Oceania Books

I have read a lot of history regarding World War Two and Fire In The Sky is one of the better efforts. Its a good overview of the relatively
unexplored South Pacific campaign. Its not a detailed history of single
squadrons or units, but it contains a wealth of information not normally
contemplated from both the Allied and Japanese perspectives. So, why
is all this relevant? Its relevant because if a society doesn't know
where its been, how can it know where its going?

If WWII interests you, Eric Bergerud shines a light into the dark corners of of the Pacific theater and illuminates actions and activities forgotten and neglected for years.

Ever wonder why vain, proud Douglas MacArthur was left in a position commanding a major front and leading the defense of Australia in the Pacific war? Can't figure out why he lead the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay on the deck of the USS Missouri, and not Nimitz or King?

Wonder how Japanese air power was destroyed after Midway? If you read Shattered Sword you understand despite the propaganda provided by both Japanese and US sources, Japanese Naval air power wasn't all sunk at Midway - that was a couple of hundred planes at most. And what about the Japanese Army's Air force? How did they disappear? How did Japanese Air Power get from Midway in 1942 - capable of sinking the US fleet - to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot in 1944 - utterly prostrate and immediately afterward turning to Kamikaze attacks - hopeless of striking US forces and surviving.

Eric Bergerud explains all this and much more.

The author writes a mult-dimension book about an unusual war where an entire theater of operations was depend on capturing, and defending an airfield and then the next military objective was another airfield. I agreed that author failed to talk about the K-84 Hayate (Frank), but he forgot that the Japanese also produce the Shiden N1K2 (George) Navy fighter plane. The author also seems to forget that American pilots had to fly for 8 to 14 hours from England and Italy to escort the bombers and then fight the Luftwaffe pilots just like the Japanese pilots had to do from Rabual. The only differences was that we had more fighter planes and pilots than the Japanese, and our planes could absorb much damage from enemy fire and bring our pilots back home.

The author seems to forget that much of the American population was also unskilled labor when it came to maintaining planes that were designed by Americans who were college graduates. We had no nationwide apprenticeship program system like they have in Europe when it comes to producing a skill technical labor force. Nowadays, we have been getting rid of such a technical skilled labor force for the last 27 years. The Japanese at least gave their enlisted soldiers and sailors a chance to become pilots since 1928 and continue it until the end of World War II. On the other hand, the US Navy, Marines and Army did not try to expand their enlisted pilots during the war.

I did not realizes how easy it was to be hit by the variety of diseases and illness in the tropics. Amazing how the tropics can be so beautiful in the photographs of the tourist industries' bochures and at the same time be so deadly. Of course, those people who fought in Burma from 1941-1945 could emphasize those who were expose to the diseases in the South Pacific and dealing with the jungle.

The way they said that it rain so much in the South Pacific, you wonder how both the Allies and the Japanses ever manage to fight such a war in a place like that. If it rain so much, there would have been no war at all because all sea and air operations could not operate in an environment at all.

The author should also have talk to members of the U. S. Navy Fighter Squadron 5 and 17 since they fought in that area. Furthermore, he should also have talk to members of the U. S. Army fighter groups that operate from Guadalcanel.

I hope the author writes two books about the air war over the Philippines in 1944. The first book would be from October 1944 to December 1944 with regards to Leyte Island. The second book should be about air war over the Philippines from January 1945 to the end of Japanese air resistance.

Overall, an excellent book given the complexity blending in so many subject matters and how each one play a part in the overall campaign.

This'll keep you off amazon for a week or so if you're a slow reader [like me] i often mark up a book for errors or questionable statements, this one has only a few exclamation marks. combining personal accounts of US Army and Marine/Navy to Aussie and Japanese make for a better view than i've seen before. He certainly brings out how hard it is to understand what was actually going on, certainly no one participating could have known. My only suggestion for another edition would be better/more maps and pictures but that's only a quibble. damn fine book

The strengths of the book have been mentioned in other reviews, so I will focus on certain weaknesses not emphasized by others.

The first main weakness is luck of technical understanding of several terms by the author. He seems to confuse the terms, power loading, and wing loading. He failed to recognize that the Japanese fighters' lower wing loading was actually a more significant benefit in terms of maneuverability at higher altitudes where the air density is lower (he supports the opposite, which is not technically reasonable). He also makes the statement many times that the maneuverability advantage of the Japanese fighters at the expense of heavy armor proved not to be the winning advantage. The statement needs to be corrected however, in my opinion. When a very skilful pilot is manning the more maneuverable fighter, the compromise for maneuverability can actually pay off. Early in the war, the Japanese had probably the best pilots in the world, which justifies their choice in the maneuverability/speed/armor compromise. This is well illustrated when Japanese ace pilots, even late in the war, often engaged large numbers of allied fighters sinle-handed, and not only usually survived by using the maneuverability of their "obsolete" fighters, but also gained victories over their multiple opponents. However, as the author properly states, late in the war, the lack of speed and armor was indeed a serious drawback when the majority of the Japanese pilots could not be properly trained, due to the lack of aviation fuel.

The second main weakness is that the book is heavily biased to the American side. It fails to emphasize the important role of serendipity that allowed the Americans to gain significant advantages (i.e., the victory in the Midway battle which was very much determined by luck, or the early discovery of a flyable A6M2 by the allies which allowed the early development of the proper tactics to deal with the Zero). Another example of bias is as follows: In the section where a P-40 pilot (justifiably biased) declared that his side had the speed advantage and therefore could dictate when and where to fight, the author (who should intervene in a more unbiased position) failed to mention that the Zero had almost twice the rate of climb of the P-40, and therefore a far stronger advantage to dictate the terms of the air battle. Finally, and possibly the most significant example of bias is the Author's failure to even mention the Japanese Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (Frank) in the Japanese warplane section. The Hayate had completely outclassed the US fighters in almost every respect, and its impact in the air war was reduced only by the relatively small numbers and the lack of experienced pilots and mechanics. However, an experienced pilot in a Hayate was a very serious threat to any allied fighter, even if outnumbered.

Finally, the superior fighting spirit of the Japanese was only barely touched by this book. Even though it is not fair to compare aircrew individually due to the different cultures, the Japanese had a considerable advantage in this respect. At the end, quantity overwhelmed quality, as far as the fighting spirit was concerned. In my opinion, this is a serious deficiency of a historical book, that by definition should at least try to be unbiased. A more in depth understanding of the unusual Japanese culture would have helped the author develop a better picture of the cultural disconnect, and how the allied leadership took advantage of the cultural difference to motivate the aircrews, and minimize potential ethical doubts when the latter were employed in the extermination of tens of thousands of Japanese troops (and later hundreds of thousands of civilians). The author states that racism had little part in the war ethics, but that is a serious historical error. In my opinion, we have to say history as it was, in order to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

This book and his companion "Fire In the Sky" are the best military history books I've ever read. Most history books concentrate on just recounting what happened where with whom but these books concentrate on the how and why. His analysis is great and goes far beyond a simple recounting of the history. I wish he would deal with all of the major campaigns of WW2 and Korea in this manner. I'd be first in line to buy those books if he did.

The contributions of the Australians and New Zealanders in the Pacific War are often understated. This book does much to mitigate that deficit.

I bought this book, and the companion book, Fire in the Sky by the same author. I bought them becasue my father spent from May 1942 until near the end of the war in the South Pacific. These books are NOT cronological history books, but rather an IN DEPTH discussion of why the US won and why the Japanese lost. Most of the book is taken up with quotes from the veterans who fought the war. Fire in the Sky had a few pages of quote from one of my Dad's friends from the 17th Weather Squadron.

If it were not for the one flaw mentioned in the title (and about which more below)this book would have received five stars.

Campaign histories are often impersonal narratives that fail to capture either the strategic importance of events or the personal experiences of the combatants. Those books which do capture the experiences of the combatants are often naive when it comes to strategy. Touched with Fire describes the war in the South Pacific on all levels, personal, tactical, logistic and strategic. It is well written, insightful and easy to read.

Bergerud makes the point that before the campaign in the South Pacific the Japanese were still on the offensive, even despite Midway. By the end of the campaign there was no doubt in any sane military man's mind that Japan would lose the war. Bergerud clearly explains why the Japanese decision to continue the war after their losses in the South Pacific was militarily insane, but also examines why unconditional victory over Japan was desirable and maybe even necessary (and how the same attitudes that made this so contributed to Japan's initial success and eventual failure).

For an American author Bergerud treats the combatants very open handedly, praising the Japanese and Australians for their strengths and not shying away from problems with the US military.

The fact that the author is an American leads me to the flaw in the book, something which might seem minor, but which was a constant source of irritation and grated so badly that it cost Bergerud two stars. The book is about events which happened entirely in the southern hemisphere. Therefore when I encountered references to events happening in summer of 1942 I asked myself, summer 1941/42 or summer 42/43? Luckily I knew enough about the dates involved to realise that it was neither. To my surprise and horror I realised that the author was referring to the northern hemisphere seasons when discussing events that happened in the southern hemisphere! The battles for Guadalcanal and the initial battles for New Guinea did not take place in summer, they were in winter (although traditional European seasons have little meaning in the tropics). I assume that the author knows that the seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere. Therefore I can only conclude that he made a conscious decision to ignore this fact and to deliberately introduce errors into his work in order to make it more palateable to Americans. This betrays both a contempt for the intellect of his American readers and a contempt for his audience outside America. Neither is acceptable.

It is a shame that such a good book is flawed in this way. This may seem a minor point, but anything which betrays such monumental contempt for the reader has a major negative effect on the enjoyment of a book. It would not take much to correct the references to the seasons or simply replace them with dates if it's perceived that the concept of a round earth is too complex for the target audience (yes I'm being facetious). It would be good if this could be done in any future editions of this otherwise excellent book.

I purchased this book whilst living in the SE Asian tropics and it certainly provided a stark insight into the land battles of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands from mid-1942 until early 1944. Horrific. Australians interested in WW2 in this theatre should certainly pick up this book.

Anyone interested in the historical aspects of these WW2 battles will find the descriptions and weighing up of the armies, the weapons they employed and the horrors of the battlefield they suffered & fought in, to be utterly fascinating.

More so the interviews with surviving combatants are highly entertaining and this book serves as a worthy monument to their exploits in this green hell.

In particular this provides for an insight the brutality of the campaigns covered. The conditions endured by citizen and professional soldiers, and the combat most foul, they engaged in is graphically described. Yet all this takes place in a naturally beautiful environment....
The descriptions by veterans of hand-to-hand combat and degradation provides a stark view of some of the motivations and endurance of individuals under some of the most extreme combat conditions in WW2.

Thoroughly worth reading.

Let me just say that I admire this woman. What she accomplished was incredible - trekking mostly alone across the Australian desert with her 3 camels. And she had to go out and get the training she needed without much help, and a lot of prejudice against women.
However, I found it hard to relate to her. I was rooting for her, but I kept thinking that I would NEVER have put myself in those situations to start with. I love to travel, but I'm not that adventurous.

This book was so inspiring, I had to order it twice. I had lent my original copy which was given to me as a gift, and the person lost it. I ordered a second copy because this book was a keeper, and foolishly I lent it out again, and lost it again. I now have a brand new copy again, which just arrived, and I will not be lending it. This is a book I will keep forever as a reference, or to read ove and over at times in my life when I need to be motivated, or need to find the strength to endure.

Well I could begin and go on for pages but let me keep this short.

A young woman heads to the edge of civilization as most people know it.
She learns about how people really are by her interaction with others who are barely making it.

Heads into the wilds of Australia where she learns quite a bit more about herself and 'the raw undercurrent of what she thought was civilization' (you like that bit there?) Interspersed with some shots of the outback. This is the story behind the great coffee table book which is filled with some great photos.

Also part of the beginning of the age of interactive CDROMS (unfortunately the CDROM will NOT play correctly on anything newer that about 1990, win95 mac os9)

Highly recommended

This story is 254 pages long and the first 100 pages are nothing but the battles Robyn fought with the townfolk and their feelings about Aborigines, her landlord, finding suitable camels and then training them.

When she finally starts her journey from Alice Springs two years after her arrival there, one is relieved to finally read about the torturous journey she undertook, both with the locals, those annoying tourists along the way, and her intermittent relationship with photographer/sex partner Richard from National Geographic. Somewhere in the middle of the book the journey lost its meaning for me, although I finished the book. It was obvious by then that Robyn made this trek to wrestle with the demons within her, to battle something she had been battling all her life.

A travelogue is always a journey of one's own soul and Robyn's soul was troubled from the start, both from loneliness and what appears to be either drug or alcohol addiction (she mentioned several times how she'd drink her whiskey hard after trouble with the camels.)

I have to admire her for finishing her journey, but she doesn't give her partner enough credit for pulling her through this. She loves her camels and her dog and yet sometimes she treats them as less than that, and like some readers have already mentioned, she paid dearly for that in the end. Some of the honesty angered me and I wanted to yell out "Woman, why would you do something like that!"

This is not an adventure I'm willing to emulate. Although Australia and its people and terrain fascinate me, I'd be much happier along the eastern shore.

The integrity of this writing, this soul-baring, reminded me of Doug Peacock's Grizzly Years: a flight from the insanities of civilization into the healing refuge of nature's raw dangers. Tracks was written by a rare bird; this is writing from the guts. For a first book, exploding out of nowhere, chronicling a soul in search of what is ultimately significant, Robyn Davidson has got the write stuff. Intrepid is the word.

The crystalline expressions of her soul match the purity and desolation of the Outback landscapes. Even a guy like Edward Abbey was swept up in admiration for the courage of this person to embark on her 9 month odyssey. Truly a remarkable book - 5 plus stars.

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

I went to the island of Tavenui (third largest) and the book had no info about that island.

Moon Handbooks Fiji is the ultimate overview for traveling on any of the 322-islands of Fiji. This book contains 357 pages of travel information but is still small enough to tuck in a daypack for easy reference. Furthermore, this book has plenty of fairly detailed maps, complete with accurate distance scales, for easy travel planning or reference while you travel.

There are fourteen chapters in Moon Handbooks Fiji: Introduction; Exploring the Islands; Nada and the Mamanucas; Southern Vita Levu; Suva and Vincinity; Northern Vita Levu; Lautoka and Vicinity; The Yasawa Islands; Kadava; The Lomaivita Group; Vannua Levu; Taveuni; The Lau Group; and Resources. The introduction chapter contains an overview on Fiji group. This detailed information includes geology, climate, flora, fauna, history, economy, and the government of these islands. The next chapter, Exploring the Islands, contains general information on sports and recreation; entertainment; public holidays and festivals; arts and crafts; shopping; and accommodations; food; money; communications; media as well as contacts for tourist information; visas; health and safety; getting there; getting around; and airports while in Fiji. This chapter also includes a what to take section. The Resources chapter contains further information on suggested readings and internet resources.

The rest of the chapters in Moon Handbooks Fiji focus on particular geographical regions, islands, or groups of islands with the Fiji group. The first paragraph or page of each regional section describes a little about the region. After this overview, individual sights, recreation areas, special events, accommodations, food services, information services, and transportation services are depicted in detail. Depending on the size and general amount of facilities in a given region, there may be only one or two entries per category or over a dozen. Each entry contains the location, contacts, costs, and a short paragraph description of the facility or event featured. Several black and white maps and photographs accompany each section, clearly marked with the various facilities described in that particular section.

Moon Handbooks Fiji is a helpful guide for anyone planning on traveling to any of the islands of the Fiji group. Very complete key information is provided for easy reference while planning or while travel. However, this book may also be just as interesting for the armchair traveler as this book contains ample information about the natural environment, history, and culture on these beautiful islands.

Excellent guide to Fiji.

Hope to go there and check it out.

Although I agree that the sections on the history and culture of Fiji are excellent, this by itself does not make for a good guide book. This book first appeared in the 1980's and it seems as if all subsequent updates were soleley made by contributing readers and businesses. I used the book recently for travel in Fiji and could not shake the impression that the author has not been to Fiji in a long time. While he lists all of the main attractions, many details are sketchy at best. To give an example, he mentions the Sikatoga sand dunes as one of the main attractions on Fiji but then uses a single paragraph(!) to describe them. No detailed description of any interesting features that could be used as a guide for a visit. Similarly when describing the Yasawa islands he is busy listing all the resorts but does not seem to care too much about what actually can be done on these islands. Bottom line: The book is an excellent reference on history and culture of Fiji (something one could write after some diligent research) but lacks useful details for actual travelers.

We used this guide on our trip last summer. We had an excellent time off the beaten track, and this book got us where we wanted to go, with the relavant phone numbers and lots of tips. The 100 or so pages on Fiji's history and culture were also of great interest while we rode on boats to where we were going.

I was very happy with this book. The author takes you along on her adventure so you can feel like you, too, took the trip. Honest, entertaining, interesting. Enjoy!

Not only a great travel book, but a book that i cant buy enough copies of for my friends!!

I was given this book and it travelled with me for a few months until I finally got around to picking it up, and after doing so I couldn't put it down. She was really able to put into words many things that I have felt on the road.
Laurie Gough is able to really express emotions and experiences of the senses that one has whilst travelling. She brings to life many places from a remote island in Fiji to Germany to Canada. It's more then just a travelouge, it paints a picture of people and places.
Gough also brought to life the immense stretch of characters that one meets while travelling, and how these people , no matter how eccentric or normal they are, shape your travels and shape who you are long after you've met them.
This book is a must read for and one who is currently traveling , has traveled or wants to travel. It will remind you of why you travel and also inspire you to stop waiting for the right time and go now to find your own adventures and stories.

This is the most beautiful and entrancing book that I have ever read. Gough's words are full of amazing unique imagery that takes you to another time and place where paradise exists and you can be a part of it. She offers life lessons and inspiration in the most endearing way that I have ever read. Even if you are not typically a fan of travel writing, you need to read this book. It flows like the most eloquent fiction but the truth of her stories will blow you away and make you see the world in a new way.

I found the book fascinating because it actually painted a picture of the things Laurie saw and her feelings about them. I've read many travel books that sound just like the journals I keep on my trips - first we went here, then we went there.... No passion or true flavor of the place. This one was different. I felt like I was living the trip vicariously and savored every page of the book.

The author was very gutsy to travel the way she did to such exotic places and I was delighted to be able to travel along with her.

The last great Thompson work that I have read which I hadn't bought because it's a bit expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

Fear and Loathing, the Rum Diaries and Curse of lono... no more good Thompson to read.

excellent book. i was completely new to his writing beefore reading this gem. crazy bleep* guy! his work seems to be more of a writers' journaling than serious novel-stuff. a travel-blog; if you will.. i haven't gotten into many of his other works yet plan to, eventually. even a holy-roller could come out freshpresssed and standing tall after one of his tales. good stuff, though. very good stuff. if you were one of those, 'say no to drugs' individuals then a lot of this might come off as tumultuous and confusing and weird and odd and, basically, not ur cup of tea.. take care and rest that crazy mans' soul. cheers.

WHile I was aware that this book was illustrated, I was not aware of the fact that it is huge! I thought it would be an illustrated, regular novel-size book. Instead it's about A3 size, and very heavy.. The pictures are great and all but if I had been aware of the size of this book I probably wouldn't have purchased it.

The Curse of Lono is classic Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman's illustrations bring the twisted story to life in this beautiful coffee table book. A must have for any diehard fan of Gonzo!

This books is probably the least well-known of HST's books. But it was a very pleasant surprise upon reading it. It is classic Thompson, self-destructive, paranoid, and hilarious. If you take his word for it, you might never visit Hawaii yourself!

Its really good book with full of information about all islands, but...
very thick and heavy. I had holiday in Bora Bora only, so I used only small part of this thick book, but i found all information. I think better have small one about only Bora Bora or other islands for example.
There are no any photos in book. But, you can read about history of Tahiti, about culture and etc.

Fantastic Book. I have read it over and over. I love Jan Prince's stories about the local people. Jan knows Tahiti better than anyone I have ever met in French Polynesia in the last 30 years. I have been back to Tahiti over 53 times since my first trip there in 1975. I use her book to plan my visits. Great advice. This book is a must read if you are going to Tahiti and her islands. Maururu to Jan.

This is a must for anyone traveling to tahiti. I bought it after I had already booked my trip. But, I wish I had it before booking, because it gives hotel reviews and activities. I still used it to plan some of my activities while there.

This book is written by Jan Prince who is an ex-pat American that has lived in the islands since the 1970's. I found the layout, information and light-hearted manner of writing essential to planning my trip to Tahiti. I looked at many other guides on the Tahitian Islands and none of them seemed as informative or easy to read. Highly recommended.

What would I do without that book. Even thou I have travelled to Tahiti several times, attended seminars on Tahiti and try to educate myself thru reading Tahitian News and other publications, Jan Princes book is my life saver. There is always a client that has a question that I don't know the answer to. Trust me Jan has the answer, whatever I look for it's in there.
Can't wait for the new edition, even as a professional with access to so many websites,forums etc. this book has the answers to all there is to know........don't leave for "Nirvana" (Tahiti) without that book in your carry on.

new zealand is a beautiful place

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

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.

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.

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.

...he tends to repeat himself, maybe this is as the previous gentleman stated, because this was a series of magazine articles to begin with but I got tired of hearing the phrase "ribbon of _______" (whatever the Aussies call Asphalt over there , begins with a "B")used every time he was refering to the road. At one point this overused phrase was repeated two pages in a row, which I found simply ridiculous.

There were a few other descriptions that were phrased too close for comfort as well thoroughout the book. I guess this tale really needed an editor to point out the obvious flaws. I mean I'm no literary expert and even I saw these things.

But, as I hinted at with the title to this "review", overall it was a fair read. I finished it in two marathon sessions and once he gets going, this book sails pretty seemlessly.

This is, hands down, the best book I read in 2007 and will be tough to beat in 2008. By the time I finished it I needed a nap as I had felt every mile. Roff Smith needs to write more of his adventures as he draws you in with word one and doesn't release you until way after the adventure is done. Well done mate.

Roff Smith's adventure created quite the resume for his job with National Geographic! His bicycle trip around Australia made me wax nostalgic about the trip I made across the heartland of the US in the summer of 1982. I understand why there were periods of hundreds of miles where he didn't write any words. Or as he was making the trip from Eucla Pass and on in to Melbourne that he didn't remember much of that part of the trip. He was bone weary and ready to chuck it in. I felt that way by the time I got to Trail of Tears State Park in Missouri from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The wind in your face, the heat (though shy of the 130 degree oven that he slogged through). I enjoyed the descriptions of friends he made along the way and good times. I think probably by the time you've made your way to the middle of nowhere and find kindred spirits, you care less for formality. I didn't incurr any of the road rash such as he got careening out of control outside of Perth, but when you are on a bicycle, you are more at the mercy of the elements and the good will of strangers than you are when you would be traveling by greyhound or by auto.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I am preparing for a trip to Australia. It gave good insight into the customs and people. Though I may bicycle some, I don't think I'll be traveling but a hundredth of the distance he covered on bike.

UPDATE - Jamie and I traveled to Australia and used the CityRail to get us to downtown Sydney as the first stop. We used Rolf's "Australian Traveler Guide" (National Geographic) and wound our way through the Royal Botanic Garden from the St. James train stop. This was an absolutely wonderful introduction to Sydney and Australia. Thanks again to Roff Smith. You can tell the man loves Australia!

I loved this book. I like reading adventure travel books, but this one really caught my imagination. Roff Smith is a humorous writer with a knack for capturing the nuances of speech and behavior that make Aussies Aussies. Unlike many travel writers, Smith is neither condescending to his subject nor is he blind to the faults of the subject matter. Instead, he discusses the Australian psyche from the viewpoint of an adopted son, pointing out both the foibles of the Aussies as well as the things that make them a great country.

HIGHLY recommended for anyone with an interest in our antipodean neighbor or in bicycling!

Having travelled through Australia a number of times by airplane, car, and train, I found the perpspective of a bicylist to be enlightening, funny, and exasperating. While I never intend to pedal around Oz, I think Smith captured the spirit of the country. It was a good read. I would recommend the book but not the means of transport....

Flannery is the Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum. This book recounts several of his expeditions in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya in the 80s and 90s.

He's the opposite to Douglas Adams. In approaching some similar topics in his `Last Chance to See' Adams was primarily a writer. Flannery is primarily a biologist - the writing came second. Thus there's not the wit, and the style is often understated. In some cases this is quite charming as he pretty casually relates some harrowing incidents (such as getting stuck alone in an underground crevice). In contrast his vocabulary can get a bit ostentatious: he'll use always use a word like `ossuary', for example, rather than graveyard, and in one case he used a word I've forgotten now that from the context must mean something like overeating, but didn't even appear in my complete Macquarie dictionary. (Ah, another amazon reviewer had the same problem, although they were impressed by the obscure vocabulary, while I was unimpressed by same: 'farcarted' gets nothing from any online dictionaries - the only place it turns up in a google search is in these perplexed amazon reviews. Maybe it's an in-joke.)

These are exotic places and creatures, and Flannery capably recalls some real adventures. Part of the strange appeal of this book is shaking your head at some of the near-insane deprivations and risks his biological obsession has entailed (hence the insightful description of another reviewer, `bloody mad scientist'). Moreover half the fascination is anthropological. He generally does very well walking the line between eulogising and demonising the tribal Papuans. He ably conveys some of the dilemmas of contact between ancient and modern, such as the time when in all good faith he acceded to requests to sharpen all the knives in a village, but then was appalled to see several villagers accidentally cutting themselves deeply because they'd never had anything but blunt edges. He does tend towards the assumption that any loss of traditional culture is automatically bad, but honestly allows us to see some ugly things that challenge this assumption.

Towards the end of the book, as much to his chagrin as ours, we're not able to merely enjoy the excitement of discovery of species because of the context of ugly mistreatment of Irian nationals by their Indonesian conquerors. I got the feel that none of us wanted this to be a `political' book, particularly not a partisan one, but in telling his story it becomes unavoidable. Flannery again to his credit is very careful not to say `all Indonesians', or `all the mining company workers', but sadly his biological expeditions are somewhat overrun just at the end by encounters with some brutal racism, at times incidental, at others structural.

Without a doubt Tim Flannery ranks with the world's greatest scientist/explorers. He has a wealth of fascinating and valuable tales to tell from his travels to New Guinea. However, the book has little coherent structure. It's just a series of (mostly) unrelated stories, like he might recount over dinner. The details of his trips are incredible, but by the time I was half way through, I began losing my interest and felt I was re-reading previous passages.

If Tim Flannery isn't the luckiest biologist in the world, then perhaps he's the hardest working. He possesses a spirit of adventure that may exceed both. His twenty years of exploring the mysteries of New Guinea are superbly outlined and related in this engaging account. Although a mammalogist by profession, his interests range far beyond any academic discipline. We follow his efforts to meet and gain acceptance by the remote peoples of the New Guinea highlands. They are a diverse lot, and every new contact is fraught with uncertainty. He introduces us to the teasing pleasures of New Guinea pidgin, a language adopted by indigineous peoples to cross the nearly 1 000 languages that exist on the island.

Throwim' Away Leg, New Guinean pidgin for a journey, is an appropriate title for this book. Flannery's 15 long-term expeditions took him over most of the island, meeting the people, tracking animals and assessing the changes in the ecology. It is difficult, in this jet travel age to comprehend the impact of "remote people," but Flannery has done it. He's adept at sharing the wonder he felt in his travels. We feel his fears, his joys of discovery, his sadness at the incursion of industrial civilization in an unprepared land. Flannery's account is given with an astonishing detachment. He recognizes the needs of both the indigenous people and the invaders. Cannibalism, so abhorrent to "civilized" readers, is placed in its true framework as viewed by the New Guinean mountain peoples. He's aware of the population pressures on local resources among the tribes, not excusing, but imparting rare understanding of the reality of life in wilderness.

The author's love of wildlife is made clear throughout the book. An encounter with three-metre-long python that tried desperately to throttle him is related with incredible compassion. One can only sympathize with the pilot and passengers who shared the cockpit of a small aircraft with it on its journey to Port Moresby. Flannery's real feelings, however, are for the varieties of tree kangaroos living on the island. He asserts the high point of his travels was the classification of a rare black and white species of this creature. High point, indeed! Three
thousand metres up in the New Guinean highlands, local hunters brought him the chewed remains of two "Dingisios" - enough to identify and describe this rare animal.

Flannery's enthusiasms and vivid desriptive powers make this book an unforgettable read. His descriptions of the impact of outsiders, from both East and West, portray a land under immense stress. Not only Western mining and lumber companies, who have seared the landscape with roads, mines and felling, but Indonesia's settlement programmes come under his penetrating gaze. He recognizes their needs, but urges better forms of accomodation are required. The biological story is conveyed well integrated with social, political and environmental issues. An all-encompassing study, this book will give the reader many fresh insights and topics for further reflection.

I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful book! In it, mammalogist Tim Flannery regales us with tales from his many years in New Guinea, searching for new species of mammals on the island, the second largest in the world. A difficult island to work in - highly mountainous; extremely few roads, most villages so isolated that they can only be reached by small planes flying to landing strips hacked out of the jungle; parts of it some of the rainiest spots on earth, some areas receiving 11 meters or more of rain a year; possessing many dangerous animals ranging from crocodiles to snakes to huge spiders; tropical diseases and parasites a real problem in many areas (including malaria and scrub typhus, from which Flannery almost died from when bit by an infected tick) ý Flannery had his work cut out for them as he spent over two decades on the island, both in the eastern half, the independent nation of Papua New Guinea, and the western section, Irian Jaya, part of Indonesia.

Flannery is a highly accomplished scientist, having discovered 16 new species of mammals in Melanesia, many of them in New Guinea. Many of these and others are described in the book, and make for fascinating reading. We meet the Black-tailed Giant-rat, the bite from its two centimeter long razor sharp incisors much feared by the inhabitants of the island. The Three-striped Dasyure, a vividly marked rat-sized marsupial predator, one of New Guinea's few mammals active during daylight hours. The Snow Mountains Robin, one of the rarest birds in the world, found in the high alpine regions of the Meren Glacier in Irian Jaya, one of the very few equatorial glaciers in the world. _Antechinus, a small carnivorous marsupial notable in that the male only lives for 11 months, existing only to breed. The diminutive, dingo-like New Guinea singing dog, which arrived in the islands some 2,000 years ago. The six o'clock cicada, a tremendously loud insect that received its name from its trill it emits roughly 6am and 6pm daily. The famous Birds of Paradise, breathtaking in their beauty, several species of which are extremely rare. He also describes the Long-fingered Triok, a black and white skunk smelling possum with the fourth finger of each hand a great elongated probe for finding insect larvae; you never know what he is going to find next lurking in the barely explored misty peaks and dripping jungles of the island.

Three of the most remarkable animals are ones that Flannery discovered or in one case rediscovered. One is _Maokopia ronaldi_, an extinct marsupial herbivore that once dwelt in the high mountain forests. Panda-like in appearance, size, and probably habits, Flannery named this new genus and species from fossils he found in Irian Jaya. Bulmer's Fruit-bat, a bat though extinct for 12,000 years, the largest cave dwelling bat in the world, Flannery was elated to have found them alive in extremely rugged western Papua New Guinea. The one though that Flannery is the most proud of discovering was the Dingiso, a new species of tree-kangaroo he found in the alpine areas of Irian Jaya, a beautiful black and white animal, surprising tame, threatened but fortunately partially protected by native taboos against harming them.

However, as remarkable as all of that is, one could argue that the real stars of this book are the people of New Guinea, particularly the indigenous Melanesian peoples that Flannery spends a great deal of time with and clearly loves. Much of his time researching in the field he was based out of the villages of such people as the Wopkaimin, the Telefol, and the Goilala where he became fast friends with many throughout the island, in both countries, viewing them not as savage barbarians, but as noble, often quite kind people, their older generation vast repositories of cultural and natural history lore. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the books were the many stories about life in those villages, some of the tales tragic, others heartwarming, and many hilarious.

Particularly fascinating was what he wrote about the history of cannibalism on the island. Apparently it did exist in the not too distant past, actually in the living memory of some of the villagers he encountered. Though not an every day occurrence by any means, cannibalism was an important part of New Guinea life; indeed, one group Flannery spent some time with, the Miyanmin, were once avid raiders, and actually referred to the neighboring Atbalmin people as ýbokis es bilong miplea,ý which more or less translates into something like ýour refrigerator.ý Though cannibalism is now a thing of the past, its effects are still felt he writes, as villages once got some of their population from raids of other villages, the adults of that village were consumed and the children raised as their own; now, that is no longer a source of new people for villages and some are facing some depopulation as a result.

Flannery sounds several cautionary notes in his book. Several species of New Guinea mammals and birds are in serious danger of extinction from over hunting. Though New Guinea is still a land largely without roads, more and more appear all the time, opening up virgin lands for hunters, loggers, and miners. Indeed in Irian Jaya the latter two are devastating ever larger sections of the island; the massive Freeport mine, which exports over ten million dollars worth of minerals daily, has destroyed large sections of forest with waste mine tailings.

He also worries about the future of the people, particularly in Irian Jaya. He believes that in an attempt to make that land more like the rest of Indonesia it is causing not only environmental damage but also cultural damage. Indeed there are concerns over human rights abuses in Irian Jaya, of dissidents disappearing, of remote villagers forced to wear modern clothing and abandon their pig eating culture by distant Muslim politicians, who often find native culture abhorrent.

Recommended.

Flannery is one of a kind. He is to New Guinea what Perry and Amundson are to the poles, a first-comer .... one of the first to explore and document the stone age peoples of the mysterious island wilderness in the last days of its age of innocence.

Yes, there are cannibals, with bones in their noses and gourds worn on their penis, yet Flannery somehow manages to get the reader to empathize with these people, to understand their foibles and traditions, and to feel regret that their ancient ways are going, going, gone ... forever. Take the chapter where he goes in pursuit of the Bulmer's Fruit Fly Bat -- you suffer with him the agonies of failure and the desperations of the search, and the exhilaration of success. Or follow along with his learning experiences among the native tribes and come to actually understand the hows and whys of the way the led their lives, even to discovering there were (to the natives) valid reasons for their rare acts of cannibalism.

Although he describes some of the most spectacular natural wonders of the world, the reader comes to know that Papua New Guinea will never rate very highly as a tourist destination, but you'll have to read this book to appreciate the reasons why.

Think you couldn't possibly be interested in such things? Try twenty pages of this charming book; the images will lived in your memory forever.

Hooroo, Tim! Bonzer yarn, mate!