The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 - Travel - 528 pages

The author of The Great Railway Bazaar explores the South Pacific by kayak: “This exhilarating epic ranks with [his] best travel books” (Publishers Weekly).



In one of his most exotic and adventuresome journeys, travel writer Paul Theroux embarks on an eighteen-month tour of the South Pacific, exploring fifty-one islands by collapsible kayak. Beginning in New Zealand's rain forests and ultimately coming to shore thousands of miles away in Hawaii, Theroux paddles alone over isolated atolls, through dirty harbors and shark-filled waters, and along treacherous coastlines.



Along the way, Theroux meets the king of Tonga, encounters street gangs in Auckland, and investigates a cargo cult in Vanuatu. From Australia to Tahiti, Fiji, Easter Island, and beyond, this exhilarating tropical epic is full of disarming observations and high adventure.

 

Contents

The Land of the Long White Cloud
17
Sloshing Through the South Island
25
Waffling in White Australia
36
Walkabout in Woop Woop
50
North of the NeverNever
73
Buoyant in the Peaceful Trobriands
105
Aground in the Troubled Trobriands
129
Down and Dirty in Guadalcanal
152
Alone on the Desert Islands of Vavau
293
In the Backwaters of Western Samoa
320
The Littered Lagoon
346
The Windward Shore of the Island of Love
360
A Voyage to the Marquesas
382
In the Lagoon of Aitutaki
410
Beyond the Surf Zone of Rapa
435
The Old Canoe Ramp at Tongariki
456

In the Egg Fields of Savo Island
164
Cannibals and Missionaries
186
The Oddest Island in Vanuatu
201
The Divided Island of Viti Levu
218
Vanua Levu and the Islets of Bligh Water
239
The Royal Island of Tongatapu
265
Open Espionage in Honolulu
473
Following the Dolphins on the Na Pali Coast
494
Some Men Are Islands
502
Paddling in the State of Grace
513
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About the author (2006)

PAUL THEROUX is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Bad Angel Brothers, The Lower River, Jungle Lovers, and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod.

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