Customer Reviews

Adventuring in New Zealand, Second Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Adventuring in New Zealand turns out to be a fairly pedestrian travel guide, with little to recommend it. While claiming to be an "adventuring guide", there's little more about hiking, parks, fishing, climbing, etc. than any of the standard guidebooks. Design, illustrations, and indexing are second rate. Give this one a miss.

My partner and I found "Adventuring..." the single most useful guide for our visit to New Zealand in January 2003. I disagree with the prior negative customer review and wonder if M. Goldstein actually used this book for travel to New Zealand or was merely an armchair traveler seeking amusement.

It's true this isn't the kind of general guidebook so ably done by Lonely Planet and others. Jefferies doesn't refer the reader to specific restaurants or lodgings. What she does superbly is to introduce each region of the country with a detailed essay on its flora, fauna, terrain and history.

Her knowledge of New Zealand's parklands runs much deeper than a conventional guidebook. While not neglecting famous tourist attractions, she takes you far off the beaten path to smaller forest preserves that harbor natural treasures. The book is not a detailed trail guide, but it points you to the access points for the back country with useful general descriptions of many hikes.

Jefferies doesn't glamorize. Her descriptions of the deforestation and other environmental abuses that New Zealand has suffered might unsettle a conventional sightseer. For the environmental traveler with a serious interest in the natural history of the islands, it's just right.

I am inclined to agree with reviewer Jaffe and the Editorial Reviews. As a native Kiwi I know Auckland and Fiordland well having hiked extensively in both areas.
The Auckland sections covers the well known outdoor main attractions of the region well: the islands of the Hauraki Gulf and the extensive network of regional parks, many of which are coastal and have fantastic views from the walks in them.
Fiordland is the "honey pot" for accessible wilderness hiking in New Zealand. The description of the History, National Parks, short day walks and longer multi-day treks on well formed tracks is quite good. The maps are a bit scant, but you will buy better maps when you arrive in an area. And NZ does publish a wide selection of very good maps of all our park network. For a day-by-day detailed guide to the walks you are better to buy the Lonely Planet "Tramping in New Zealand" (even us locals use it). The book index is not so good, even the Routeburn "Great walk" (the finest 3 day walk in NZ in my opinion) is not listed but you can find it on page 457 with a 1/2 page description of it. After 5 years the book is not really dated. The one new development in NZ is private walking tracks and I can recommend the Banks Peninsula Track just out of Christchurch (page 388 of the book).
So as a one volume "outdoor type" guide to NZ the book is worth buying and fills a niche not quite met by Rough Guide or Lonely Planet.
So come and visit us.