Media Feedback

From: Tom Koppel [mailto:koppel@saltspring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 9 December 2009 2:46 p.m.
To: Bay of Islands Waka Tours
Subject: Re: Hone and Tani Taiamai Tours

Dear Hone,

It was great to hear from you, and to know that you liked my story. That's very gratifying. It is certainly the only experience that I have featured from our visit to New Zealand. In fact, as I already mentioned, I will also use our outing with you on the Waka as a vivid personal episode in my forthcoming book about the discovery and settlement of the Pacific Islands. (You might even want to mention this to Lonely Planet. A serious book--part history, part anthropology, part travel insights--has a certain prestige that goes beyond a magazine article.) The tentative title will be Mystery Islands: Discovering the Ancient Pacific. It is my fifth non-fiction book on history and science. After our visit to the North Island, we also had a fascinating trip to Norfolk Island, mainly because it is one of the true "mystery islands," places that were once occupied by the Polynesians but abandoned by the time Captain Cook arrived. (The mystery for each of these islands is exactly why. Pitcairn Island was another such island. And on Norfolk there is a key archaeological site that I had to see.)

http://www.canadianworldtraveller.com/Destinations_&_Articles_New%20Zeal...

Please extend best wishes to Tani from Annie and me. We think he's a great young guy. And do not hesitate to get in touch again. We hope to come back to New Zealand some day soon--actually, we are trying to get involved--as travel writers and/or lecturers--in a small cruise ship trip for next year that would begin in Fiji and end up in Auckland--and if so, we look forward to meeting you again. Maybe next time we'll have time to hang around, without a tight schedule, and you can dive for some of those big mussels you told us about.

Cheers from the Great White North
Tom and Annie
Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
Canada