   Overall, an excellent and well-written guide and worth the price. New Zealand is one of the best and most enjoyable countries I've ever visited, and this guide was an important part of that experience on my trip.




3. This book is a lot better than the other Lonely Planet books in that it is the same size as the others but as it is only about one small country, it can fit most (not all there's still work to be done) of the towns and attractions backpackers want to see in New Zealand.

   The main difference between this and Let's Go is that this is written for a North American audience whereas Let's Go is more for your British, European, Australian, South African and the like markets. This means those not from North America may find a lot of the information as common knowledge, especially historic things and would prefer to have more further detailed information which is contained in the competitor Let's Go. Since the American education system doesn't teach this stuff American audiences will find it fascinating and will have a need for it maybe.

   A fair amount of the hostels in New Zealand actually do appear in this book which is very surprising for a Lonely Planet as they usually miss about 75 per cent of them. Be aware that there are other hostels out there though, so don't completely rely on the book and use the best method word of mouth from other backpackers as well. Of course the price information is out of date as usual.

   If only Lonely Planet could achieve as good a book for their other country/continent versions then they might be a worthwhile purchase. I'd say buy this if you're a North American but get Let's Go if you're not. Well actually I'd say don't bother with either as you're just reliving someone else's experiences and it's better to explore for yourself but for hostel listings and background info if you don't know much about New Zealand then this is useful.




4. new zealand is a beautiful place



5. If you're going to New Zealand - and want to enjoy the country to the fullest - DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT THIS GUIDE! I embarked on a 6-week long trip last June with this edition of 'Lonely Planet New Zealand' and fate as my only guides. I was impressed to the max! The only other guide I needed was a road atlas I picked up at the airport in Auckland (and since I was touring some of the Lord of the Rings film locations, Ian Brodie's lovely 'Lord of the Rings: Location Guidebook'). I do recommend renting a vehicle - as someone under 25 years old, Budget was a good bet for rental. Just remember, "Left, left left." It's a cinch! With the US dollar exchange rate favorable, we cheaply rented a top notch 4WD SUV for the entire time based on the recommendation of this book. I love the Lonely Planet series for the sheer fact that it gives you pointers on fantastic locations that may be slightly off the beaten path while at the same time informing you of the best of the best in those tourist meccas. It's a lovely balance. My only regret is that 6-weeks is far too short a time to see everything there is to see in New Zealand!

   The top 5 places you shouldn't miss on the North and South Islands:

   North Island
   1) Take the short ferry ride from Auckland to Rangitoto Island and hike to the summit - otherwordly!
   2) Do a touristy bus tour to Cape Reinga out of Paihia - on the bus to Cape Reinga you'll get to: learn a lot about the Maori culture, hug a Kauri tree, stop and surf down sand dunes, wonder in awe at the northern most point of the North Island where untouched white beaches are visible as the Tasman and Pacific Ocean meet and clash (an amazing scene), and to top it all off you'll cruise down 90-mile beach as waves lap the wheels of the bus (yeah, the beach is actually a registered roadway).
   3) Drive around the gorgeous Coromandel Peninsula - leave the Thames area just before sunrise and the landscape will just take your breath away! You will come to understand the meaning of Aotearoa/New Zealand: land of the long white cloud.
   4) Wander the volcantic parks of Rotorua - Wai-ti-pau was a highlight! Don't forget to sign-up for a traditional Maori concert and haka at the Tamaki Maori Village for a cool cultural experience!
   5) Cruise Cuba Street in Wellington for food and shops, and don't forget to visit Te Papa - the national museum of Wellington.

   South Island
   1) Plan a kayaking trip out of Motueka: the Tonga Island wildlife option is cool - we saw wild Orca and New Zealand Fur Seals up close and personal and then lunched on a secluded beach reached only by kayak!
   2) Take a helicopter ride up to Fox Glacier and do an afternoon hike - see where semi-tropical rainforest meets glacier meets the Tasman Sea.
   3) Go white water rafting on the Shotover River in Queenstown (be sure you get an option with the Oxenbridge Tunnel)! Then go jet boating, then bungy jumping, you name, it they do it there! Don't miss Deer Park Heights either - say hello to the free roaming buffalo for me!
   4) Head to the beautiful city of Kaikoura for whale watching and a dolphin swim.
   5) If you love wildlife - head to Dunedin and take a tour out to the Otago Peninsula (you'll see albatross, fur seals, sea lions, yellow-eyed penguins and a variety of bird life up close and personal - by up close I mean walking on the beach less than 10 feet away from a Hooker Seal Lion twice your size). While in Dunedin, visit Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world, and don't miss the Cadbury Factory! It's well worth the admission price!

   There is so much more to see and do that I haven't listed - and this guide helped me find it all and point me in the right direction every step of the way. The only thing the guide failed to mention was the abundance of rainbows in this enchanted country - I don't know about you, but where I come from rainbows are a special once in a great while occurance. In New Zealand you see them on a daily basis. I guarantee that with the help of this guide you will leave New Zealand with enough fantastic memories to last a lifetime. Kia ora.

5 comments about The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook (Lord of the Rings).

1. I went to New Zealand with the book, hoping to see as many sites as I could. Everyone has the book, and everyone has the same comment - it gets you almost there. Almost just isn't good enough. But my first complaint is the scattered writing. Stick to the subject - the sites. One site is mentioned. Then a bunch of drivel, and suddenly you're reading about that site again, and this time it's different information. The book could have so much better organized. Why not put decent maps in a location guidebook? One example: we followed the written directions exactly and found ourselves at the park off Gemstone. Okay. So, where exactly along this park is the site? I searched for an hour for rock formations that matched the picture in the book and never found them. Same thing at "Rivendell". Got there, but what good is it if the exact sites are not given? We ended up going out again the next day on a tour, and told the tour guide about our trouble with the book. "Everyone says that," she said. "I see people out walking around with the book, trying to figure out the exact site. Finally they ask if they can follow me." Ian, you present this as being a location guide, and you got everyone to buy one. But I didn't go halfway around the world to get "almost" there. It needs better pictures, real maps, and better organization. Keep ALL the information about one site together, not spread here and there over several pages.
   Give directions from the major city, not from the previous site. And I am still steaming over Legolas's rock at Deerpark Heights. The picture shows the VIEW from the rock instead of the rock itself. You know how many rocks are at the location? Why is the world didn't you put a picture of the rock in there so we could tell when we were in the right place? I appreciate the fact that someone even wrote a guidebook. That said, it should have been done 100%. I paid 100% of the price for it.



2. I've been on two trips to New Zealand and used the first guidebook on the first trip and the revised edition (after Two Towers) on the second trip. The revised edition was much improved over the original one. I visited probably 80%+ of the sites in the book between the two trips. The guidebooks give a lot of interesting trivia about filming LOTR and can certainly help you decide what to visit, how accessible it is and how to plan a route. As all have stated, the problem is that the directions get you sort of there, within a hundred meters if you're lucky, and the pictures are marginally helpful. On the second trip I brought a portable DVD player with the LOTR DVDs and I found the relevant scene in the film while I was at the location, so I could make a positive identification and not have to wonder if I was at the right rock or tree. It was particularly useful at Mavora Lakes, Poolburn and Whakapapa, for example, where so much of the scenery looks the same throughout the whole site. Otherwise, without the DVD, about the only thing to do when you get to Whakapapa using the guidebook is to just look around and know that it was used for the Mordor locations. With the DVD you can identify the exact spot where the opening title for Two Towers was filmed, among other venues. If you don't want to drag a DVD player with you, another option I would recommend is to print out screen caps from the films of those locations you really want to identify and take along a notebook filled with them. Either option is a must for identifying, for example, the Legolas rock at Deer Park Heights, particularly since the rock was flipped 180 in the film. Ian's book is a good start, but its utility will vary for each person depending on just how precise you want to be in saying "I was there."



3. What a blast. We took the original edition on our tour two years ago and will be taking the extended edition this year. We also took a GPS with us and called our tour, "GPS to Mordor: there and back again," and dutifully listed the references we achieved in our trip diaries. Through unseasonal sleet and floods and snow we had more fun than anyone deserves hunting the references and squinting at the photos. "It's this tree. No No. It's that one." We went places we would never have dreamed of going otherwise, met fantastic people and saw astonishing country given a specific quality of discovery by finding the associations. Travels by quotation: "We're going to Rivendell to see the elves," was a particular triumph. The additional trivia of filming and background simply added pleasure to the reading at night while checking the next day's itinerary. Without being a textbook, we certainly found it got us where we wanted to go as close as we needed to get there (except for the parts of NZ that were under water at the time). Think of it as an invitation to get out of the house and go find your own adventures.



4. I bought this while in New Zealand, in Mt Cook Village.
   
   Though My wife and I hadn't planned a "Lord of the Rings Tour", we did enjoy noting when our current stop was used as filming location.
   
   I sympathize with both Mr Brodie and the reviewers wanting more maps.
   
   While it may not have been his intent, it is called a "guidebook", and even a casual reader like myself would have appreciated more maps. But it doesn't detract from the fact that this is a fun book, with lots of vignettes and pictures.



5. I purchased this book after visiting New Zealand. Specifically, the area where Rohan was set up. I would not have bought this book otherwise, but it became a nice companion when i wanted to remember the lay of the land and the challenges one only experiences in New Zealand. To get to this place, one must walk from a road, across a cow field, through 3 rivers (ice cold and too wide to jump, mind). So for me it was worth it. If you don't have an unusual love for the films or another big reason to get this book, you're probably wasting your money.

3 comments about Living and Working in Australia, 4th Edition: A Survival Handbook (Living and Working).

1. This book has a lot of information. It really helps you to decide what to do and where to go in Australia.



2. The greatest book I have ever bought about Australia, It has a lot of information related about this great country. It also has specific details on relevants information. This book is quite fun when you star to read it.
   
   I recomend this piece to everyone how wants going to Australia.



3. The "cultural" part of this book (and earlier editions) is useful viz, why seek a job in Australia and what to expect in day to day transactions. Information on "quality of life" is more for singles, families with young children, or retirees (although, unless a retiree comes from one of the few countries with reciprocal health-care agreements, s/he will pay a lot for private medical coverage).
   
   This book fails to present clear info on the ever evolving requirements for work/migration visas and what services a given visa allows your family to access. You must dig here and elsewhere and Web forums (since even Australian state websites are self-contradictory or outdated) to discover that admission on a temporary work visa (which is locked to a specific job) gives no access to state benefits despite the fact that you pay 40% taxes + local council taxes if you buy a home. With limited exceptions and reimbursement, you are gouged this way for 2 yrs before you can apply for a permanent resident visa (with additional requirements if you make this move over age 44). During that time your child is NOT allowed to compete for a merit-based slot in a state "selective" school, in most Australian states you must pay full school fees of $4500 to $5500/yr/child (primary & secondary, respectively, NOT twice this as an International Student as some state Web sites state), and would pay full University course fees ($40,000+ for 3 year course, more for 4) again despite full tax payments. With permanent residency, these restrictions disappear and your child can compete for a university place in a predetermined field of study (major) at a fee comparable to in-state US 4-yr state university tuition and a generally higher standard of instruction. The logic behind this is commendable: strong incentives to stay and contribute long-term. So, those with children and esp. those approaching age brackets 44, 49, and 54 should push toward permanent residency asap because the process can be slow.

1 comments about East Coast Australia (Regional Guide).

1. In recent years, I have been increasingly disappointed with the information contained in LP's guides. In the case of this one, I purposefully chose _East Coast Australia_ instead of the thicker LP guide covering all of Australia. I figured I could get more detail about locations in that region with this region-specific book, but I was wrong. Morton National Park and neighboring Bungonia Gorge are not even mentioned. (The larger guide does cover Morton.) Canberra, the nation's capitol, gets a mere 4 1/2 pages of text. Some of the smaller towns surrounding Canberra (picturesque Yass, comfortable Queanbeyan, historic Cooma, Goulburn on the motorway between Canberra and Sydney) get no mention whatsoever. Several years ago, LP discovered that there was a dearth of decent travel guides and stepped in to change the situation. Rick Steves is supplanting LP (who supplanted Let's Go Europe earlier) in Europe now. I hope someone will come along and address the rest of the world soon. In the meantime, LP's Thorntree is a great web-based interactive resource that can be taken advantage of.

5 comments about The Manchus (Peoples of Asia).

1. It's funny to note that at many times the Qing dynasty faced many of the same problems that we see today: overpopulation, government corruption, war against drugs. So much of what we think of as Chinese is also Manchu and was introduced rather recently. Well writen and clear all the way through.



2. I have read a more recent book Evelyn Rawski's "The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions " in which she discusses the context between her book and "The Manchus". The two books are probably quite similar but I think that Rawski's book would contain much more undisclosed material.
   I have decided not to change the rating on this book in the interest of fair play.



3. I visited to pick up the paperback of this book, and saw this perplexing comment below. This book and The Last Emperor are apples and oranges. This is a popular book (I got my original copy from History Book Club) and intended for reader's with a general interest, or maybe beginning historians. The book by Evelyn S. Rawski is an academic title, very thorough and erudite. But also the books are not on the same subject. Rawski is about the Manchu emperors, their courts and palaces. The Manchus is much more general. Please do not get confused into thinking that these two books are on the same subject.



4. I read this book after Evelyn Rawski's "The Last Emperors" and it did answer & clarified a lot questions I had with regards to the Manchus and how they were like before entering China proper. The chapter on Nurhachi was good as was the section on the inevitable power struggle between Cixi and Guangxu (my only wish that this was elaborated further).
   Crossley's book is highly recommended for both casual & serious historians alike. My suggestion is to read this first before Rawski's "The Last Emperors"



5. Read your typical history book covering Chinese history and you'll get a very distinct picture of the Jurchens and Manchus--about their conquest of china, the corruption of the Qing government (as if no other dynasty had corruption), of the power-hungry Aisio-gioro Nurgaci, founder of the Qing dynasty, and their alien, steppe-nomadic ways. Most Chinese history books have little good or substantive to say about this north-east Asian culture whose term for their religious priesthood was adopted by the West, "Shaman" (Chinese, "saman").
   
   This book takes all that mythology and anti-Manchu rehtoric and blasts it to pieces with a compelling story of a people who have rarely been studied objectively and as a culture separate from the Mongols and Chinese. Nurgaci was not the man of the myths we've heard and never called himself Emperor. In fact for most of his life his title was "beile of the Jianzhou Jurchens". He was a great lord and chieftain of his lineage, but not even an autocrat in his authority, ruling jointly with his brother, Surgaci, for many years.
   
   Besides the myths about Nuragi, many cultural myths are also dispelled. One major one is the assumption that the Manchus were nomads with a steppe culture analogous to the Mongol culture. This book explains how and why this assumption is wrong and is essential to anyone who wants to know the real Manchu people.
   
   I'm only 3 chapters into the book and already know I need to reread it. there's a lot of information for the student of Jurchen and Manchu history!
   
   WELL DONE!!

2 comments about Australia: Continents of Contrasts.

1. Fantastic & breathtaking photographs throughout, but I have the feeling this book was translated into English, possibly from German judging by the author/photographer names, and someone did a very poor job in the English translation process. In addition, there are many misspellings of words and names, which is unfortunate and could have been corrected if someone had done their research. However, if you can overlook the poor text and want to enjoy some beautiful photography of this amazing country and/or collect large, coffee table style books, then this is worth having, but don't pay retail price - take advantage of Amazon's discount!



2. Beautifully done "coffee table" book. Nicely divided into the different areas/states of Australia. It's going to be a gift for my parents who will be traveling to Australia this winter. They'll really appreciate it when they get back as a pictorial memory book. Many, many photos. Gorgeous.

5 comments about Southern Exposure: A Solo Sea Kayaking Journey Around New Zealand's South Island.

1. By Bill Marsano. Chris Duff's photos, which are bundled together and whacked a little perfunctorily into the middle of this book, limp under the heading of 'snaps.' Duff belongs to the old school of kayakin' shutterbugs: compose any old how, so long as the bow of the boat is in the frame; shoot in any old light; and shoot, sometimes, any old subject. There's a darn nice snap of a Hooker seal here but what I really wanted was more pix of the damage (and later repairs) to his boat from the surf landing that nearly killed him. I'm just saying. (And the maps are even worse--clear, but seldom helpful.)
   
   Never mind: This is a book of writing. Duff seems to have had no specific reason to try a 1700-mile circumnavigation of New Zealand's South Island (it's not even a first) but he is no virgin. He's looped the British Isles and then Ireland; he's paddled 8000 miles along the east coast of Canada and the U.S.; even now he may be paddling round Iceland.
   
   He, too, gets into a little gauzy mysticism about the Eternal Why and his place in the universe, but most of the time he's a little too busy for that stuff. South Island's coast is a place that goes from bad to worse, and it's instructive to listen in as Duff relates his tactics and strategies for dealing with bad weather and dangerous, even life-threatening situations: You can learn from this stuff as well as be staggered by it. And just for lagniappe there are those occasional moments of perfect weather and following seas that surf him along in solitary joy. These usually come along just after the notoriously perverse Tasman Sea has, as they say south of here, "prit-near" beaten him to a pulp.
   
   A particular pleasure of this book is the human aspect. Despite the solitary aspect of his circumnavigations, Duff is a sociable man who enjoys and appreciates the people he meets--and appears to bring out the best in them. Add that to the fact that Kiwis are notably kind and generous anyway and you are not surprised that Duff makes friends everywhere he goes and they bend over backwards to help him in every way they can.
   
   Judging from the indications in the text, it's clear that Duff prepared extremely well for this voyage, and readers should pay close attention as they go along, because--probably because this stuff is bred into his bones by now--Duff spends very little time discussing equipment at the end. In fact, he's done with the subject in a single page.
   
   There's one incident in this book that commands my admiration and will yours. I don't want to give anything away but at one point Duff receives some help of a rather expensive kind, and his response is to pull out his credit card. "No worries, mate," he's told, officialdom is budgeted for that. All very well, but Duff insists on paying his own way. He is well aware of the fact that a well-behaved guest doesn't batten on his hosts.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning editor and writer whose own kayaking voyages fill only pages, not books.



2. A couple of years ago I saw Chris Duff speak at Canoecopia - a worldwide paddling expo held in Madison WI. One of his talks was about his solo circumnavigation of New Zealand's south island - the same topic as this book.
   I, and I think the rest of the audience, was mesmerized as he told his tale. Even though he probably has talked about his trip many times it felt as if he was reliving it for the first time. His ecitement was contagious. The audience could almost feel the ocean swells and smell the salty air.
   Chris Duff is as good of a writer as he is a public speaker. He vividly describes the scenery of his voyage, the people he encounters and his own personal thoughts. While, his adventures are WAY beyond my personal abilities I could actually feel what it would be like in his shoes (or in this case fast drying sandals) due to his excellent writing ability.



3. Unfortunately, I do not quite share the enthusiasm expressed by the other reviewers. Although Duff is an excellent descriptive writer, the numerous descriptions and philosophical musings in this book tend to go on and on needlessly; I do not need to read three pages about what it was like to find two apples in the ocean and eat them, or read description after description of the joys and epiphanies one experiences while paddling in a remote area. A little of that goes a long way.
   
   I guess the upshot is that I was looking for an exciting adventure story, and what I got was perhaps the most thorough description of the New Zealand South Island's coastline, coastal waters, and weather patterns ever written. If you are looking for an "Into Thin Air"-type battle against the odds, keep looking. Although the journey required considerable paddling skills and Duff faced a few close calls, overall the book records little actual adversity aside from large waves and days of waiting out storms -- often in homes of hospitable New Zealanders rather than on his own.
   
   I also agree with other reviewers that the photos are mediocre and certainly are not "stunning," as the back of the book claims.



4. I took this book with me on a trip to New Zealand, and enjoyed reading it as I learned first hand the island's crazy seas, and the many interesting facts about the country. At times the author can be a little long winded, but I thought it was well written for a trip that inherently has so much repetition. If you like sea kayaking, nature, and adventure stories, I would recommend this book. If you get to a slightly boring part about being with one with the boat and sea, just keep reading, and more adventure is sure to follow.



5. Chris Duff's humility is one of the many striking attributes of a finely-written account of an often nerve-wracking and dangerous journey around New Zealand's South Island by sea kayak. Duff reminds us of the power and beauty of nature that so many of us have forgotten, lulled by the comforts of city life, and introduces the characters living around the coast whose goodness and moral support helped him get through the ordeal.
   
   You don't have to be a kayaker to enjoy this book, but if you are, then you can empathise much more with the many challenges he faced. I was out there on the water with him, edging into the waves, fearing the surf, dwarfed by the Fiordland's cliffs. Well done, and thanks for sharing the experience!