Northbound: Four Seasons Of Solitude On Te Araroa

Description

Walking from Bluff to Cape Reinga, award-winning journalist Naomi Arnold goes in search of New Zealand. Walking from Bluff, at the bottom of the South Island, to Cape Reinga, at the top of the North Island, award-winning journalist Naomi Arnold spends nearly nine months following Te Araroa, fulfilling a 20-year dream. Alone, she traverses mountains, rivers, cities and plains from summer to spring, walking on through days of thick mud, blazing sun, lightning storms, and cold, starlit nights. Along the way she encounters colourful locals and travellers who delight and inspire her. An upbeat, fascinating, and inspiring memoir of the joys and pains found in the wilderness, solitude, friendship, and love.

Author description

Wow – this true story left me “gob-smacked”!  Firstly, I was so surprised that someone so absolutely allergic to strenuous exercise (me), could become so engrossed in a story  dominated by someone pushing the boundaries of physical & mental endurance.

Naomi Arnold’s account of her nine-month journey walking Te Araroa is both epic and awe-inspiring with some joys (the scenery, people she meets, obstacles she overcomes) and painful i.e. dressing injured feet and toes with “Savlon and cotton torn from tampons”!  As Naomi was a “NOBO” (North Bound) walker she was often alone and the solitude and loneliness of that circumstance appears often in her story, sometimes, maybe allowing her to make some questionable decisions along the way.  This causes the reader to question whether the author is going to even make it or will her long-suffering and devoted husband, who is waiting & watching her movement (via Satellite) at home, have to finish the story?

Her award-winning journalistic background is evident with lovely, descriptive language – “a Kereru “whomping” off a tree bough into the bush” – gorgeous!

This story will have such a wide appeal – all genders, all ages and all levels of physical fitness. Loved it!

Prue

Naomi Arnold is an award-winning journalist and natural history writer. She has contributed to most national publications including RNZ, North & South, and New Zealand Geographic, as well as international outlets including The Washington Post and The Guardian. Her acclaimed story of New Zealand astronomy, Southern Nights, was published by HarperCollins in 2019. She lives in Nelson.