What do you think?
Rate this book
A Land of Two Halves
After 10 years in New Zealand, Joe Bennett asked himself what on earth he was doing there. Other than his dogs, what was it about these two small islands on the edge of the world that had kept him—an otherwise restless traveller—for really much longer than they seemed to deserve? Bennett thought he'd better pack his bag and find out. Hitching around both the intriguingly named North and South Islands, with an eye for oddity and a taste for conversation, Bennett began to remind himself of the reasons New Zealand is quietly seducing the rest of the world.
314 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
26 people are currently reading
375 people want to read
About the author
Joe Bennett
26 books19 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Julian "Joe" Bennett (born 20 April 1957) is a writer and columnist living in Lyttelton, New Zealand.
Born in England, he emigrated to New Zealand when he was twenty-nine. Bennett is a columnist for Christchurch's newspaper The Press and the author of several books.
Julian "Joe" Bennett (born 20 April 1957) is a writer and columnist living in Lyttelton, New Zealand.
Born in England, he emigrated to New Zealand when he was twenty-nine. Bennett is a columnist for Christchurch's newspaper The Press and the author of several books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
April 13, 2009
I really did not like this book. I bought it to read on my return flight from NZ in Jan and I just finished it - 4 months later. I love travel biographies in general and my husband is from NZ, so I was excited to read this book, but in the end I only finished it because I can not leave a book unfinished and forced myself to finish it. I will admit that the second half was a bit better than the first, and so I am glad I forced myself to finish it. However, overall I find Joe to be arrogant, negative, and boring. He hardly has anything nice to say about the country and spends almost the entire book making fun of Kiwis and their lifestyles in various capacities. He seems to have little interest in learning more about the country and even less in educating the readers or enticing them to visit. This book was more a story about a middle-aged man recapturing his youth by hitch-hiking and the characters he meets along the way (which he rarely has anything nice to say about) than anything else. I was really disappointed in this book and don't really recommend it to others. There has to be a better book about New Zealand than this one.
December 16, 2022
I’m afraid I found this book to be as disappointing as the author seemed to find pretty much everything about New Zealand. Oh for the enthusiasm and curiosity of Bill Bryson.
October 13, 2009
Oh, this was absolutely fabulous! Written with so much more wit and humour than anything Bill Bryson has done - sorry Bill, but true.
It begins with a synopsis of Bennett's life up to the point of writing this book and he goes on to very humorously document his travels - firstly around the South Island, then he catches a plane to the North Island where the fun continues. He hitches mainly, except for the hire car in North Island.
I absolutely recommend this book...it's a great read!
It begins with a synopsis of Bennett's life up to the point of writing this book and he goes on to very humorously document his travels - firstly around the South Island, then he catches a plane to the North Island where the fun continues. He hitches mainly, except for the hire car in North Island.
I absolutely recommend this book...it's a great read!
September 16, 2018
Tolerably well written and pretty funny in places, this book comes from discussions with locals as the author hitchhikes around New Zealand, and that lack of a structure shows. Even the idea of the hitchhiking at one point goes away on a whim. Because of this, the author’s attempts to say something meaningful about a national culture of New Zealand- even if only to say that countries are too varied to have one (as I suspect Bennett would rather peevishly claim) - gets drowned out under so much tedious ephemera.
It also doesn’t help that the guide is more written for someone who has already seen New Zealand and wants reminding than for someone who has never been. The attractions are discussed with the speed of a journalist and not a novelist, which feels like you’re ticking them off a list rather than learning, living or feeling them. I didn’t mind that too much my self, having been to many of the places he visits, but surely one of the points of travel writing is to encourage travel?
Finally, Joe Bennet doesn’t help by being such a miserable bastard himself. I lost count of the number of things he didn’t like, but they included:
Churches
Australians
Golf
Campervans
Middle class old people who drive camper vans
Hippies
Politicians
Bungee jumping
Tourists
The English
Americans
.....
....
After a while, that just gets boring. And so, sadly, does this book.
It also doesn’t help that the guide is more written for someone who has already seen New Zealand and wants reminding than for someone who has never been. The attractions are discussed with the speed of a journalist and not a novelist, which feels like you’re ticking them off a list rather than learning, living or feeling them. I didn’t mind that too much my self, having been to many of the places he visits, but surely one of the points of travel writing is to encourage travel?
Finally, Joe Bennet doesn’t help by being such a miserable bastard himself. I lost count of the number of things he didn’t like, but they included:
Churches
Australians
Golf
Campervans
Middle class old people who drive camper vans
Hippies
Politicians
Bungee jumping
Tourists
The English
Americans
.....
....
After a while, that just gets boring. And so, sadly, does this book.
January 22, 2012
I was looking forward to reading this book, having not much knowledge of the land of New Zealand I wanted to find out from someone who had travelled it, what the place was really like and if it was different from how I imagined it. However this book was of a slight disappointment.
Bennett hitchhiked across the country and stopped off in many small towns. The south island being a lot more quite and country side than the north. However it seemed he did a lot more in cars than in each area, and a lot of the time he would get dropped in a town then head straight back on the road. When he did eventually stop he did not much exploring, he didn't want to visit any tourist attractions, take any tours and any amazing views he took in he got bored after five minutes and moved on. Infact the only thing he seemed to enjoy was to stop in a bar get drunk and wake up in some odd position with the door open to his motel room.
The writing style, seemed a bit dreary and a bit slow and i found it very hard to get involved with the story or even warm to his character. He found it difficult to describe his surroundings and every place he stopped seemed like the previous. I wanted to like this book but just did not enjoy it very much.
Bennett hitchhiked across the country and stopped off in many small towns. The south island being a lot more quite and country side than the north. However it seemed he did a lot more in cars than in each area, and a lot of the time he would get dropped in a town then head straight back on the road. When he did eventually stop he did not much exploring, he didn't want to visit any tourist attractions, take any tours and any amazing views he took in he got bored after five minutes and moved on. Infact the only thing he seemed to enjoy was to stop in a bar get drunk and wake up in some odd position with the door open to his motel room.
The writing style, seemed a bit dreary and a bit slow and i found it very hard to get involved with the story or even warm to his character. He found it difficult to describe his surroundings and every place he stopped seemed like the previous. I wanted to like this book but just did not enjoy it very much.
September 10, 2016
Whenever I hear Joe Bennett on RadioNZ's "The Panel" I think "What a grumpy old cynic" and turn the radio off. In his writing he still comes across as a bit of a grumpy old cynic, but with more generosity (not sure if that makes sense). This book is not really a travel book about Aotearoa New Zealand, it's just Joe hitchiking around, not really bothering to do anything but visit pubs, stay in motels and talk to kiwis (and sometimes non-kiwis). He is honest about the people he meets and I think gives very generous character sketches - he manages to capture the weird yet wonderful nature of ordinary people. Sometimes his observations make me cringe, but I guess reading a book about your own country will always have that effect. Anyway I enjoyed it and read it through to the end, which is more than I managed with his book about travelling around his birth country, England.
So in summary don't read this if you're expecting a travel book on Aotearoa but do if you want some insight into New Zealanders. And to those who think Joe is unnecessarily harsh on us - you should try reading that other grumpy old cynic Paul Theroux's "The happy isles of Oceania" - or then again, maybe not.
So in summary don't read this if you're expecting a travel book on Aotearoa but do if you want some insight into New Zealanders. And to those who think Joe is unnecessarily harsh on us - you should try reading that other grumpy old cynic Paul Theroux's "The happy isles of Oceania" - or then again, maybe not.
January 24, 2012
Bill Bryson has got a lot to answer for - the rise of the knockabout, jokey travelogue continues apace and this is a prime example - Bennett tours Aotearoa and ends up with hardly a good thing to say - yes, New Zealand can seem like it is trapped in 1950s amber; yes, it's parochial; yes, they are a bunch of egg chasers - but glaciers, mountains, fjords and caves full of glow worms are not boring - not to me anyway.
As a half-Kiwi myself, I had been looking forward to the read and my enjoyment was heightened by the route Bennett takes - very similar to one I conducted myself back in 2004, albeit not via the activity of hitch hiking. Well written and sporadically amusing, Bennett falls just the wrong side of the line between fond teasing and outright mockery for me - and this is unfortunate. Gets 3 stars because there is no option for 2.5.
As a half-Kiwi myself, I had been looking forward to the read and my enjoyment was heightened by the route Bennett takes - very similar to one I conducted myself back in 2004, albeit not via the activity of hitch hiking. Well written and sporadically amusing, Bennett falls just the wrong side of the line between fond teasing and outright mockery for me - and this is unfortunate. Gets 3 stars because there is no option for 2.5.
December 28, 2018
A memoir of hitchhiking around New Zealand after living there for 16 years. Bennett is a grumpy writer in the vein of Bill Bryson, with a more sourpuss attitude when it comes to, for example, tourist traps and the idea of God. I suspect these views are to blame for the middling (and undeservedly so) reviews on Goodreads.
I found Bennett's snark about New Zealand to be quite refreshing. He is a man who clearly has a great fondness for the country, but who doesn't wear rose-colored glasses and isn't afraid to call bullshit on things like the government's "100% Pure NZ" tourism campaign, and the sanitized adventures being offered in places like Queenstown. As someone who leaves for a year in New Zealand very soon and has put this country on a very high pedestal for more than half her life, I found his honesty to be exceedingly helpful.
I found Bennett's snark about New Zealand to be quite refreshing. He is a man who clearly has a great fondness for the country, but who doesn't wear rose-colored glasses and isn't afraid to call bullshit on things like the government's "100% Pure NZ" tourism campaign, and the sanitized adventures being offered in places like Queenstown. As someone who leaves for a year in New Zealand very soon and has put this country on a very high pedestal for more than half her life, I found his honesty to be exceedingly helpful.
April 19, 2012
Honestly it seems that some of the people who have written previous reviews of the book seem to have a personal grudge against the man, or at least the way he makes his living. Although by no means a travel guide to NZ, this book is beautifully written and a brutally honest portrayl in more of the style of a memoir. Joe Bennett highlights the positive, the negative and the neutral of living in one of the youngest and most isolated countries in the world. There were passages that made me cry not out of sentimentality but rather just the straight honesty of how he sees NZ and how it's changing. I would recommend to any New Zealander or anyone who knows NZ well, rather than a traveller looking for a guide to a country.
October 31, 2017
Having relocated from Britain and lived in New Zealand for the past 16 years, Bennett decides to hitchhike his way around the country to help him make a decision whether he will continue to stay living there.
The path of his journey is somewhat dictated by where the people picking him up are heading which ensures that he visits a number of places that are off the usual tourist trail and makes for a more authentic exploration of the country. Imparting a fair amount of history on each place as he goes, this story is as much a story about the people he meets as it is the journey per se, and whilst some may find his attitude towards some of these people condescending, it is all the more forgivable as he his is just as quick to turn his razor wit inwards on himself.
The path of his journey is somewhat dictated by where the people picking him up are heading which ensures that he visits a number of places that are off the usual tourist trail and makes for a more authentic exploration of the country. Imparting a fair amount of history on each place as he goes, this story is as much a story about the people he meets as it is the journey per se, and whilst some may find his attitude towards some of these people condescending, it is all the more forgivable as he his is just as quick to turn his razor wit inwards on himself.
April 6, 2020
Excellent read, nice wry observations of people and encounters, not a deep and meaningful 'insight' into whatever people think NZ is/should be. However, every so often, he concisely and without extravagance expresses the nuances of what living in this country is about (or at least is for me, a 5th generation NZer). No, not a pretty travelogue of wonderful people and gorgeous landscapes; instead a much more real, honest and engaging look at who we are. Shame he didn't spend more time in the north, which makes the title a bit of a mis-nomer, but there you go.
January 16, 2021
Although almost 20 years old Joe Bennett's observations as he hitches around New Zealand are witty and accurate. It is good to look back at how things were compared to today. Keep on writing those columns Joe.
November 15, 2020
Joe Bennett hitchhikes across New Zealand, and lives to write about it.
Bennett, a transplanted Brit living and working in New Zealand since 1987 (the book was published in 2004) clearly loves his adopted country, even though the conceit of this book is that it's about a quest to determine whether he should stay on in NZ after his elderly dog passes on, or return to England.
Written in a breezy style this travelogue follows the acerbic, middle-aged author as he makes his way first around the South Island, then the North. While Bennett's wit can come across as sarcastic or negative, the strength of the book are the stories of the people he meets and the sense of place you get from them.
Not quite a Bill Bryson or Tim Cahill, but an enjoyable read, especially if, like me, you've had an opportunity to travel in New Zealand yourself and so can compare notes (so to speak).
Bennett, a transplanted Brit living and working in New Zealand since 1987 (the book was published in 2004) clearly loves his adopted country, even though the conceit of this book is that it's about a quest to determine whether he should stay on in NZ after his elderly dog passes on, or return to England.
Written in a breezy style this travelogue follows the acerbic, middle-aged author as he makes his way first around the South Island, then the North. While Bennett's wit can come across as sarcastic or negative, the strength of the book are the stories of the people he meets and the sense of place you get from them.
Not quite a Bill Bryson or Tim Cahill, but an enjoyable read, especially if, like me, you've had an opportunity to travel in New Zealand yourself and so can compare notes (so to speak).
September 29, 2020
This book was lent to me by a good freind, Mark. I read it wislt in NZ. It covers a guy, Joe Bennett, who decides he hasn't seen much of his country so hitch hikes round both the south and north island. Great book. The author is very funny and reminds me somewhat of Bill Brison. The book contains a good amount of information and interesting facts. I also took some inspiration for places to visit while I'm here. I wish it covered more of Rotorua where I have spent most of my time in NZ thus far, but when the author reached Rotorua there was an All Blacks rugby game on, I'll forgive him for talking more about the game than the town. Would recommend this book. Infact I already have to my mother.
January 4, 2019
This was my second time reading this. I think I enjoyed it more this time. The author has quite a glass half full outlook and when I read it last I hoped for Bill Bryson style laughs. He doesn’t share Mr Bryson’s style but I found this time I was able to enjoy his more cynical approach to life in New Zealand.
It has left me with a renewed desire to revisit the islands and to explore more of this wonderful country. I also felt I understood the history and inhabitants better.
Definitely worth reading if you would like to have a glimpse into life from the perspective of ordinary kiwi people and to have your appetite whetted for touring (or even hitchhiking) New Zealand!
It has left me with a renewed desire to revisit the islands and to explore more of this wonderful country. I also felt I understood the history and inhabitants better.
Definitely worth reading if you would like to have a glimpse into life from the perspective of ordinary kiwi people and to have your appetite whetted for touring (or even hitchhiking) New Zealand!
September 8, 2017
I picked this up because we'll soon be visiting our son and his family, who are spending 4 months on the south island of New Zealand. This book follows a teacher who hitchhikes around the entire country, recording his experiences and impressions as he goes. It was fun to "see" some places that we might soon be visiting, and yet I got bogged down at times with his excessive use of similes. Other than that minor annoyance, it was enjoyable to follow his interactions with those who picked him up or those he encountered at his stopping points.
December 9, 2019
I feel that me giving this 4 stars comes down to three things, 1. I'm male and this was written in a very male orientated way, 2. I lived in New Zealand during the time Joe travelled so I can to relate to the current events (of 2003) and 3. I've travelled around a vast area of New Zealand visiting most of the places Joe visited. If it hadn't been for these 3 things, his writing and personality probably would have worn me down and I would have struggled to finish this book.
September 8, 2017
Since my son is going to be in New Zealand for 4+ months (and since we'll be visiting in October), I decided to read this book to get a feel for the country. At times I really enjoyed the author's turn of phrase, and at time the book was just ok. All in all it was a good way to get to know the culture of both islands which make up the country. I'd give it a 3.4 if that were possible.
August 2, 2018
Well, this book is a slow burner.
I found the authors style a little too sarcastic for my liking.
Having never read anything about New Zealand I really didn't know what to expect but I don't feel this book did the country justice.
It took a while to read and felt like to much effort was required to get through it.
I found the authors style a little too sarcastic for my liking.
Having never read anything about New Zealand I really didn't know what to expect but I don't feel this book did the country justice.
It took a while to read and felt like to much effort was required to get through it.
March 9, 2021
Incredibly pessimistic view of his travels, the book got worse and worse as Joe went from town to town describing them in the least passionate way. I thought this book would inspire my travel to New Zealand but I wish I’d never read it so I could form my own opinions about the place. Don’t read this unless you want the alleged (I’ve never been) beauty of NZ to be ruined for you.
February 15, 2023
He did not have anything good to say about any place he visited or any types of people he met. I don't know why he travels or why he thinks people will want to read about his whinging.
The best line was "Queenstown cash registers run on adrenalin. " I was looking forward to learning more a different perspective on places I visited on the South Island, but this book was not it.
The best line was "Queenstown cash registers run on adrenalin. " I was looking forward to learning more a different perspective on places I visited on the South Island, but this book was not it.
October 26, 2024
As usual Joe Bennett strings words together in an utterly brilliant manner. In this case it is about hitch-hiking around New Zealand.
A have done a bit of hitch-hiking myself, including between starting and finishing this book, and he describes the people, the waiting for lifts, and the locations in the same manner as I have experienced it.
A have done a bit of hitch-hiking myself, including between starting and finishing this book, and he describes the people, the waiting for lifts, and the locations in the same manner as I have experienced it.
August 5, 2021
I got this book in NZ, loved it for the memories and the subjective it detailed descriptions, got a little lost on me though, because it was in English, and that’s my second language. That said, I would recommend it to anyone interested in traveling/backpacking in NZ
Read
November 22, 2022A fun, but rather selective tour of both the north and south islands of New Zealand by teacher Joe Bennett, who mostly hitch-hikes his way all over the country. He avoids the major cities and seems to mostly avoid much of substance, but it is enjoyable and entertaining nonetheless.
August 1, 2023
We have visited New Zealand 4 times in the last 10 years and although somethings have changed since this was written much is still the same. I found it also added to my knowledge of some places.
The writing can be quite slow at times and some of it I skipped through. Worth a read if visiting NZ.
The writing can be quite slow at times and some of it I skipped through. Worth a read if visiting NZ.
November 20, 2025
It was fun to read about places I know and many that I'd been to, and picturing the route he went on in my head. I also thought the author had some really interesting takes on AoNZ, and often quite insightful.
January 29, 2018
One of the very few travel "memoirs" I could find dealing with New Zealand so went for it. Mildly amusing in parts, irritating in others. All round, not half as entertaining as "Mustn't grumble", Bennett's take on the Brits.
September 6, 2018
I have travelled to New Zealand and loved it, but this book lost my interest in the first 50 pages and I gave up on it...
March 24, 2020
A poor man's Bill Bryson, but entertaining enough.
January 3, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyed the author's dry humour, small town observations and unpretentious approach to travel.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews