Product Description

The world of low-budget travel can be summed up with one image: the backpacker. This is the tale of Andrew Stevenson's hitchhike around New Zealand. It captures the life of the backpacker, from spending time in a Maori settlement to being caught in a snowstorm on an exposed mountain track.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #914141 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Lonely Planet has a reputation for publishing knowlegeable, quirky and enthralling travel literature, looking at familiar destinations in a new light. Their approach is different from more mainstream publications, focusing on the very essence and experience of travelling as much as the countries themselves.

New Zealand is the stated subject of Andrew Stevenson's Kiwi Tracks but his inner emotions, life history and candid backpacking experiences interweave to form an engaging subtext. Stevenson spent four months on the road, two months on South Island and two on North Island. He bypassed the urban centres as often as he could to walk through the National Parks, Fiordland and stroll along Ninety Mile Beach. In search of the spirit of the places, he talks to fellow travellers and locals, immersing himself in the "generosity and hospitality of Kiwis".

Stevenson's beautiful, prosaic style expertly captures the country's sense of space and isolation, from the ancient forests of Gondwanaland to the volcanoes of Tongariro National Park. He peppers his book with personal, sometimes painful experiences and in his quest to discover the true beauty of New Zealand's varied landscape, Maori heritage and culture, he reaches a truer understanding of himself and his need to travel. -- Anna Hornsey