Books: Kiwi on the Camino - a walk that changed my life

A Walk that Changed My Life

Emotionally bankrupt and physically exhausted, Vivianne Flintoff needed a time-out from the demands and complexity of modern day life. Her escape came about in 2014, when she and her husband, trekked 900 kilometres beginning at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France.

They crossed the Pyrenees and walked the French route to Santiago. Two days later, they began the remaining 100 kilometres to Finisterre, on the Atlantic Coast, where legend has it there was once a Phoenician altar to the sun.

In Kiwi on the Camino, Vivianne courageously, honestly, and with humour tells of the pain, (she badly sprained her left ankle just three days before beginning the walk), fears, anxieties, challenges, fun, and friendships encountered along the Way of St. James. Her life is radically changed at the completion of this epic walk.

Kiwi on the Camino is a travel book where Vivianne includes historical, social, and political reflections, as well as some personal thoughts. While not a travel guide, Vivianne does inter-weave some of the geographical and physical aspects of the journey. Her need for an adventure and endurance walk becomes a life-changing pilgrimage.

About the author

Vivianne Flintoff was educated at the University of Waikato. She has worked as a school guidance counsellor, manager of a social service agency, clinical leader of a multi-site social service agency, and counsellor-educator at both under-graduate and graduate levels. Vivianne has published locally and internationally in professional journals, as well as in Walking New Zealand. She divides her time between Coromandel – where she writes – Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, as well as Granville, Ohio, USA. She is married to Bruce and together they have three married sons and six grandchildren. Family are important to her.