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Woman meets man with a boat

22/4/2015

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Which Way is Starboard Again? 
Overcoming fears & facing challenges sailing the South Pacific   
by Anna Kirtlan 

This is the story of a women who meets a man with a boat, and sets out on a voyage battling two forces: her total lack of sailing experience and ability, and her struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder and bouts of anxiety.
    She leaves behind her beloved cat Ollie and, with her partner Paddy, sets off on a 6-month voyage around the Pacific Islands, in a steel-hulled 18-tonne yacht called Wildflower.
   The constant struggle with weather, seasickness and day and night watch keeping, and several sailing emergencies, brings on many episodes of severe anxiety, but with the help of Paddy’s calming presence she triumphs over all of these things.
 From being totally domestically challenged she learns to prepare food in the rolling, heaving galley of the yacht and even gets to swap recipes with fellow yachties. She experiences the camaraderie between crews of other yachts heading north at the same time, learning that whatever help you needed, someone would always be there, trusting that if they in turn had a problem, you would help them.
    Anna Kirtlan paints a very real picture of life in the remote areas of Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Along the way the couple have many interesting adventures, including climbing an erupting volcano in Vanuatu, diving through an underwater tunnel into a beautiful cavern in Tonga, and visiting several Islands that were badly damaged by the tsunami that devastated much of Samoa.
    She comments on tensions that have built up between the indigenous people and the administrations in power in their country, and how hostility disappeared when it was realised that she and Paddy were from New Zealand.
    The book is written in a light and readable style, with many touches of humour that make light of the inner struggle she must have been going through. I appreciated the photographs in the book, although they are not of good quality because they are printed on plain paper and have not reproduced well. However, they can be viewed in colour on the website of the book, and more can be found on Anna’s Facebook page.
    The final chapter tells of the struggle they both had on returning to ‘normal’ life in Wellington. She makes the comment that, when sailing, you tend to remember only the good times, and these memories make you want to do it all again. In the case of Anna and Paddy, they are planning to sail to the Pacific again in 2016.
    I wish them bon voyage in advance, and look forward to reading the account of this next voyage.


Review by Harold Bernard
Title: Which Way is Starboard Again? Overcoming fears & facing challenges sailing the South Pacific
Author: Anna Kirtlan
Publisher: Bateman Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-86953-881-1
Available: bookshops

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Memorable novel worth reading

16/4/2015

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Rich Man Road
by Ann Glamuzina


   The Author of this new New Zealand novel bases half the story contained in Rich Man Road on the experiences of relatives who came to this country as refugees from Dalmatia in the 1940s. Olga’s story is told in journal form, addressed to the person at the centre of the second strand, a much younger woman.
  Pualele is also an immigrant, but from Samoa, sent here to get a good education but, we find, also to act as a sort of replacement for a dead namesake.
 Two women – different ages and backgrounds, but with the common factor of displacement from what is familiar, separated from those left behind.

  Their stories are alternated, chapter by chapter. Since the chapters are not long, this jolts the reader between the changes from one to another. It would be more satisfying if the sections were longer and the shifts fewer.
  The device of journal narration when directed at a specific addressee, can impose problems of consistency and, more so, the revealing of facts in a natural-sounding way. This is the case in parts of Rich Man Road where some pieces of exposition stand out as a little clumsy.  For this reason, the chapters relating to Pualele are more convincing.
   Because of the parallel stories one knows there must be a coming together, and the reader anticipates the nature of the convergence. Personally, I would have liked this to be explored much more fully than it is. The eventual revealing of the link, explained by way of the journal, seems somewhat remote when the relationship cries out for a more intimate exploration.
    That said, the characters are well drawn, the Auckland setting well described, with the title reference particularly good, and the volume itself is an attractive publication. 
     Overall, this book is a memorable novel worth reading.


Review by Paua Blue
Title: Rich Man Road
Author: Ann Glamuzina
Publisher:  Eunoia Publishing

ISBN: 9780994104731
Available: bookshops
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History buffs, read and enjoy

8/4/2015

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At the Margin of Empire: John Webster and the Hokianga, 1842-1900 
by Jennifer Ashton
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 At the Margin of Empire is a substantial book, 257 pages of single spaced small type, and crammed with information. Although it reads like a well-written thesis, it has form and structure so many theses lack.
   I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book, then, for me, it stagnated somewhat before picking up again at the end. I think I know why.
   The first half follows the young John Webster from his middle-class Scottish birth in 1818 to the sort of life about which every young man (and probably woman) can only dream. First John became a drover in Australia. He was astounded by the varied and foreign topography, the wildlife, the native population and the weather. He kept detailed journals of his adventures and throughout his life published several books based on them.
   Moving from Australia to New Zealand, he settled for a while in the Hokianga, becoming involved in the Northern War of 1846 before moving south to live in Auckland. Soon he was off on another series of high adventures, sailing away to make his fortune (he didn’t) in the Californian gold rush. His adventures on the high seas were numerous, including almost losing his ship. He explored an active volcano in Hawaii, and briefly became the ‘owner’ of  San Cristobel with dreams of establishing a utopian society in Polynesia. All the while, he was fascinated by the natural world, producing good amateur sketches of the flora, fauna and the native inhabitants of the Pacific. What a life!
   The second part of the book, like middle age which was now upon him, details the life John Webster carved for himself after marrying a part-Maori woman he’d known for many years and settling into the life of a nineteenth century businessman in the Hokianga. The author appears to be less interested in his business life, or in what was essentially the quiet life of a family man, perhaps understandable given the contrast to his earlier life. He brought up his wife’s younger siblings and went on to father many children of his own, very much the family man. I enjoyed learning about the intricacies of the early timber trade, perhaps more so than our author who seems uncomfortable with his middle-class life. I saw him as a man who, after such a wildly adventurous early life, was making a success of the ordinary.
   Ashton used this part of the book to criticise his Maori/Pakeha relationships, her arguments somewhat unconvincing to me, especially when she based them on other people’s words rather than Webster’s own. Also, it seems, she used this platform to air her own thoughts and views. But don’t let that put you off. This book is a treasure and the odd bit of politicising can be excused.
   Eventually, John Webster retired from the timber business but remained involved with his farm, shop and community in Opononi. He was a man who lived life to the full, far beyond most others born in 1818. He travelled widely into his seventies continuing to find stimulation in new places and cultures. He developed extensive gardens and orchards at his home (so substantial Ashton calls it a ‘mansion’), fascinated by the varieties he could grow in the gentle climate of Northland, New Zealand.
   I enjoyed learning about John Webster, an admirable man of his times, a man who displayed curiosity, intelligence and sophistication. I found his relations with Maori appropriate and generous (he maintained good relations with his wife’s Maori kin throughout his life and hated seeing what the worst aspects of ‘civilisation’ – presumably alcohol, sugar and flour – was doing to Maori). John Webster knew many famous New Zealand characters with which I was familiar: Sir George Grey, John Logan Campbell, George Russell, Hone Heke, William Brown and scores more.
   If you are a history buff, read and enjoy.

Review by Kina
Title: At the Margin of Empire: John Webster and the Hokianga, 1842-1900
Author: Jennifer Ashton
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 978 1 86940 825 1
Available: Bookshops

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