Matagouri and Other Pricks

Matagouri And Other Pricks is a rollicking read that will take you from Tibet to Antarctica; to Nepal with Sir Edmund Hillary; and to New York, Washington and the White House in the aftermath of 9/11.

It includes the thrills and spills of a nursing profession; the excitment of launching a new career as a writer and publisher; the challenges of running a guiding business; and also the story of 'The Old Mountaineers' Cafe, Bar, Restaurant and Gallery' in Aoraki-Mount Cook National Park - the only business ever opened by Sir Edmund Hillary in the village.

It recounts a rip-roaring battle with the Department of Conservation, yet it is also a love story, and an overview of the principles held by a New Zealand family, chief among them the refusal to give up, and how this and other factors helped to make the dream of 'The Old Mountaineers' finally come true.