Author(s): Tim Fulton

History

In The Clarence: People and Places of Waiau Toa, rural journalist Tim Fulton explores more than 200 kilometres of mountains, rivers and valleys bordering Canterbury and Marlborough. With its headwaters above Lake Tennyson, the Clarence has connected people for more than 800 years, from highly organised Maori settlements at the Pacific mouth to up-country trails through Molesworth and Clarence Reserve. The Clarence is vast, sparsely populated country - a wilderness carved out by earthquakes and the thrust of steep mountain ranges. People who work this rugged country understand that no one truly 'breaks in' the Clarence. It's always a wild place, spiked with danger for those who take it for granted. It's also country that breeds and nurtures incredible characters, like the musterers who keep coming to these stations for seasonal work until their legs, hips and backs can give no more. For these men and women, the grandeur and solitude of the back country is an addiction. The Clarence: People and Places of Waiau Toa captures the breathtaking majesty of this rugged region and the epic stories it holds.