Civilisation: Twenty Places on the Edge of the World, by Steve Braunias

  You know they say "don't leave home until you've seen your country".  This book might work either way for you, perhaps you'll want to get the hell out after reading it or maybe your curiosity will be piqued by somewhere close you have never heard of.  This is what happened to me.

  This is a (mostly) New Zealand travel book. The places described are not those on any conventional tourist trail.  Perhaps this is why this book really brings New Zealand alive. 

  It is always the people who make the place interesting, or best avoided.  While the scenery is often lovely and wonderfully described it is the people who give real life.  All kinds of people are here, those who you might call ordinary, or weird, those who write signs all over their houses and/or cars, mysterious people , nice people, and a very few mean-spirited folk.

  As well, you travel with the author.  I have found myself thinking about and appreciating his valuing of old habits and looking out for new habits to enjoy.  I noticed how he was truthful about people - such as the man in Winton, of whom he felt afraid - and began to hate.  But, he also noticed, this man listened, was generous and had a sense of humour.  Steve Braunias talked to all kinds of people and insulted none, even when you could tell he possibly didn't like them.  I found that very admirable.

  I've been to nine of the places. I couldn't wait to leave some of them. Some of the places I have never heard of and still have no intentions of visiting.

  And yet ... now I am going travelling in my own backyard.  I am going to start with a trip to Mount Roskill, to the King Tut Foodbar.  After I've done my groceries at Pak'n'Save.

 
Title: Civilisation: Twenty Places on the Edge of the World
Author: Steve Braunias
Published: Wellington, NZ, Awa Press, 2012
ISBN: 9781877551352