The New Zealand death

Driving back from Upper Hutt recently after one of our many storms I marvelled at the way the usually placid Hutt River was bank-to-bank, rushing muddily toward the sea. Harbouring mentions some of those floods back when there were no stop banks to regulate the flow. In the early days death by drowning was known as the ‘New Zealand Death’. Settlers from England and Ireland in particular where the land is gentler and the mountains and hills less steep, were unused to the speed with which rivers here, fed by high mountains and narrow gullies, could rise in a matter of hours when it rained. They were often caught unaware.

Next Sunday 7^th August 2.30 pm I’ll be at Unity Books in Willis St Wellington in a chaired session talking with Fiona Kidman about our writing and our latest books. I’ll be happy to sign your Harbouring if you have already bought it, or you can buy it there and get it signed. See you there?