Wild Journeys
Page 25
A car pulled up beside us and a young man leaned out of the window ‘Want a lift?’ he asked.
The two Scouts looked at each other. This was dishonourable. This was a breach of trust. This broke not just the Scout Promise, but the Scout Law too. This could never be mentioned in the log. We’d have to lie. This would have to remain secret forever.
But we’d discovered the truth about wild journeys. They’re uncomfortable, and exhausting, and are much better viewed from a safe place a long way away, such as a sofa. For once we were in accord. ‘Yes,’ we said.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A lot of people helped me with this book. In particular I thank Sally Ansley, Rhys Buckingham, Antonios Papaspiropoulos, June Peka, Craig Ansley, Bob Reid, Anne Main, Alex Hedley, Dave Veart and Robert Dwane.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BRUCE ANSLEY is one of New Zealand’s pre-eminent storytellers. For more than two decades he was a writer for the New Zealand Listener, before becoming a full-time author in 2007. He has held fellowships at Oxford and Cambridge universities, and has won a number of journalism awards. He is the author of ten books, including Coast: A New Zealand Journey, which won Best Illustrated Non-fiction Book at the New Zealand Post Book Awards in 2014. His other books include A Fabled Land: The Story of Canterbury’s Famous Mesopotamia Station and Wild Roads: A New Zealand Journey.
He loves tramping and has roamed the South Island’s back country. For many years he lived in a tiny traditional bach in Golden Bay, and he once built a house in the far reaches of Pelorus Sound. He has worked as a commercial fisherman in Fiordland and as a deer farmer on Banks Peninsula, but has also called each of the four main cities home. On a good day he can usually be found out on the water in his Norwegian motor-sailer, but his favourite occupation is simply poking around New Zealand, which he regards as the wildest, most beautiful, most romantic country in the world.
Ansley has three sons and lives with his wife, Sally, on Waiheke Island.
COPYRIGHT
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in 2018
by HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
harpercollins.co.nz
Copyright © Bruce Ansley 2018
Bruce Ansley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. This work is copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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ISBN: 978 17755 4120 2 (hardback)
ISBN: 978 17754 9151 4 (ebook)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand.
Cover design and illustration by Julia Murray