New Zealand Books

"We live in New Zealand" is a different sort of geography book for young students in that it offers first-person interviews with people from various occupations and ages from across New Zealand, from shepherd Matthew Parsons to Elwyn Thomas, a pipeline worker, each provided in a two-page spread. Consequently, it makes for an interesting supplemental volume to your standard juvenile geography books about New Zealand that look at the history and government, agriculture and industry, cultures and geography of the country. There is a list of facts in the back that touch on some of these elements, but author John Ball's purpose here is to let young readers find out what it is like to live in New Zealand today. Consequently, "We Live in New Zealand" offers the stories of a schoolgirl and a teacher of Maori arts, an artist and a charter-vessel skipper, an alpine guide and a traffic officer, with 28 interviews in all, providing a nice cross-section of the people and occupations of New Zealand. Each is accompanied by photographs of the interviewee along with where they work and live, taken by Chris Fairclough. Final note: I wanted to mention that there is a notation at the end of one of the chapters that the young person interviewed was tragically killed which at work in the New Zealand bush. Stumbling across that might be upsetting to some young readers (given personal circumstances), so teachers might want to take that into account before assigning this particular volume.

This is the story of a young bride who goes with her husband to the "Elsey", an outpost ranch located in the Northern Territory of Australia. This book is set in the late 1890s. The life she finds there, and the people, are engaging and fascinating. The burdens and joys she shoulders as she learns outback methods and manners truly hold your interest completely. It is a story of a time and place that few know anything about. This is an Australian classic and will hold the reader's attention. You will race through this one to find out what happens and what does happen will make you both happy and sad.

Best educational book on the climate and weather of New Zealand ( and Australia) ever written. Good for one studying docturates on meteorology.

This is the first comprehensive whale watching guidebook to come out of Australia (other than the earlier work by Ross Isacc). There is an introduction to whale and dolphin biology, evolution, etc. plus some historical whaling facts and also a chapter on whale and dolphin watching both from land and from cruises. The best part of the book would be its excellent coverage of whale watching spots in and around Australia and New Zealand and the fantastics pics. The thing I did not like about this book was its actual style of writing. I rather read something that was written in the style used in Discovery Travels series where they write in the way that allows you to really picture the place in your head. Overall, still the best whale watching guidebook for Oceania.

I purchased this out-of-print book in an attempt to track down some anecdotal at-sea sighting information for Tasmacetus referenced in another publication. Although this book does not document the sighting info I was looking for, it's full of quite a bit more useful information than I expected! 30+ pages of taxonomy, whaling info, natural history notes and first aid for stranded marine mammals is followed by identification sections. A two page chart showing blowing/surfacing characteristics of some of the larger whales (including all rorquals) is particularly useful, as is a 2 page key to toothed whales using teeth. The information on Ziphiid whale tooth placement is summarized well. This is followed by a species directory, divided into large whale, medium-sized whale, and smaller whale/dolphin sections. This is further divided into sections by morphological similarity (e.g. large whale with dorsal fin/without dorsal fin). All similar species are pictured together with outline drawings of head, and text summaries of key characters. Lastly, the species accounts include further information, including photos of stranded animals from the area. All in all, this is a useful addition to my cetacean reference shelf. The taxonomy is a bit dated, and some of the Ziphiid stranding information has been outdated by DNA testing of museum specimens. But most students of this group will already know this.

Australia has an ambivalent attitude towards its expatriates, especially the more successful ones. This book pays due attention to those ones and also gives lots of detail on less well known ones. The speculation on cultural significance and change brings in many issues and ideas not considered before and the increased complexity is very welcome. It is a little hard to keep track of the themes and the people because of the format Alomes uses, but the material is there is you want to look for it. A very useful book if you are interested in Australia's view of itself.

Brawley's book is an excellent example of how to write and explain the history of immigration policies of the British Commonwealth countries and the United States, and how policies had foreign policy implications.

This book tells the tale of a little piece of Australian history, the wreck of the merchant ship Sydney Cove off the Tasmanian coast in the late 1700's. The style of telling, being in the third person complete with extensive dialogue will not be to everybody's liking but I must admit that I found it very engaging. It is a fascinating story of how some of the crew managed to make their way by rowboat and on foot from Tasmania to Sydney, an unimaginable achievement. At times this book was actually 'unputdownable'! The book was brought further to life by a recent exhibition in Australia of some remnants from the wrecked boat. Well worth a read if you are in the mood for some 'light history'.

I have lots of guidebooks - and lots of Lonely Planets, for that matter. But despite the fact that they say they are for "independent travellers", I keep finding ridiculous reviews on restaurants and hotels, to the point where I've stopped using them.

The History, Snapshot, and similar sections are great, but if you have a brain of your own - use it. Forget their restaurant and hotel recommendations, as I'm not even sure they visit the places. Sometimes they have history or comments on places that is worthwhile to read, though. All tourbooks may have these drawbacks, to be fair.

Finally, I think I'm going to stop buying Lonely Planet's, though. First, they always act like driving is so scary everywhere, when it's actually quite easy to anyone with a brain. They also forget to give worthwhile tips on getting a car, etc. I imagine that this is their way of "saving the Earth". To a person who does care about the Earth, but doesn't believe that being a dirty hippie is going to save anything, this - and all their other BS trying to coerce their opinions onto you as fact - gets really freakin' old. Yes, yes, I know, LP is founded by some hippie freak from AUS or something - whooptie doo. That doesn't mean I have to pay some jerk who's going to push his politics on me, whether I agree with them or not.

This was a gift and hoping it would arrive in time but no problems there.

I started to use Lonely Planet 15 years ago. I can say that I am a witness of how much quality deteriorite it has been. I used to just buy it by default. It was a Bible for me. But, a BIG but, this Lonely Planet Australia set a new lowest standard for the series.

First of all, it had so old information. The hostels listed in the book in Sydeny probably were closed more than 5 years ago. One hostel in bondi beach that I wanted to go that was listed in the book. When I showed up in the hotel address, there was a internet café and pub. No hostel at all.

Second. The most unbelieveable of all, the book I have, which is 2004 version, has no mention at all about the Olympic Village in Sydeny. Oh my God! Sydney Olympic was in 2000. Can you believe that after 4 years, they still didn't update it? I was reading it again and again, before I throw this book away to trash can, I still didn't belive that they can omit all the information about Olympic, like the village, the boat to go there, like the stadium... they pretend that there is no such a thing!

I know that Lonely Plante started many years ago in Australia, by some Australian backpackers. So it is a REAL shame that Lonely Planet Australia is so bad. If there is negative score, I will give that. As one star is minimum, I have to give that. But my true belief is that this book deserves negative 5 stars!!!

On my recent trip to Australia, I only visited the typical big American tourist spots: Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns (Great Barrier Reef). This book had great information about where to stay, what to do, and great places to eat.

LP Australia provides lots of background and history for each city as well as information about what's been going on. It's almost like having your own personal tour guide. (Of course, when I was there this last December, they were having race riots at the beaches - so I avoided those.)

The only draw back is I think that the maps could have been a bit more clear as sometimes it was difficult to see where a hotel, site or food establishment was.

All on all, a great book. It came in very handy on my two week trip.

I started to use Lonely Planet 15 years ago. I can say that I am a witness of how much quality deteriorite it has been. I used to just buy it by default. It was a Bible for me. But, a BIG but, this Lonely Planet Australia set a new lowest standard for the series.

First of all, it had so old information. The hostels listed in the book in Sydeny probably were closed more than 5 years ago. One hostel in bondi beach that I wanted to go that was listed in the book. When I showed up in the hotel address, there was a internet café and pub. No hostel at all.

Second. The most unbelieveable of all, the book I have, which is 2004 version, has no mention at all about the Olympic Village in Sydeny. Oh my God! Sydney Olympic was in 2000. Can you believe that after 4 years, they still didn't update it? I was reading it again and again, before I throw this book away to trash can, I still didn't belive that they can omit all the information about Olympic, like the village, the boat to go there, like the stadium... they pretend that there is no such a thing!

I know that Lonely Plante started many years ago in Australia, by some Australian backpackers. So it is a REAL shame that Lonely Planet Australia is so bad. If there is negative score, I will give that. As one star is minimum, I have to give that. But my true belief is that this book deserves negative 5 stars!!!

This book is great but not exactly what I was looking for. I plan on backpacking New Zealand and this book would be little to no use for me. It offers great reviews on hotels and tourist attractions. It would be a great book for someone on a vacation and not on that strict of a budget.

I bought this book primarily because it was the most recent book published. I saw some of the bad reviews and figured it was for older version and decided to try it anyways. What a mistake!
I think the writer just find the most expensive accomodation/restaurant and rated it the highest. I'm sure they're great for $500/night. But I think the point is to find good values that we can't otherwise find ourselves.
There were major mistakes too! I went to a company in Franz Josef and not only they got their prices wrong (keep in mind I went 1 month after the release of this book), they also incorrectly say there's a discount when showing the book.
I think "writing" this book is just a way for the author to try the most expensive things in NZ that she couldn't afford herself otherwise.
Save yourself the weight and try a different book.
Oh yeah, don't rely on this book for maps.

A friend and I had 5 New Zealand travel books between us on our trip. This was the best book by far. We would look at the other books then would always go back to the Frommer's. We ended up using it exclusively by the end of the first week. The information was accurate and easy to follow.

I bought this book because it had a good name behind it, but this guide is lacking what I need, pictures and MAPS! Not a great start to a trip to a country I've never been. After recently browsing a book store I found New Zealand by Insight Guides to be much more sufficient! It is under Discovery Channel so it's legit! Overall this book has been helpful but I think the target audience is older and much better off monetarily than I.

I took a 6 week trip to New Zealand 6 years ago and depended on two great books that helped me tremendously. One was Frommer's, and the other Lonely Planet. So when I ramped up for a 4-week return visit, the first book I ordered was Frommer's, even though the reviews were not terrific. Well. This book was such a disappointment, and proved virtually worthless in planning my trip, unlike the volume from 6 years ago.

First up, the accomodation section is sorely lacking for (truly) middle-class travelers. As another writer mentions, I was stunned by the abundance of listed lodging in the US$400 - $1000 (and up!) per night range. Yikes!! And I was dismayed by the paltry number of lodgings listed at a more reasonable range of US$150 - $300. I did check out a number of these latter on their websites, as well as the official NZ website, but still found better accomodation for the price through links and connections to elsewhere. I booked 28 nights of lodging in NZ using only 1 suggestion from this edition of Frommers. How disappointing. The other bookings are at some truly wonderful, visually beautiful, upscale places, for good prices at Bay of Islands, Whakatane, Gisborne, Nelson, Hokitika, Haast, Queenstown, Te Anau, and Akaroa, -but none listed in Frommers.

As well, some of the great suggestions for things to see away from the main tourist centers, which I found in Frommer's during my last trip, were absent in the present edition. So, from a lodging perspective and a "see the real NZ perspective," this book is just a complete disappointment.

For a helpful guide to traveling NZ, I suggest The Rough Guide to NZ, and the official NZ website.