An An Accidental Bushman: The Making of a Forest Ranger
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Synopsis
More great yarns & adventures from the author of "Cannibals, Crocodiles and Cassowaries" Growing up in small town Taranaki, Ross just knew that he enjoyed hunting, hiking, trapping, fishing & exploring the back-country of New Zealand. In "An Accidental Bushman" (the prequel to his New Guinea book "Cannibals, Crocodiles and Cassowaries") Ross tells about some of the incorrigible larrikins, precarious predicaments & hair-raising exploits that shaped his training & early career as a Forest Ranger in New Zealand. Ross has a way of telling a story that draws you into the moment & sweeps you along with the action. There are plenty of laughs (some at Ross's expense) & enough scrapes & shenanigans to make you wonder how Ross ever survived to write the book! "An Accidental Bushman" sometimes reads like a hilarious instruction book of what not to do, with many of Ross's ill-fated adventures stemming from what simply seems like a good idea at the time-like his disastrous introduction to boating with no experience, no safety gear, and ultimately no working engine! Ross makes a habit of crashing vehicles, manufactures cyanide possum bait (and lives to tell the tale), gets seriously lost in the bush, spends a night in a haunted hut, gets marooned on a river island amidst swirling floodwaters, contracts hypothermia & survives some memorable culinary disasters. It's clear that without his uncanny knack of always falling on his feet, Ross wouldn't be with us to tell these stories today. Ross also shares yarns of the colourful bunch of larrikins with whom he trained, worked, hunted & socialised, regaling us with tales of interrupted trysts, foul revenge, forest fires, thieving wildlife, crippling hangovers, poaching, parties & motorised mayhem. The book includes some 60 photographs from Ross's vast collection which richly illustrate his writing. A thoroughly enjoyable read written in a warm intimate Kiwi style. Settle in for another book of rip-roaring adventures that's as hard to put down as the last one!
