NZ geology to rock the senses
MOUNTAINS, VOLCANOES, COASTS AND CAVES
Bruce W. Hayward
By DAVID BARNES
When we think of New Zealand’s natural wonders, and of the need to conserve them, forests, birds and marine mammals are probably what first come to mind. And yet New Zealand’s catalogue of geological wonders is arguably just as diverse, just as spectacular and just as worthy of preservation as its living counterparts.
In this book, retired geologist Bruce Hayward has selected important and distinctive sites and tells us how they came to be and why they are special.
These range from the giant sand tombolos (spits) that form the Aupouri Peninsula (the stretch of the North Island from Kaitaia to North Cape) to the granite domes of Gog and Magog in the wilderness at the south of Stewart Island.
Local sites range from the familiar, such as the sandstone arch at Tunnel Beach and the towering schist tors of the Central Otago block ranges, to unfamiliar features such as the remarkable sea caves near Waikouaiti or the ventifacts (windshaped stones) of the Awarua coast. The Upper Taieri River scroll plains, near Patearoa, are described as ‘‘among the most stunning examples anywhere in the world’’, and provide the cover image.
The origin of each site is well described, mostly in accessible layperson’s language, and most entries conclude with details of how to best see the feature as well as where to take a closer look. A pleasing number are readily accessible.
The photos are a highlight of this book, particularly the aerial shots by Alistair Jamieson and from the remarkable back catalogue of Lloyd Homer, who
Scroll plain near Paerau. was a photographer for GNS Science and its predecessor for four decades.
Many of the sites, such as the scroll plains, are best appreciated from the air, so these pictures really do convey the proverbial thousand words. Groundlevel photos are predominantly by the author, with some additional contributed ones. Maps and schematic diagrams add to the understanding of the forces at work.
As well as the 100 representative features, the book has 20 sections labelled ‘‘The Big Picture’’. As the name suggests, these look more broadly into geological history and cover topics such as geothermal systems, the Alpine Fault and the Dunedin Volcano. And for those who would quibble about the selection of the 100, another 38 ‘‘contenders’’ are briefly described.
An appendix gives a crash course on geological concepts and plate tectonics for readers who might need it for context, as well as providing a brief geological history of New Zealand and the underlying Zealandia continent, and there is a very useful glossary.
If you have a shelf full of books on New Zealand’s plants and critters, branch out with this book and dive into our equally fascinating rocks and land forms.
David Barnes lives in Lower Hutt and is an avid tramper and armchair mountaineer
Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami enthusiasts will welcome this collection of essays. They were written between 2010 and 2015, when they were published in Japanese. In his preface, he discusses the lapse between then and now. In one sense the world has changed drastically from 2015, because of the pandemic and the increase in global violence and warfare, but in another the time difference is not significant, as Murakami does not believe that his views have changed much over that space of time.
The essays deal with a range of topics but circle around his development as a writer, for example, his shift from the firstperson simplicity of his narratives in early books to thirdperson complexity in his later works; and from short fiction to longer, more discursive novels. These shifts mirror his own growing maturity as well as his shift from Japan to Europe and the United States and back again to Japan. We learn about his discipline as a writer, the lengthy process of revisions, the way his novels dictate to the writer the direction and length of their final form. What you will not find here are clues as to meaning, to any interpretation of the works — that, Murakami insists, must always rest on the reader’s manner of attention and social context and the prose as