A Life on Gorge River – New Zealand’s Remotest Family

Author: Robert Long
Publisher: Random House
(2/5)

 
   This book tweaked my interest ever since the author, Robert Long, was given a rock star’s welcome at the Dunedin Public Library, where he launched this début book. It’s the sort of story that brings hope to all hard-core environmentalists and organic farming enthusiasts. If you’re keen to experiment on whether it is possible to live off cabbage and crayfish for a year and keep your sanity, this is the book for you! 
   Robert Long has been living in a hut in South Westland for 30 years in almost complete isolation. His book is a narrative of how he grew disdainful of the material world in Australia, and came to New Zealand to begin a resilient lifestyle living off the land. Long deserves respect for the resilience and ingenuity he showed in a wild environment; he deserves admiration for building a family and fulfilling lifestyle in the wop-wops. However, the admiration for his achievements only takes the reader so far. The story is not compelling and reads like an extended entry in a Department of Conservation (DOC) hut visitor book. Long does not extrapolate themes of isolation, frustration, or resilience, which I was expecting in a book of this kind. Instead, the reader is left reading a very lengthy yarn that often diverges off in tangents, just like a GEOG101 lecture on a Friday afternoon. 
   However, despite his penchant for tangents, Long misses the opportunity to explore Gorge River as a motif in the book. It is meant to symbolise both restriction and freedom, but this dichotomy was unfortunately never elaborated. The narrative is uncrafted and much is left to the reader’s own imagination. The book lacks coherence, structure, and direction, but somehow the reader gains an appreciation of the ideas Long is trying to convey: sustainable living, respect for the land, and community involvement bring satisfaction. 
   There were, of course, interesting bits in the book. It is interesting to see Long’s relationship with DOC, Forest and Bird, fishermen, and rural yokels in action on a daily basis. Not surprisingly, when DOC discovered Long squatting at the Gorge River caretaker hut, they simply said “You can stay here, as long as you tidy the place up a bit.” 
   This book will appeal to all those with an interest in tramping, wilderness exploration, and sustainable living. Just don’t expect Pulitzer Prize-winning literature.
Posted 4:11am Monday 23rd August 2010 by Brittany Travers.