COMP CLOSED | Book Giveaway | Travelling Light

A travel memoir that captures the world of travel before mass tourism and clogged cities, a freer world without time constraints and the thrill of taking on whatever tomorrow brings.

This is the true story of life on the road for two young people back in the day when travel was one big adventure. In 1969 Steve Lowndes and Lisa Potts met by chance at a dusty bus stop in Bolivia and spent the next ten years travelling around the world together. Pakistan, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Iran, America, Canada, Indonesia, Australia… all these countries and more attracted our intrepid travellers in their quest to explore, to experience the unfamiliar, in the new decade of the 1970s.

These are the days before credit cards, mobile phones or internet cafés, when the journey itself is the point of the experience, destinations are vaguely on the other side of the planet, and getting there simply takes as long as it takes.

Full of colour, beauty, romance and the pleasures of the open road, these tales of two travellers in the days before mass tourism and clogged cities, lovingly recalled here by Steve and beautifully photographed by Lisa, really are journeys to write home about. No plans, just you, your passport, a change of clothes and the appeal of the unknown, the thrill of taking on whatever tomorrow brings. Whether you made a similar journey, or wanted to, or would like to, or are yet to be seduced by the lure of the road less travelled, Travelling Light is the book for you.

Steve Lowndes has had a checkered career since arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand in the winter of 1979. Making the transition from hippie traveller to being the father of two children was the first challenge. Five years as a builder’s labourer were followed by fourteen years as the director of Akaroa Museum and during that time he wrote three short histories of Akaroa, Banks Peninsula and the Hurunui. He then went into local government serving on various boards and councils. He retired in 2019 as the Chairman of Environment Canterbury.

Writing and painting have been twin drawcards that have engaged him throughout his life when work hasn’t got in the way. Steve and Lisa parted company twenty years ago, but have stayed in close contact and this book, designed by their daughter Alicia, has been a collaborative family effort. He now lives at Birdlings Flat in Canterbury with his partner Susan Morrow.

In the early 1980’s Lisa Potts and Steve Lowndes found an idyllic rundown 1860’s cottage in the hills behind Akaroa. Lisa focused on rearing two children and adapting to an alternative lifestyle. She milked cows, chased sheep, looked after too many chooks and cats and lived the life of a homesteader. She developed and printed photographs in a small darkroom in one of the sheds on the property and at the same time worked for the inspirational herbalist, Gillian Polson, at The Herb Farm Grehan Valley.

Lisa organized and managed the first Akaroa Music Festival in the sesquicentennial year of 1990 and for several years coordinated the Akaroa Spring School sponsored by the Arts Council of New Zealand. She worked as an assistant librarian at the Akaroa School and Community Library for many years. In the latter years, Lisa travelled extensively in Europe & Canada with her late partner, Willie Rutherford. She is now retired, still living on the same property, guarded by her faithful canine friend and surrounded by a perennial garden and the melodic song of bellbirds and tuis.

Click here to read an article Steve wrote for GrownUps

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1. 1. You must be a GrownUps member and receive our newsletter to be eligible to win.
   2. Competition closes on the 19th December 2022, winners will be notified via email by 20th December 2022.
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   4. Winners are drawn at random by the GrownUps administration team.
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