Down, Across & Up
Genevieve & Kerrin Revell
Random House - $39.99

A young couple’s epic journey around New Zealand on horseback, fundraising for CanTeen.

Down, Across & Up is a heart warming Kiwi adventure story that follows a young couple’s journey around the coastline of New Zealand armed with their horses, a campervan for support, a tent and a cameraman. The journey took them over 5,000 kms through some of New Zealand’s most spectacular scenery, but the going was not easy and every day brought them new challenges. However their can-do Kiwi attitude and the help of some local characters saw them through. They faced accidents, broken bones, getting lost, changes of horses and that was only the first month.
Genna was an experienced horsewoman but Kerrin had never ridden before — and this was just one of the many challenges that faced them on their journey — things like lame horses, swollen rivers, human injuries, rampant cars, rampant wildlife and stubborn horses.
But along the way Genna and Kerrin met many characters, got really close to their horses and the land, learned a lot about each other, made a documentary, wrote a book and raised over $33,000 for CanTeen. A terrific result.
This amazing adventure took over a year to plan, with Genna & Kerrin selling their house and quitting their jobs to complete the trek. They had a campervan following them for support and tents to live in and they relied on the generosity of many along the way to help them accomplish their adventure. They took many stunning photographs of beautiful NZ scenery, which are included in the book.
Pic above left by Fred Revell.
Publication date, 5 June.