In Summer, 1981, a young Neville Peat set out from Cape Reinga on his new 10-speed bike Blue, aiming to cycle through the small towns of New Zealand from north to south, all the way to Stewart Island. The week before Easter, he reached his destination. He wrote a book about it, Detours: A Journey through Small-Town New Zealand, which sold many copies and was broadcast on the radio. Many times in the intervening years, usually on anniversaries of the journey, he wished to try a repeat journey, but life held other challenges. Now, as a leading author, and in the age of the personal computer and cell phone a very different world he has revisited many of the towns and regions, not on a bicycle, but by car. In Detours A Generation On, an opening essay reflects once again on how small-town New Zealand is doing, followed up by a reprint of the 80's classic account.

This book is a major publication on the natural history of southern New Zealand making, up-to-date, scientific information available to a general audience in an acessible way. With color illustrations, maps, and diagrams The Natural History of Southern New Zealand covers the area south of the Waitaki River on the east coast, and Haast on the west coast, including Stewart Island but not the sub-antarctic islands. It focuses on exploration and conservation of the biodiversity of the region. The chapters cover: geology, geomorphology, fossils, climate, vegetational history, humans and ecosystems, forest and shrublands, tussock grasslands and mountains, inland waters and wetlands, the coast, open seas, and conservation issues.