A life on the Gorge River

For a while now I have seen this book on the shelves in book stores and have been wanting to read it. Last weekend I saw it on the $5 shelf and grabbed it.

The book is an interesting autobiographal account of a man, Robert Long (Beansprout) who basically dropped out of society to live in the remote South Westland of the South Island, NZ. For over 30 years Robert has lived in an old Foresty Service hut, which is at least 2 days walk south of Haast. He now lives there with his wife, Catherine, and two teenaged children, Christian (17) and Robin (14). Their only contact with the outside world is a helicopter or plane once a month, two trips a year out of Gorge River and on average 50 trampers a year who come through the region to the DOC hut at Gorge River where Robert has become caretaker.Now, I like my comforts: running hot water, electric lighting, the dairy across the road, freezer filled with food, friends and family not far away, medical care a phone call away, local cafe (for my caffiene requirements) etc etc. I cannot imagine living without these comforts. I really admire this man and his family who exist in their isolated home without these comforts...and thrive on it! The family spend their time walking throughout the South Westland (most of the time in barefeet), guiding tourists, working to monitor native birdlife, and tending to their vegetable garden and hut.

Robert supports his family by working on fishing boats, caretaking for DoC and selling his paintings and pounamu carvings. He has established a reputation as a renown painter and is often commissioned.

A very inspirational read!

A new look...

What do you think about the new look?

Arms Wide Open

I had some time on Friday, so on my way home from work I popped into the Riccarton Library. I had spent the day at a course on early intervention for maths, which was fairly long winded and by the end of the day my brain was knackered. So...I thought I would pop into the library to get some books, and also treat myself to a coffee and chocolate snack whilst reading one of the mags from the magazine shelves. Well...!

I ordered my coffee...and alas there were no chocolate snacks to be seen...so I ordered a tan square instead. While that was being made and prepared I browsed the magazine shelves...do you think I could find anything decent? No! The latest magazine on offer was something from 2009...how utterly disappointing. So I settled for a parenting magazine...and I don't even have any kids!

Anyhow, after my coffee and tan square (made out of concrete) I browsed the library for some reading material. I found another book by Deborah Challinor, Fire, and two biographies. One biography is called Arms Wide Open by Judi Davidson, and the other is called The Day the Music Died by Larry Lehmer.

I have finished the first biography today, Arms Wide Open. This is about a NZ mother born in the 50's, who was abused as a child, pregnant at 18 and forced to give up her baby for adoption. If that was not enough tragedy to cope with...Judi then finds herself in her mid-thirties raising 5 children alone. Two of her children have congenital spinal muscular atrophy and are confined to wheel-chairs. Judi Davidson describes in detail her abuse, her marriage break-downs, and most of all her determined fight to give her children the best of life. She is one determined woman!

I found this book a fascinating read. I experienced many emotions: admiration for this determined woman, anger at the men who abused her, bewildered at how thoughtless people can be with their comments (even doctors!!!), and sadness that there are people out there who suffer abuse STILL!

A must needed update...

I have a few books to add to my posts, but seeing as it has been a while since my last post...I think I will just pick 3 books out of the pile I have read lately.
A wee while ago I read Blue Eyed Boy by Joanna Harris (who also wrote Chocolat). This is the first book of Harris' that I have read. I found it a struggle to become absorbed to begin with, but then I found the storyline intriguing enough to carry on.

The book begins with: 'Once there was a widow with three sons, and their names were Black, Brown and Blue. Black was the eldest; moody and aggressive. Brown was the middle child, timid and dull. But Blue was his mother's favourite. And he was a murderer.' The story is told via various posts on badguysrock@webjournal.com,telling the dark tale of a poisonous, dysfunctional family, a blind child prodigy, and a serial murderer who is not who he seems.

Although it was interesting...I haven't become a fan of Joanne Harris. However, a friend of mine has lent me 3 of her books...which I will give a go. I may change my mind...? Thanks, Jenny.

Meanwhile, I have a new favourite NZ author! Her name is Deborah Challinor and she has heaps of books. So far I have read two of them, and each of them I found hard to put down and was extremely disappointed when they were finished (not because of storyline...but because I wanted to carry on reading). I find Challinor's books are similiar to Jenny Patrick's Denniston books.

The first Challinor book I grabbed from the Hornby library was Isle of Tears. The story is set in the 1830/40's in NZ and is about a girl, Isla, and her siblings who are taken in by the local Maori after her parents were murdered. Isla eventually falls in love and marries into the tribe...but war breaks out between the Pakeha and Maori...Isla becomes separated from her husband and her siblings...she has to learn to survive in the Pakeha world. The book was a thrilling and romantic read!

The second Challinor book is also the first of a trilogy. It is called Kitty. This story begins just before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Kitty has travelled to NZ with her missionary Uncle and Aunty. She befriends a local Maori princess, Wai. Shocking events occur which force Kitty and Wai to flee to Sydney. Kitty falls in love with a sea captain, Rian Farrell which leads to adventures involving deceit, illicit sexual liasons and death. I was utterly disappointed when I came to the last page...as I haven't managed to find a copy of the next book Amber yet.