Polly Evans was a woman with a mission. Before the traditional New Zealand male hung up his sheep shears for good, Polly wanted to see this vanishing species with her own eyes. Venturing into the land of giant kauri trees and smaller kiwi birds, she explores the country once inhabited by fierce Maori who carved their enemies’ bones into cutlery, bushwhacking pioneers, and gold miners who lit their pipes with banknotes—and comes face-to-face with their surprisingly tame descendants. So what had become of the mighty Kiwi warrior?

As Polly tears through the countryside at seventy-five miles an hour, she attempts to solve this mystery while pub-crawling in Hokitika, scaling the Southern Alps, and enduring a hair-raising stay in a mining town where the earth has been known to swallow houses whole. And as she chronicles the thrills and travails of her extraordinary odyssey, Polly’s search for the elusive Kiwi comes full circle—teaching her some hilarious and surprising lessons about motorcycles, modern civilization, and men.

It's difficult to write travel books with a "twist" but Polly Evans has a pretty good try here in a book that has two on the go at the same time.   First, a lady with no previous motorbiking experience passes her test in the UK and, only a couple of weeks later, hires a 500cc road  bike to circumnavigate the whole of New Zealand. Brave or stupid, her gradual mastery of this "monster" provides an engaging backdrop  to the journey and results in a series of hilarious problems.

Second, she sets out not only to see the country but to discover whether the traditional Kiwi male - the pioneer who could mend a clapped out tractor with a rubber band - still exists. A quest which allows her to include some fascinating facts about New Zealand's development, takes her to places that most tourists miss, and gives her the opportunity to ruminate on the issues facing a traditionally male dominated society in the process of change.

All good stuff but the problem is that, as with many "I'm off to see the country in a few weeks" travel books, she can only scratch the surface of the place. For example, in Christchurch she takes an immediate dislike to its "faux" Englishness, with its boatered punters and its school children in 1950's uniform, without having the time or inclination to get behind why these things exist. As a result, her conclusion that the city is in some form of ridiculously nostalgic time warp completely misses the point that this need to replicate the safety & security of "home" was an integral part of the male "pioneering spirit" she is in fact seeking, and that Christchurch with its strong links to rural farming communities still embodies, more than any other of New Zealand's major cities, this particular aspect of its history and life.

Truth is that it's virtually impossible to draw objective conclusions about a country or its people without immersing yourself in it and, with only a couple of days in each place, what she in fact ends up with is a series of intriguing snapshots rather than any real answers to the question she sets herself. But, no matter, because, in the end, it's an enjoyable ramble which, on the way, provides an excellent "primer" into New Zealand's history, captures a great deal of what a tourist can expect to see when there, and includes some wonderfully entertaining incidents as you follow her round its beautiful landscapes on her huge machine.  New Zealand comes across as the kind of place a northern Canadian would feel right at home, with its small-town culture, individualism and friendliness, and the varied landscapes and even more variable weather.

Evan has, in this book, managed to find the right balance between personal and historical narrative. There are no overly long historical passages and when she has chosen to include some history, the short and well-chosen passages are relevant to her mission and the places she visits. Most of all, she manages to make New Zealand interesting and a place anyone would be interested in visiting. 

 About the Author

Polly Evans studied modern languages at Cambridge University, where she learned a little about Spanish and a little more about men. The hours of hard research she poured into these two subjects, plus a four-year stint at Hong Kong's largest weekly magazine, inspired her first three books, all available from Delta. Polly now lives in London, where she is at work on the tale of her attempts to learn to ride in horse-mad Argentina.