Snowcave Inn

SNOWCAVE INN, Ged Maybury, Cape Catley, 99 pages, paperback, NZ$14.99
ISBN 0908-561-85-7
[NZ agents: HarperCollins]

If Sir Edmund Hillary says, “Ged Maybury tells it like it is – enormous fun, but beware the dangers,” then who can argue? SnowCave Inn is Maybury’s boisterous account of a group of Kiwi teenagers, who graduate from overnight tramps to a snowcaving expedition in the Central Otago ranges. Then a few minor misjudgements by the narrator expose his group to all the dangers of the outdoors. The story of their survival is well told with humour and an awareness of the ever-present danger of over-confidence.

Trevor Agnew

This review first appeared in The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand on 21st January 2006.