And Off He Went
Teenage Swagman Meets his Heroes on a hikoi (trek) through New Zealand History--a Book For the Baby Boomers.
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Narrated by:
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Virtual Voice
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By:
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Alastair Carthew
This title uses virtual voice narration
Virtual voice is computer-generated narration for audiobooks.
About this listen
Sir Edmund Hillary, Katherine Mansfield, Billy T.James, David Lange, Charles Upham V.C., and Bar; Kate Sheppard, Dame Whina Cooper and many more ghosts of heroes past. Living heroes Richie McCaw, Peter Jackson and Fred Dagg; the infamous (Mongrel Mob) and “the ordinary bloke.”
Uneducated geek 16-year-old John Cargib encounters and learns from all, alive and dead, on his personal hikoi (trek) of growth around the highways and byways of New Zealand.
Along the way, he is saved from a Nazi-loving thug by Charles Upham, V.C. and bar in Christchurch; meets Bible-bashing Americans who love the Klu Klux Klan; meets Kate Sheppard who gained New Zealand women the vote, in Christchurch square; saves 300 bobby calves from death, has a frightening glider rider with Richie McCaw, imparts youthful wisdom to a young Māori boy from a violent home about to join the Mongrel Mob, and learns from refugees who fled murder and violence in their countries to be thankful for living in New Zealand.
John realises his ambition to meet the ghost of Dame Whina Cooper in Te Hāpua, where her 1975 hikoi to Wellington began, but finding his other hero, Barney Whiterats, the famed swagger who walked around Otago for decades, proves a little more complicated. A kindly policeman ghost finally tracks down Barney to an unmarked grave in Oamaru.
John writes a book, And Off He Went, about his adventures and invites the living people he met to a book launch at Wellington’s Thistle Inn pub, followed by another party for the ghosts, which produces an outrageous outcome. The ghosts of two Kiwi icons meet for the first time and marry on the spot; furious conflict erupts between misogynist author Barry Crump and Kate Sheppard, who gained women the vote; a Mongrel Mob rangatira becomes an unlikely peacemaker between a policeman and party gatecrashers.
John loses his virginity to Lauren early on in his hikoi. Over time, he realises he loves Lauren, but his journey forces them apart until a serendipitous coin toss seals a chance meeting in Wellington Hospital. John is almost run over by a Wellington Big Red Bus and breaks his leg. Unbeknownst to both, their brief union in an Opunake movie theatre resulted in a daughter named Whina. He and Lauren begin a new life in Wellington. They despair that Whina will never walk. John cannot see Whina walking the length and breadth of New Zealand as he did. Until one day, Whina surprises her parents in an unusual way.
The book is a meticulously researched odyssey, merging historical and geographical facts with imagination, of joyous self-discovery, burning curiosity, and self-reflection drawn from the mouths of many uniquely Kiwi characters—alive and dead. It aims to uplift, inform, and amuse in the gentle spirit of Maeve Binchy.
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