I grew up on a small sheep and cropping farm in South Canterbury, New Zealand, close to the Pareora River and Kaumira, Mt Nimrod. The parental mantra during those first twelve years was “Go outside and play”. So I did. “Outside” was my after school schoolroom. I loved learning first-hand about the ways of nature and everything that lived there.

For the next twenty years nature received little attention from me; our connection was unsupported by a narrow education curriculum and subsequent training and vocational choices. Later, other worlds were to open; so too awareness of what was occurring in the natural world.

My working life included welding, driving trucks and operating a small crane in the construction industry. A move to freelance journalism was followed by a 40-year career in mental health (counsellor, family therapist, mediator, tutor, supervisor, workshop facilitator).

Eventually I found myself searching for renewed meaning and purpose beyond humanity’s personal and interpersonal issues and needs. Nature was also in trouble. I had a degree in sociology and had been active in social and political movements, yes, but there was an unanswered question: What should come next?

Extensive reading and a post-graduate diploma in environmental management followed. For the next decade I commuted between Auckland and Aotea Great Barrier Island, five years of which I worked for the Department of Conservation. Nature’s call had propelled me back into its orbit, answering my question and culminating in the book you see on this website.