Written in the same style as all the Lonely Planet books, this book enabled us to plan a fantastic holiday to Tonga. The information was precise and exact, and laid out in an easy to use arrangement with helpful section headings. My normal complaint about guidebooks is that the maps are often worthless, but here they were accurately drawn and had all the relevant places correctly marked. Although two years since being published we didn't find any information that was drastically out of date. If you are travelling to Tonga this is the guide to buy.

As usual, Lonely Planet provides all possible advice for anyone visiting Tonga. This guide meets the Lonele Planet standard. For those who have used or read other LP guides in the past, nothing more needs to be added... Don't go to Tonga without it !

This was a very interesting guidebook. I found it to be very helpful in all aspects. It was very easy to read. I especially liked the boxed sections on various nuances of the country and culture. The language section was also very helpful. Great Guide.

James Belich, one of the world's leading historians in New Zealand Maori history, (the other is Michael King), writes this must have for any New Zealand history enthusiast or student. I can imagine it being a bit dry if history is not your thing. If it is, however, this is a great book. Clear, concise, and masterfully wielded, the information in this book is crucial to the subject of early NZ history. Though scholarly in nature and heavily cited, it is entirely readable and is worth the price for it's bibliography alone.

A great combination of thoroughness and readability. Bellich offers insight into the makeup of a New Zealander and supports his positions with plenty of detail.

Belich is the leading historian in NZ. he has previously made his name by reappraising the way we view the Maori Land wars.

Here he has undertaken to write the only general history of New Zealand. This is supposed to be Volume one, though there is no set date for vloume two to appear.

He mixes passion for his subject with a great turn of phrase - for example the way he describes New Zealand as being the product of two sets of boat peoples (Maori and Pakhier) is poingent given the way in Maori mythology Aoteroa is said to be a canoe and a fish and also given how Kiwis refer to new arrivals as "boaties".

Although somtimes this weighty book gets bogged down with lists of facts and accademic arguments, none the less, its both a great read and the seminal work of Kiwi history.

No reviews yet, I can't believe it. Buy this book for it's great introduction to Autralian life in 1800s as seen by a young woman trying to achieve what she wants in life.

Young Sybilla finds herself stuck in the arid Australian Outback, talking to the pigs for intelligent conversation, in the absence of her father. From these lowly beginnings, her ambition for her 'Brilliant Career' takes her along a melodramatic path of humour and tragedy.

For all the young women of today who don't think feminism is relevant, read this and see how much you take for granted.

Also read 'My Brillian Career Goes Bung', for the real life story of the author, which is every bit as strange and fascinating as the fictional character in this book.

This book is a bit like a grown-up Little House in the Prairie but set in 19th century outback Australia rather than the Wild West of the US.

This is a story of a young, spirited woman who rebels against convention and the desire of her relatives that she marry the wealthy, and (it has to be said) highly desirable, local squatter (swoon! swoon!). Unlike Laura Ingalls, Sybilla chooses the road less travelled and refuses to marry. She follows her dreams instead.

What makes this book so remarkable is that it was written 100 years ago yet the voice of the narrator is so fresh. The book is funny and inspiring. I first read it when I was a teenager and my love for it has never diminished. If you cannot read the novel, try to see the film with Judy Davis and Sam Neill which brings the book wonderfully to life. The movie is as much of an Australian classic as the book.

I'm not exactly sure, but I think that MF wrote this book when she was still fairly young (16 or 17), and it sends shivers down my spine to think of a young girl with such energy and pride so long ago. This is a story about a girl in Australia end of the 19th century, and what happens to her when she visits other families and places and the decisions she makes. Some of the decisions she makes seem to be fairly self-destructive, and it's interesting to think about why she made them - too young to know better, too scared, not able to compromise. The heroine is a very strong character, flawed but understandable. I really, really like this book (incidentally, my ex-boyfriend found it almost unreadable). I think of it as relating to feminism; but that's just my bias. It's actually just a good yarn.

Hmm. Australian women have their own history. Is this interesting to anyone other than myself?

I enjoy reading this series.Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte ("Bony") leaves the bush to investigate a murder that occurred several months before at sea. Deprived of his usual bushmaster skills he must rely on others to read the sign of the sea. A solid mystery. You experience big game fishing with him as he solves the crime.

I've been reading Arthur Upfield's "Bony" mysteries for several years now, hunting them down as I can, as they were written in the late 40's and 50's. ...the books are absolutely awesome in their sense of the place that is Australia, the character delineations and the incredible world of "the tracker," someone who can read "the story of the bush" to tell what happened. In all of these mysteries, I've never figured it out before Bony did. The pace of the stories is slow, even languid, but the books are very well written, and full of information about a place most of us will never visit, and its culture. Sometimes Bony goes undercover, as he does here, and these are my favorites. "Bony" is Napolean Bonaparte, the detective: a half aborigine, half white man. He's smarter than anybody, and while he sounds like a pain in the neck, in the book his manners are smooth and charming. There is nothing vulgar (except drunkenness) in any of these books. I find them fascinating, and enthralling. Mystery at Swordfish Reef is one of my favorites.

Another Upfield success. Detection and Aussie "Abo" insight is the perfect match. An older series that needs to be brought back to press in a complete set.

definitely a must for a n.z. bound cycling adventure. this book keeps it all simple and clear without what you don't need. i cycled 4100km in n.z. by mixing and matching routes from the book and found it very useful. the only down side is the not very convenient format and the lack of good route maps which is not a big deal altogether. good luck.

Yes, I am a Kiwi [native New Zealander]and have found this book extremely valuable for planning a tour around both islands. I could find out all the information, but why reinvent the wheel?? It is all laid on here..including an insight into our customs and language.

In brief..... you want to bike around NZ??? GET THIS BOOK!!

In February '97 me, my bike, and this book covered 1300 miles of New Zealand. I used this book extensively to plan my route by mixing & matching the routes covered in the book. obtw, in New Zealand you don't need a map, you only have a couple of roads to choose from and this book covers just about everything you need. I highly recommend it and appreciate the effort Bruce put into the book.

Horwitz does a wonderful job of depicting ordinary life in Australia. However, his sense of humour adds a brilliant quality to the essay which makes an ordinary account of his travels something far from mundane. I recommend this book for anyone interested in travel essays or a good laugh.

There are constraints to Australian road travel - the chief one being that the cities, hence, the roads, hug the coasts. There are dangers, desolation, loneliness, above all, heat. And flies. It takes some courage to face these conditions alone, even in modern times. Tony Horwitz faced them alone and on foot - some of the time. The result was a fantastic voyage and a superb account.

Horwitz is an unlikely prospect for an Australian adventurer. A transplanted Yank [Washington, DC to Sydney], urban [New York City to, again, Sydney] and Jewish [rather anomalous in the Outback]. These conditions might fatally impair the less adventurous, but Horwitz can "boldly go" [as he did in a later book] and so he does. With singular dedication, he even starts his trek heading West from Sydney past Dubbo to the Alice. With no direct Sydney to Alice route, the journey is circuitous, a fine introduction to the later expedition. Here, Horwitz encounters people and displays his talent at recording them. The limited number of roads implies limited options and few rides. It's a closed world and he becomes "the crazy Yank we heard about back in Nevertire."

Constricted view doesn't inhibit Horwitz' abilities. He has an advantage over many travel writers - he's a journalist first and a traveller after. A perceptive eye and a talented pen record his reaction to the land of Australia. And the people he encounters who become the focus of his attention. He's good with people, drawing them out - fulfilling the image of the chatty Yank, entertaining, but somehow provocative. The drivers, pub keepers and drinkers respond to his novelty. He records them with lively asides, keeping your interest with every page. 'Surely, these can't be real people,' you may think. No worries - Horwitz has captured them intimately, intruding only lightly as they respond to his queries.

A poignant chapter, describing his search for a Jewish family in Broome with whom to celebrate Passover, is the highlight of the book. Noting the town's multiracial population, he observes: "Australians . . . seem uncomfortable when the subject of Judaism is raised." He attributes the feeling purely to ignorance, not prejudice, a welcome change from attitudes toward the "Abos." Horowitz, although claiming atheism, remains drawn to the family assemblage of the seder. Alone in Broome, he discovers a new level of solitude - in this polyglot community, Jews are rarer than jewels. He pores over the telephone directory which only displays "an Anglo-Saxon litany of Browns, Harrisons and Smiths." A solution beckons in the guise of a local priest. "It is a common sort of misconception. If there's no rabbi about, well, try a priest. One religious ratbag's as good as another." The solution, however, lies elsewhere. The situation amply portrays Horwitz' humanity, absolving him of any stigma of the detached, unfeeling journalist. His roots are a significant element in his life, one that gently, but insistently, haunts him. This book can haunt you, as it does me.

Horwitz has captured the Outback and its weird bunch of denizens down to it's last blowfly and tortured vowel. His descriptions of unlikely places such as (the mostly underground) Coober Pedy and(unfortunately mostly above-ground) Mt. Isa are uncannily accurate and appropriately scathing. For all those about to travel the Outback; those who have been lucky enough to do so; or those who merely wish they were among the aformentioned. (Should be read along with the Lonely Planet Guide to Outback Australia.)

Frank Sherry works very hard to cover the first 250 years of European exploration of the Pacific and its lands, particularly the struggle to control the spice trade, the continual wars and battles fought over its control, the search for alternate passages from European waters to the Pacific, and the hunt for the mythical southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita. Chronicling Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English activities in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, it is ambitious and epic in scope.

Sherry paints a picture of continual hardship on the part of these sailors on voyages of exploration, trade, and warfare. Political infighting and miserly sovereigns delayed missions for years, or so underfunded them that they were doomed to failure thanks to decreipt ships, wormy food, or otherwise poor supplies. Leaders of expeditions were often chosen by the rulers of the various nations not because of sailing skill or some personal or professional trait that made them outstanding explorers, but because they were owed favors, were the darlings of various kings, or simply because they bought their way on. Time and again sailing expeditions broke down into infighting and sometimes outright mutiny when supplies ran low, there were disputes over leadership of a ship or expedition, when winds were poor, and/or when a mythical island failed to appear, either because it never existed in the first place or because the ships were woefully off course. Petty treachery and arrogance often poisoned relations with peaceful natives throughout the Pacific, resulting in suffering on both sides and inevitable European massacres of Polynesians, Melanesians, and Micronesians, or sometimes vice versa. Other times fairly peaceful European explorers and merchants were meant with extremely hostile natives and slaughtered, perhaps the legacy of previous visits, or in some cases due to local xenophobia and warlike ways. If one wanted to die old, exploring the Pacific was not recommended.

Sherry does a great job discussing the continual struggles to just get to the Pacific, of one nation trying to reach this world's largest ocean and its coasts and islands and avoid areas of Spanish, English, or other national domination. Much of these efforts relate to events and schemes in the Strait of Magellan and Tierra Del Fuego, and make for interesting though sometimes sad reading.

Much of the later parts of the book concern the struggle for finding and laying claim to the mythical southern continent, long thought to exist. It was almost painful to read about expeditons that either just missed Australia, or saw Australia and failed to realize it was the continent they were seeking. It appeared even when some did realize what it was, it wasn't the legendary paradise they hoped it would be.

My only real complaint about the book is that after a while reading about how so miserably so many explorers and expeditions turned about, about explorers languishing in port for years due to lack of funds, of ships stranded at sea with dwindling food and water thanks to lack of sufficient winds, of continual conflicts with islanders, it almost got depressing. One certainly can't acccuse Sherry of needlessly romanticizing the exploration of the Pacific. Perhaps it is just me though, but I found some of the continual hardship a bit tedious.

Still, this is a very good history book, one well worth buying.

Frank Sherry's account of the European exploration and mastering of the Pacific Ocean is an excellent and well written work of history that has somehow been overlooked. Lovers of great tales of exploration and nautical history should seek out a copy. It is WELL worth the effort.

Pacific Passions is a captivating story of the explorers who opened the Pacific Ocean to the western world. Frank Sherry paints a riveting experience as he puts the reader on the decks of Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Dutch ships on journeys to the Spice Islands, Australia, Tahiti, and countless other destinations. The author does a masterful job in recounting the human misery and self sacrifice associated with the age of exploration as well as the human triumph. By the last paragraph I was ready to set sail myself for my own adventure into the South Seas! I could not put the book down!

One of the best examples of the emotional extremities. From a surprising sense of loyalty and generosity to an unforgiving cold-hard nature. That's exactly how you have to be when your seated at number one on the rich list of Australia or any rich list for that matter. The book is extremely black and white, just like Kerry Packer himself. Plays hard ball and does not beat around the bush. Paul Barry the author, I think has done a clever recollection of the big man's endeavours as he is a very private man and hates hearing his name in prime time. From the first quote in the book from Kerry Packer's mouth, you get a sense of what he is all about. Inherited a small printing establishment and television station from his father, who said that Kerry would never run the fort. He changed that small media inheritance to a multi billion dollar empire, and still making more. He is impatient at times, suffers horrible mood swings and is dislexic. He always does things differently and looks "beyond the square." He does not expect people to like him and doesn't give a damn what anyone else thinks!

A remarkable bio, of one of Australia's leading business leaders. Worth an update, written about 1993, and this review was writen in 2001, the book is complete with well researched, and objectively portrayed material. The author critically sets out to explore who and what Packer is, and I feel comes to respect Packer. The book is well worth the journey.

Kerry Packer is the businessman' businessman. Takes no prisoners and runs his business with an iron fist. Plays polo. He is the man. I had to get a friend of mine from Australia to find me this book. Thanks Rejskes

Keneally is such an engaging writer that you quickly get caught up in the human drama of the Australian frontier with flawed people and hardships, much less the ethnic conflicts between Whites and Asians, and class conflicts among the class conscious English immigrants. Not a very satisfying ending makes me think this is probably based on a true story. A grand story by a great story teller, with human drama and difficult choices.

I have never written an online review, but I am on somewhat of a crusade to get people to read this book. So many dramatic things happen; a fatal accident, a near drowning, an epidemic, and the sheriff's ongoing quest to find out the identity of the woman who died in a botched abortion whose preserved head is kept in a jar, but the overall feeling in the book is that we are reading the story of simple, decent people.

Any work by Thomas Keneally is a treasure trove of human emotion and character in the most diverse of locations. He has written no 2 books alike= from tackling the civil war in "Conferedates", to the Booker-prize winning "Schindler's List" (he is the uncredited author and discoverer of this amazing tale, though America tends to credit Steven Spielberg erroneously), to modern drama in "Woman of the Inner Sea"... pick up any of his works and you are in for a rare treat. "A River Town" is his most personal work, based upon his grandfather's life, and a moving portrait of life at the turn of the century in s young bush town in Australia. It is similarly an immigrant's tale, and most of all, the tale of a good man. Beautifully written, this is a wonderful summer book.

I am always surprised that Keneally doesn't get the recognition he so greatly deserves- this is one of the truly great authors of the 20th and 21st century.

With a copy of this guide at hand, I've tried several times to read the whole thing front to back in order to digest all of the information and be able to come up with a coherent plan to visit New Zealand, but I find the writing dense and unentertaining. Perhaps the subject matter is difficult-- as a primarily outdoor destination, New Zealand may not lend itself easily to a list of places to see and things to do. Nevertheless, in despair at wading through this long but boring tome, I have ordered the Lonely Planet guides in the hopes that they will be more readable.

Just returned from a 21-day journey to Kiwi-country, and used the Rough Guide extensively. From Dunedin to Auckland, the book spells out excursions, accommodations and lifestyle samples in various price ranges better than most other guide books.

Format is simple to read, easy to find just what you need. We were turned on to some great motels and B&Bs, excellent eateries and a few adventure tours along the way. Maps of cities were quite helpful. Other books have prettier pictures, but this one does the best job of finding stuff to DO in NZ.

This review refers to the 2000 2nd Ed.

This first edition of the New Zealand Rough Guide has taken its place as the best overall travel book for the country. As with others in its series, this Rough Guide gives a thorough description of all the cultural and recreational aspects that a first time or a seasoned traveler "downunda" should know. For the basic information concerning accommodation or eating, the Rough Guide follows its practice of offering choices for every price level but it doesn't act as listing agent for each and every hostel, hotel, B & B or cafe. In that regard, the Rough Guides encourage the traveler to look for him or herself instead of following the standardized tourist formula.

But it's heavy on the activities for specific woderful areas like Kaikoura, the Otago Peninsula, Wanaka and many, many more. The color photographs are an appealing addition, also.