"When you park your car at the end of the road what are you hoping to find? A beautiful place? A chance to escape city life? You might walk for minutes or hours, and after a snapshot or so it's time to move on, but the land still exists long after we've gone. Landscapes don't really need us, so how can we understand them? This book is an attempt to do so, by walking into fifteen semi-wild areas to understand why these places move us. We can absorb aspects of light and sound, the flux of weather and mood, intricate struggles of birds and plants, ordinary moments and forgotten stories, the harmonies we feel and the disharmonies we bring - all the stuff you don't get from a scenic photo. Some of these landscapes are difficult to reach, others are dead easy. They range all over New Zealand and include mountains, coasts, deserts and forests"--Inside front flap.