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Northbound
Award-winning journalist Naomi Arnold spends nearly nine months walking the length of New Zealand on Te Araroa, fulfilling a 20-year dream. On her own, she traverses mountains, rivers, cities and plains from summer to spring, walking on through days of thick mud, blazing sun and lightning storms, and into cold, starlit nights. Along the way she encounters colourful locals and travellers who delight and inspire her.
An upbeat, fascinating and inspiring memoir of solitude, love and friendship, and the joys and pains to be found in the wilderness.
An upbeat, fascinating and inspiring memoir of solitude, love and friendship, and the joys and pains to be found in the wilderness.
320 pages, Paperback
Published April 2, 2025
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About the author
Naomi Arnold
12 books14 followersNaomi Arnold is an award-winning journalist based in Nelson, New Zealand.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 3, 2025
I've walked the TA, so I am always curious to read about someone else's experience. I both enjoyed and was a little disappointed by Arnold's book. Her writing is vivid and she really puts readers in a place and a time while she is walking. She paints beautiful pictures of the people she meets on and off the trail.
The first half/ South Island was more enjoyable than the second part/North Island. What starts off as an easy read about her walk north from Bluff descends into a patch work of flip-flop section-walks through the North Island, broken by periods either back home in Nelson or elsewhere. Whereas some sections are notably absent (not a word describing her 200 kilometers between Tekapo and Lake Coleridge through some of Canterbury's most spectacular high country) we are given exceedingly long chapters on otherwise average sections of Northland where the reader doesn't so much as read about the trail, but rather an increasingly lonely Arnold's lovesick crush on a German TA section walker, Stefan. It just went on and on. Everytime I came to another mention of his 'lanky curls', I found myself rolling my eyes. I was here for the walk, not the should-i-shouldnt-i snog or shag him dilemma.
3.5 stars. Not really a story of a thru -walk, more a narrative of one woman exploring the TA over 9 months and struggling with her feelings of loneliness while on the trail. And lots and lots about Stefan (the German TA walker that is, not me).
The first half/ South Island was more enjoyable than the second part/North Island. What starts off as an easy read about her walk north from Bluff descends into a patch work of flip-flop section-walks through the North Island, broken by periods either back home in Nelson or elsewhere. Whereas some sections are notably absent (not a word describing her 200 kilometers between Tekapo and Lake Coleridge through some of Canterbury's most spectacular high country) we are given exceedingly long chapters on otherwise average sections of Northland where the reader doesn't so much as read about the trail, but rather an increasingly lonely Arnold's lovesick crush on a German TA section walker, Stefan. It just went on and on. Everytime I came to another mention of his 'lanky curls', I found myself rolling my eyes. I was here for the walk, not the should-i-shouldnt-i snog or shag him dilemma.
3.5 stars. Not really a story of a thru -walk, more a narrative of one woman exploring the TA over 9 months and struggling with her feelings of loneliness while on the trail. And lots and lots about Stefan (the German TA walker that is, not me).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2025
I read this while tucked up in my nice warm bed and was so thankful it wasn't me walking the length of Aotearoa New Zealand... but I was very thankful that Naomi Arnold wrote so vividly about it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews