Riding The Greenstone Trail: A 1947 New Zealand Fiordland Adventure

- Blurb -

The basic premise of the book is of two girls - Audrey, from Queensland and Jendy from Canterbury riding on horseback from Cromwell to Martins Bay in the South Island. Initially, Audrey finds herself unaccustomed to the backwoods of a foreign country, however, as the story progresses - the girl's travels take them to Arrowtown, Queenstown, Glenorchy, the Hollyford Valley and eventually, Martins Bay - they warm to one another, and their friendship develops, as do their relationships with their horses - Blaze and Mickey. The obstacles they face on their way to Martins Bay, including an altercation with a wild bull in the Rees Valley give their journey all the trappings of an adventure. The girls' journey is very much a case of 'the blind leading the blind', in the style of Lear leading Gloucester. The girls' experiences on the journey provide the reader with some insight into the lives of those living in the back country during the middle of the twentieth century, and the language used by the various characters gives us some insight into the story's social context. In particular, the depiction of the intrepid Davey Gunn, owner of the Hollyford Cattle Station, showes us the multiple facets of an important character in the area's early history. The book also includes a foreword, which examines the various settlements - Maori and European - of Martins Bay and the clashes of culture which ensued. There is also some discussion of 'the Greenstone Trail' which emerged as the Maori traded the precious pounamu of the area with other Maori inland, and further up the island. Reflections about the Central Otago gold rushes of the nineteenth century, as well as information about Jendy's pioneering forebears from Scotland, will be of interest to foreigners and New Zealanders alike.