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A Land of Two Halves, Joe Bennett
Scribner
Reviewed by John Whelan (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

Joe Bennett set out to discover the New Zealand he didn't know, to write about the country he'd lived in for 15 years yet had seen so little of.

His observations about the places we're all familiar with are spot on – God, there are some crap little towns in New Zealand, aren't there? However, it is the people he encounters on his journey that are the most revealing and amusing. To add spice to his trip he decides to hitchhike around the country and as a consequence learns more than he bargains for.

Hours and hours are wasted at the side of dusty, wet, busy or deserted roads, cursing motorists who won't stop, giving thanks to those that do. This mode of travel allows plenty of time for introspection – after a particularly long wait on a west coast road the reality of the situation dawns on him: "I could not claim to be hitching. I am standing by a road, aged forty-six," realising he has more hair on his outstretched arm than on his head.

Joe likes a drink after a hard day on the road and the local pub is a great source of material and he spends many an hour there involved in meticulous research.

Interestingly, this book is not aimed primarily for the New Zealand market – it's written for people with little or no knowledge of the country, and the things we all take for granted are explained to a new audience. Bennett holds up a mirror to New Zealand and it doesn't always reflect the picture-postcard image the Tourism Board normally portrays. While they might not like what they see, it's actually a pretty accurate view of the place this side of 2004.

This warts-and-all travel book often out-Brysons Bill Bryson, in places it is extremely funny. Probably the trick to fully enjoying it is to imagine someone who's never visited the country picking it up and reading it. To the uninitiated reader, New Zealand would appear to be: Big, empty, clean, green, irritating, quiet, boring, intriguing, a brilliant place to live, full of idiots, full of potential. For those of us lucky to live here we know this to be the case and so much more. But, unlike Bennett, I don't think I'd choose to see it all by hitchhiking around it and staying in grotty motels.