Book Review: Babs2Brisbane by Barbara Haddrill

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Book Review: Babs2Brisbane by Barbara Haddrill

July 20, 2009 in Travel Books

Just how committed are you to travelling green?

It’s a question I’ve been asking myself for a while now. I try to do all the usual green things when travelling – offsetting the carbon credits, picking green accommodation, and using local transport or foot power wherever possible. That, in itself, probably makes me greener than a lot of other travellers.

However, compared to Barbara Haddrill, author of Babs2Brisbane, it only makes me a lighter shade of green.

Barbara needed to get to Australia for her best friend’s wedding. But Barbara is a confirmed greenie who works for the Center for Alternative Technology in Wales. Living ‘totally off the grid’ in a caravan, she uses the nearby river to generate hydro-electricity, collects wood lying on the forest floor for heating, grows her own vegetables and fruits and raises chooks for eggs.

So for Barbara, flying on a plane to Australia was simply not an option. It was too counterproductive to the way she lived her life. No way did she want to be on a plane that was emitting damaging carbon emissions into the environment. But not going to her best friend’s wedding was also not an option.

Luckily, with a lot of brainstorming and research, Barbara devised a plan – by bus, boat, train, bike, and even horse-drawn cart – to get from Wales to Brisbane, Australia just in time for the wedding. The only catch – the 12,000 kilometer trip took 50 days instead of the usual 18 to 24 hours.

When I started reading this book, I was sitting on a plane heading for Sydney for a four-day holiday – not exactly the most environmentally friendly thing to do. So you can imagine the guilt I was feeling as I read about this woman’s efforts to travel in the greenest possible way.

Babs2Brisbane documents Barbara’s travels through 18 countries, highlighting adventures (arriving in Bangkok in the aftermath of a coup) and misadventures (being bitten by a dog, which, thankfully, was not rabid) along the way.

At the end of each chapter, there is a distance chart tallying how the CO2 emissions for each leg of the journey. And in the appendix at the end of the book, there’s information on all the CO2 emission numbers and how they were calculated.

Barbara definitely choose the road less travelled. I’m just not sure it’s a road that I could travel.

Babs2Brisbane was provided free for review and is available from Amazon.com. Pictures on this page are taken from the book.

Tags: babs2brisbane, barbara haddrill, book review, green travel, traveling green 3 Comments »

by Liz Lewis

Book Review: Lonely Planet New Zealand’s South Island

June 22, 2009 in New Zealand, Travel Books

When I tell people I’m from New Zealand, the first question they always ask is ‘what’s better, the North or South Island?’ Of course, being from the mainland (South Island), I’m going to say the South Island.

And then they ask why.

So I try to put into words all that the South Island has to offer – wide open spaces, the scenery, the adrenalin-pumping adventures, the food, the wine, and great people.

Now, thanks to the new Lonely Planet New Zealand’s South Island Guidebook, all the words I need to describe this awesome place can be found in a single, compact guidebook.

Compiled in the usual Lonely Planet format, the guidebook starts by profiling New Zealand’s history, culture, indigenous people, and environment. Written by a diverse group of contributing authors, including American Tony Horwitz who writes about Captain James Cook, this section provides a useful introduction to New Zealand.

The rest of the book, written by three seasoned LP writers, is location specific and focuses on all the South Island has to offer. Well, almost. For some reason, known only to Lonely Planet, the location-specific section starts in Wellington which seems a little bizarre. If this guidebook is all about New Zealand’s South Island, why in the world does its opening chapters focus in great detail on the capital city of Wellington, which, as far as I know, is still in the North Island.

Whatever the reason, it means except for a dozen pages discussing ‘Active South Island’ in the profile section, readers will be a third of the way through the book before they even reach the South Island. But it’s worth the wait (or read) because the rest of the book is jam-packed full of South Island goodness, ranging from where to find the cheapest crayfish in Kaikoura to how to bike your way around the wineries of Marlborough, from bone carving in Hokitika to glacier climbing the Franz Joseph and anything and everything in between.

Cities and towns around the South Island are highlighted with suggested itineraries, walking tours, activities, as well as information on shopping, eating, drinking, and sleeping. But Lonely Planet knows that most visitors to New Zealand don’t come all this way just to spend time in the cities. They want to experience the great outdoors, something that the South Island has in abundance. And so this guidebook offers plenty of advice and information on the where, how, and when of having a totally unique Kiwi experience.

Anyone considering a trip to New Zealand should pick up a copy of this new Lonely Planet New Zealand’s South Island guidebook. It will lead you in the right direction. It’s definitely got me wanting to pack my bags and hit the road.

Lonely Planet New Zealand’s South Island was provided free for review.
Image courtesy of lonelyplanet.com.