Book Reviews For...
New Zealand Travel
Land Of The Long Wild Road
Author: Bob Goddard, ISBN: 1898030375, price £5 including shipping!
Softback 259 pages, Colour and B&W photos and maps. Order Now!
Book Reviews:
“Want to ride through New Zealand but aren’t quite sure how to go about it? This book is as close as you’ll get to the real thing without actually going there. Over three months and 11,000 kilometres, a husband and wife team explores breathtaking New Zealand scenery and glimpses of Kiwi life aboard twin Yamaha Serows. An entertaining, well-written read. By Bob Goddard. Softcover, 6” x 9”, 278pp, b/w (& colour) illus.” Aerostich Rider Wearhouse.
** To see what Kiwi Dorothy thought about this romp around her native country, go to: http://www.nzine.co.nz/features/bob_goddard.html
“Two-wheel adventure. When Bob and Viv Goddard rode across New Zealand by motorbike in 2001, they knew they had a good story to tell. Now Bob's account of their adventure is finally available to read after he managed to recover his book, entitled Land Of The Long Wild Road, from a publishing company that collapsed shortly after its initial publication in 2004.
“Bob, who lives at Buxton, near Aylsham, is a former editor of Motorcycle News. He and Viv covered 11,000 kilometres on their journey, riding small off-road motorcycles along gravel tracks and through the wilderness. The title alludes to New Zealand's traditional name, The Land of the Long White Cloud, and the book describes the people and places that they encountered while exploring the country's spectacular landscape.
“It is available now at the Holt Bookshop, and direct from the publisher, www.timbuktu-publishing.co.uk priced £5 in paperback.” Keiron Pim, Eastern Daily Press, Saturday 6th December 2008.
“For anyone who likes travel books and books that take a light hearted look at life, this is a great book. Bob manages to capture the beauty of the New Zealand wilderness, its history and the warmth and culture of the people; a great combination to leave you feeling good about the world.
“In addition to this, Bob's writing varies from beautifully crafted to outright comical, taking the reader on a journey through both the New Zealand dirt tracks as well as some of the farcical mishaps of Bob's youth. I really enjoyed it. It left me feeling good. I laughed out loud at least once a chapter and I wondered at the immense New Zealand scenery, wildlife and history. What more can you ask from a book? I'm looking forward to reading Bob's next masterpiece” Richard Blackburn, Energi-Tech.
“From wrong turns on roads to nowhere, to glaciers and volcanos. Roadbook authors doing it by bike have to beware of falling into the trap of writing either solely about their chosen mode of transport, or entirely about the journey.
Bob Goddard, biker author with local connections, and a former journalist on Motor Cycle News and Motorcycle Mechanics, succeeds in delivering enough information for the bike enthusiast without clogging up the story of his monumental ride around New Zealand with notes from a motorcycle maintenance manual.
Bob, who wrote Land Of The Long Wild Road at his summer retreat at Snettisham, made the three-month trip with his novice-biker wife Viv, on hired Yamaha XT225 Serows. The trusty little off-road bikes took them far away from the well-beaten tourist trail and deep into the mainly-unknown heart of the country, with its now world-famous Lord of the Rings landscape.
He describes an empty and unspoiled country of dramatic scenery, where sheep outnumber human inhabitants by four to one. And he tells a tale of mainly kindness and hospitality unheard of in this country, paid to pilgrims who were strangers to them in a sometimes strange land. I mean, would you take home and feed two foreigners on dusty motorcycles, who most of the time threatened to drip from rain-sodden bike clothes all over your furniture and carpets?
What Bob describes appears to be an appreciation of the pioneering spirit which some might say made New Zealand what it is today. On the other hand, it might just be quizzical kindness paid to 'middle-aged' travellers on the road who, despite the bikes and leathers, appear to pose no risks. Shame we've lost that trust over here.
Rain Forests: The detail in Bob's travelogue would serve as a guide book for anyone wanting to follow in their footsteps - including the wrong turns on roads to nowhere, or roads to volanoes, glaciers, through rain forests and across desert trails.
It's peppered with humour, Bob's own 'political' comment, tips (if you want to take them), local references from his childhood (he grew up in the Fens), and an enthusiasm for the job in hand - conquering the wilderness in off-beat, off-road style.
And he writes with great style. From the poetic: "The crystal clear night sky, unsullied by industrial pollution or sodium street lamps, sparkled with a billion stars, and the broad brilliance of the Milky Way splashed a glowing river of light across the dark ocean of the night," to a most humourous description from his youth of equipping himself with oversize and almost completely unsuitable German jackboots as winter attire for his motorcycling endeavours (but they were cheap!).
I was full of admiration for his travelling companion and wife Viv, who rode her own machine every millimetre of the 11,000 kilometre journey. What a woman! In the final analysis the book works - it made me want to do it too. When are you free Viv?" Andrew Malkin, Lynn News.
“I so enjoyed ‘Land of the long wild road’. I read it when I was in New Zealand last Christmas so I knew some of the places. Knowing Bob and Viv made it all the more enjoyable, in fact when I was reading it, it was almost like having them in the room with me telling their tales. A fun read full of humour and real honesty.” Karen De Salis, M&K Associates.
“What’s it about? Grandparents and inveterate travellers Bob and Viv Goddard covered 11,000 kilometres of New Zealand’s tracks and trails on off-road motorcycles. They met larger-than-life characters who offered them friendship and boundless hospitality; they braved the elements, and marveled at the country’s awesome landscape.
“This is a vivid account of a once-in-a-lifetime journey and you have to admire the Goddards for their enterprise and grit. There are lots of photographs and line maps to show where the couple ventured in the North and South Islands – on roads that were, all too often, long and wild.
“Did you enjoy it? Yes! It revived some happy memories of my own time in New Zealand. “Would you recommend it? It’s a must for anyone who’s been to New Zealand or dreams of going.” Yours Autumn Special, 2004.
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