A Land of Two Halves | 
 enlarge | Author: Joe Bennett
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.77
You Save: $6.18 (44%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 889912
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 314
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 074326357X
Dewey Decimal Number: 919.3044
EAN: 9780743263573
ASIN: 074326357X
Publication Date: May 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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Product Description
After 10 years in New Zealand, Joe Bennett asked himself what on earth he was doing there. Other than his dogs, what was it about these two small islands on the edge of the world that had kept him—an otherwise restless traveller—for really much longer than they seemed to deserve? Bennett thought he'd better pack his bag and find out. Hitching around both the intriguingly named North and South Islands, with an eye for oddity and a taste for conversation, Bennett began to remind himself of the reasons New Zealand is quietly seducing the rest of the world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A good way for me to rethink things July 2, 2008
When I first bought this book, I had planned to emigrate to New Zaland. After I started reading it I decided to go on holiday there first and hitchhike, just like Joe Bennett.
However, reading more and more of the book, I decided hitchhiking might not be the best idea for me. So I will take a bus tour.
Where the book really proves its worth though is when it comes to describing the country. It portays New Zealand for a great nation, but also one that is desolate and for the most part empty. Sure Auckland might be a big city, and Wellington and Christchurch follwoing suit, but the rest of the country?
Sometimes you can taste the loniless of the land. All in all it made me reconsider emigrating there. And reconsider Australia and reconsidering emigration all together.
Real-Enz June 12, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Being a Brit myself, over here in NZ for good (I hope), after around 4 years living and working here, Joe Bennett's writings struck a real cord. NZ is an excellent place to live and tour, and the real value is in its people - but like all busy folks it's easy to drift into the daily grind and forget why we're here.
The timing of world travel readers dipping into this book is fortunate, against the background of Lord-of-the-Rings-plus-100%-NZ-plus-All-Black-Rugby Domination-plus-America's-Cup-performance-plus-cheap-accomodation-and-decent-flight-prices gloss, so as to show a more down-to-earth view. Bennett's view should not be seen as cynical (as I note critics' views), and an awareness of what the book is about should be allowed to sink in.
Here is an older and settled guy, hitching around a wild and woolly land populated with interesting (and eccentric most times) and kind people, in a young country that's just recently re-forged its own identity as a Pacific Island chain the other side of Asia (or USA, depending on your persective) from the parents that abandoned it. Look at it as a view of NZ drawn from interaction with it's salt-of-the earth locals, and enthusiastic visitors. Bryson meets gnarrly Brit wit - Excellent.
NZ Beyond the Movie Image November 16, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Having been to New Zealand twice my wife and I contemplated moving there. Residing in a country is, of course, much different from being on holiday there. This book gives readers a look at the "Land of Two Halves" beyond what's been portrayed in the movies.
Hitchhiking his way on two separate journeys (divided between the North and South Islands), Mr. Bennett is given a lift from some very colorful characters. Some hard-bitten and jaded, others silent, a few as chatty as magpies. Like Australia, the Kiwis can be a rough-hewn, industrious lot, facing hardship with fortitude and good cheer. Some of the isolated towns, pubs and hotels are downright eerie, reminiscent of places that time forgot. Decor and furniture often dates from the 1950s, '60s or '70s and accommodation can be a bit threadbare.
Where Bennett really shines, however, is in his descriptions of what it's like when he's kept waiting for hours by the road without a ride. He manages to colorfully illuminate how it feels to stand with one's thumb jutting over the asphalt, on an isolated road shoulder with nothing to do but watch a bird hopping in the grass or a horse posing stock-still in an adjacent pasture. It takes talent to make such a situation interesting but that's exactly what he does. The middle-aged author thrives in such settings, having little time for the larger cities like Wellington and Auckland. He gives them short shrift.
Anyone wanting a glowing travelogue will be disappointed. This isn't an episode of Rick Steves' Europe. It's a realistic account of what a lonely traveler experienced by taking a satchel, walking to the edge of town and putting his thumb out. He vividly illustrates how it feels to try and time storm fronts and strategize over the best approach to where you want to go versus where your next driver is headed. It's life on the road by the seat of your pants.
I quite enjoyed this tale, feeling that I gained a more well-rounded perspective on a country I greatly admire.
 I Agree-An Odd Journey November 6, 2005
The author's perspective is,at least to me, that he has spent too much time in New Zealand and doesn't really enjoy living there. If it wasn't for his dogs then he would have no real reason to stay. He hitchhikes around alot of New Zealand in search of a reason to stay. He spends alot of his book discussing hitchhiking techniques or potential rides. What he discribes of the scenry or way of life is always in a somewhat bored,sarcastic tone. I'm sure that there are Kiwis that think in those terms, but in all my trips thru out NZ, I never met any locals that were like that. They usually are quite upbeat about where they are.But to put things straight, he is an English transplant and has lived there 15 years. But what I really liked about his book is his descriptions of the details of life in NZ. Just lots of little insights into rugby, youth and travel, bits of history,local politics. Just little stuff that would be missed in larger scope books.
A very odd journey... August 3, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book certainly looks good... the idea of hitch-hiking as a way of exploring a country and its society is clever - you meet a lot of different people and get to see parts that are not always up there on the "must see" list of tourist destinations - and, on top of that, Joe Bennett is a skilled and entertaining writer. But despite such promising credentials, it really doesn't work in the way it should.
The problems start with the sequencing of his journey, which is very strange. The first half of the book finds him shooting off from his home in Christchurch to the increasingly bleak far south of the South Island, before heading up the island's equally remote West Coast. Hitch-hiking through these areas, which are notorious for their sparse habitation and bad weather, is a pretty daunting task and, not surprisingly, he gets fed-up with it two thirds of the way round and heads back home. Problem is that, by doing so, he misses out the whole of the north of the South Island which is not only stunningly pretty (with often glorious weather) but which is also one of the most interesting areas of the country. His journey round the North Island is at least more logical, taking in most of the "important" areas. But by now he's clearly getting very bored with hitching (so much so that he rents a car for large sections), a problem that's then compounded by his hitting some pretty appalling late Autumn weather, begging the obvious question of why choose to hitch at this time of year?
Next up, the people he chooses to meet are pretty strange. Not everyone picks up hitch-hikers and those who do are, as he finds, often slightly odd and usually want to talk a lot about their slightly odd lives. Off the road, he clearly likes a beer or two and, as a result, spends huge amounts of the journey chatting to bar-proppers in small pubs and hotels. Nothing wrong with either activity, but as an insight into New Zealand society it's a limited and far from representative cross-section of people.
Finally, Joe's either a pretty morose kind of guy or the boredom & banality of standing by endless roads for hours on end waiting for a lift, followed by a booze-up with some fairly lonely people in a small town pub gets to him. Whatever the reason, he spends increasing parts of the book reflecting on the less attractive aspects of New Zealand life while describing uninteresting parts of the country in bad weather. Not unexpectedly, by the end of it, his & your bottle are most definitely in "half empty" mode.
Which is all very unfair. I've visited New Zealand many times and lived in Christchurch. Sure, it's small country that's a long way from anywhere and its people are continually grappling with an inferiority complex that comes from being small and remote. But it's also stunningly beautiful with, at the right times of the year, quite excellent weather and a population that must rank amongst the most friendly and interesting anywhere. It's a superb holiday destination and, for the right type of person, a quite wonderful place to live. All aspects of New Zealand that our increasingly road-weary and often downright gloomy guide fails to capture and which, as a result, leads to a very unbalanced insight into both the country and its people.
Bad news then? Well not quite, because he can write and his stories are not only enjoyable and often quite funny, but his wet & windy journey becomes, in itself, an entertaining exercise in personal endurance. And, on the way, he experiences a side of New Zealand that most miss which, in turn, stimulates him to ruminate on a number of interesting and important social issues facing the country. Just don't get fooled into believing that it's really like this because, unless you too are mad enough to decide to hitch around the place at the wrong time of the year, it's most certainly not.
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