Wildboy

by Brando Yelavich

Fast going off the rails and hanging out with the wrong crowd, Brando Yelavich, a plucky 20-year-old from Auckland's North Shore, decided he needed to change his life. He needed a mission. He was going to walk around New Zealand.

Brando reached Cape Reinga on 23 August 2014 after a gruelling journey of over 8000 kilometres, traversed almost completely on foot over 600 days – the first time it had ever been done.

It was an outlandish odyssey of physical and mental fortitude. He slept under the stars and lived off the land. He almost drowned on several occasions and experienced near-hypothermia. He gained 20 kilograms. But the transformation ran much deeper.

As much for fans of Bear Grylls or Cheryl Strayed's Wild as it is for those of the off-the-grid outdoors Kiwi experience, Wildboy is a ripping adventure story with an inspiring life change at its heart.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Autobiography, Memoir

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2015

Reviews

[Jayne Downes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this will appeal to many young adults especially those who like hunting, fishing and the outdoors. There is a good message Brando was off the rails, had dyslexia and ADHD but through this journey raised $30000 for Ronald McDonald house and managed to sort himself out coming off drugs and forming a better relationship with his family. He showed incredible strength of character to complete the journey, had plenty of adventures and made lots of friends on the way.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought this should be pretty awesome and pretty inspiring. I could deal with the fact he writes a bit like a kid ("I did this, then I did that", with very little description or feeling) - after all he was a somewhat troubled youth when he embarked on the trip. And he was raising funds for Ronald McDonald House, so I felt pretty upbeat about reading it. But, reading the book put me right off the guy - I couldn't bring myself to finish it, but skipped to the end to see if he'd grown up much by the end of his amazing journey. I found him to be very dismissive of things that deserved far more thought/weight, and lacking in self-awareness and understanding. He makes token statements about feeling bad that he'd killed an animal and didn't end up eating it, but he repeatedly does things like that and puts himself in danger either requiring new gear or rescue by helicopter and the like. It's his lack of deep reflection on these things that bothered me so much. Sorry Brando, I'm sure you'll continue to grow into a more thoughtful human with time - there is evidence of this starting in your book, but not enough for me to enjoy it nor even complete the read.

[Tina Jameson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't want to give a rating for this one - as the book was enjoyable in the sense that it gives a raw and honest account of this remarkable young man's journey. For that I'd give 4 stars. However the writing itself lacks polish, which purely comes from inexperience. (Very much, I did this, then I did that). I would still recommend this book to any young adult, as it is inspiring to see how Brando has tried, and succeeded, in turning his life around to something with meaning for himself.

[Daniel O'Halloran]

Wild boy is an autobiography about a young man named Brando Yelavich being the first ever person to make his way around the coast of New Zealand. In his youth Brando struggled with mental problems such as ADHD and to be blunt was quite a problem child. Brando faced many setbacks with his working life and developed an addiction to marijuana, he was in a bad place doing nothing but working a terrible job to fuel his addiction. Until he decided to make his trek around NZ. To me Brandos’ message was that you should never be a ‘gunner’ he had been told that “most people were gunners - gonna do this, gonna do that” and said to himself that “everytime I heard it, I became more determined to be a do-er”. Brando shows that even if you are faced with problems (such as his ADHD), you should overcome them and work harder to achieve your goal and be a do-er. And he definitely did that, he was told by countless people that his desire was unattainable and plain stupid but didn’t let any of it stop him and while it took longer than he expected and he faced countless other obstacles along the way, he never gave up and achieved his goal.

[Byron Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this by an old landlord, and it was such an inspiration. Seeing a success story from just some guy like me, all the shit he went through on his journey, his motivations, and all was very inspiring. After reading the book, I decided to try getting into the military and failed (much like him), but in doing so, I had some life changing moments myself. Reading about the challenges he overcame with his walk, all the support he got along the way and the lovely people he met was so heartwarming. Despite being miserable and nearly giving up a few times on his journey, her persevered right to the end and felt great for proving to everyone that he actually could do it. Lovely story

[Carl Sagstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this, I had already read his second book about his Stewart Island circum-nav.
Some say he whines a lot, those people have never been in the real NZ bush…I can assure you, the wild and rugged Kiwi wilderness gives a hiker plenty to whine about!
I really respected that despite many things counting against him (lack of experience etc) he did it. Every thing that went wrong was a lesson and he carried on…of course he wanted to give up multiple times, but what sort of adventure is it if you don’t occasionally think you’re a bit bonkers?
Brando is an inspiration, and I’m also very proud of how my fellow Kiwis got so passionately behind him all the way around.

[Emily Ryder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this!
It's worth noting though, the writing is rather simplistic. Also, there's 600 days worth of content to be covered in a less than 300 page book - obviously many details are skipped.
However, my enjoyment of this book comes from my own intrigue in the outdoors, hiking and survival stories.
I also found myself waiting excitedly for Brando to mention the places I am familiar with, such as Omaha and Whananaki.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great adventure tale and an inspiring story of what Brando achieved. Great that he mentioned all he people who assisted him along the way. Sometimes felt a bit “I did this, I did that” without a lot of depth however it was made up for in moments of reflection. Looking forward to the next book to see the growth in his writing style

[Ned Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book would highly recommend it!. It really relates to me because of him self-having dyslexia and finding the bush his happy place which I can relate to him. I think Brando is an inspiration to NZ people being the first person to walk around NZ,

[Xiaoguang Ma · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a truly inspirational book. the book told the story about fearless.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

overall good book with some funny stories

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great story from a brave young man. My 12 year old son (a reluctant reader) loved this book and would no doubt give it a 5.

[Timaru Boys]

Inspirational for teenagers but worrying for parents!

[Mark Castaneda · Rating 4 out of 5]

really cool and fun - author is definitely not a natural writer, but his story is dope and made up for that

[Nancy Braithwaite · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just seemed to be a list of places he'd give through... I world have preferred more elaboration on some and leave some others out a bit.. was an epic journey but just not told that well

[Kennedy Symonds · Rating 1 out of 5]

should have been a podcast.

[Isabella Upton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book i loved it

[Trish Silvester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brando was a troubled young man who set himself a huge task of proving he could be successful, but could have had no idea of the scale of his challenge when he decided to walk around NZs coast . An epic journey. Sometimes seemed a bit distant from his readers but the enormity of what he faced on his own in very remote areas must have been hard to convey as a young and inexperienced writer.
That he" finished the task" is commendable and I look forward to following his path as he continues his journey, and reaches out to challenge and help young kiwis.

[Nova · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an interesting story about a young man who struggled through school and life until he decided to walk the entire coastline of New Zealand. The first half kept me engaged but then I skim read as it got a bit repetitive but I wanted to finish it as I am a NZer and have been to many of the places mentioned.

[Matthew Sampson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly recent real-life story set in New Zealand. I think my mental view of New Zealand has both increased and decreased in scope. Increased, because I see how large New Zealand is—it took Brando nearly two years to walk around the coast. Decreased, because now I've seen every corner of New Zealand.

Funny thing is, I know one of the families the writer meets on his way.

[iansomething · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brando isn't a natural writer, it's all quite repetitive and shite story telling. I found myself not believing everything, some events perhaps fictitious stories for gap fillers. I only got about half way through before moving on to something else. I may pick it up again sometime but probably not.

[PaigeOUAT]

realy good book to read

[KEES · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book