Answers to yesterday's Southern NZ place name quiz
How did you get on? Feel free to dispute any of our findings and lodge a complaint.
1. The Maori name for Lake Manapouri was Moturau, from 'motu' island and 'rau' lots and it was a good descriptive name for it. Nobody really knows how it ended up with the wrong name!
2. Waitaki would be pronounced Waitangi (just as Aoraki/Aorangi and Otakou/Otago are the same) in the Northern dialects. The Southern dialect famously doesn't have the 'ng' sound.
3. Middlemarch is named after George Eliot's novel of the same name. No - just joking. There were apparently two creek boundaries or 'marches' and that is what it is named after. Much more mundane.
4. It is the Clutha River. Most places named after Robert Molineux/Molyneux (Captain Cook's sailing master) have since had their names changed and he has fallen somewhat into obscurity.
5. Named after Captain William Cargill. The Gaelic prefix inver- means 'at the mouth of' but is normally only applied to a river and not to a man's name.
6. The Maori name for Rock & Pillar was Patearoa. That name is now claimed only by the small settlement 19km from Ranfurly - and it has a fabulous pub if you are ever out that way!!
7. For a while, Roxburgh was known as Teviot.
8. An English prizefighter, William Abednego Thompson was known as Bendigo. He gave his name to an Australian boxer after whom the Australian goldfield was named. It was brought from there to Otago.
Think of all the wonderful history/trivia/facts/figures you could learn and bore your friends with if you had one of these books.
QUIZ TIME
How many of these questions about names & places in southern New Zealand can you answer without using Google?
- What was the correct Maori name for Lake Manapouri (think lots of islands)?
- What would the Waitaki River be called if pronounced with a Northern Maori dialect rather than the Southern Maori dialect?
- Who or what is Middlemarch named after?
- What was Molyneux River actually named in the end?
- Who was Invercargill named in honour of?
- What was the Maori name for the Rock and Pillar Range?
- What was Roxburgh formerly known as?
- What did fighter William Abednego Thompson give his name to?
Alternatively, you could use Google and then see if the answers you find match ours!
Agatha Christie
We have a great selection of Agatha Christie hardbacks with lovely dust jackets. These are published by Agatha Christie Ltd but faithfully reproduce the dustwrappers as they originally were when first published from the 1920s onwards.
The original dust jackets are extremely hard to come by and are incredibly expensive if you can find one. The last one Warwick sold went for $5000. This is probably the nearest most of us are going to get to one.
Come in and have a look. They are on our 'new arrivals' trolley in the Dunedin shop at the moment. There are lots of titles you might not have come across before.
And if you browse our online stock, you will find over 270 listings for all sorts of books by and/or about Agatha Christie.
Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is one of the most enduringly popular comics of all time. They were written by Herge, the pen name of Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi (very useful to remember if you are ever playing the well known game "Name 10 famous ......" (Belgians).
The series consists of 24 adventures which take place all over the world. They concern the exploits of Tintin and Snowy (his wire fox terrier), Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and others.
There have been films, television series and documentaries of Tintin and there are even Tintin shops selling Tintin merchandise. There is an Herge museum too.
And someone called Frederic Tuten has written a novel about Tintin as an adult. I haven't read it but you could buy a copy, read it and write a review for us. That would be great.
Or you could just try and collect all 24 books in the series.
Trip to Rio for the Olympics?
Essential guide books and phrase books
Once you make it to Brazil, you'll need to know what to do, where to go and what sights to see. You'll also want to know how to order some delicious Brazilian food or ask for a drink in a beachside bar in Brazilian Portuguese. Make sure you try the famous caipirinha. Mmmm!
What better way to prepare than to read a few guidebooks to get the lowdown on the best places to go and then carry a phrase book to help you ask directions and get what you want.
We have a great selection of travel guides and phrase books at prices far below the cost of new books. Come in and have a look or browse through our online stock. We don't just cover Brazil. We have guides to all sorts of countries and phrase books for all sorts of languages.
You're bound to want to see a bit of the rest of South America, so pick up a Spanish phrase book as well. Happy travelling
Rio Olympics
Olympic Games - next month - Rio de Janeiro
Were I lucky enough to have flights booked to Rio and tickets for a couple of Olympic events then I would be rushing to read all about Brazil before leaving.We have a lovely selection of books on Brazil. You can learn about its history, its culture, the Amazon, the tribes, its landscape, its art, its architecture, its food and much more. You could start with Michael Palin's travelogue and go on from there. Whatever your area of interest we can probably find a book on it.
We can even do Billy Bunter in Brazil for your kids or Ira Levin's The Boys from Brazil if you fancy a thriller for the plane!
Continuing the sailing theme
The much loved series of sailing adventure books for children by Arthur Ransome
Set in the 1930s and 1940s, these stories centre around groups of children having great sailing adventures during their school holidays. The first book is Swallows and Amazons which takes its name from the Walker children's dinghy Swallow and the Blackett children's dinghy Amazon.
The books are perhaps a bit dated but still understandably popular and very enjoyable for kids who like the outdoors. There are 12 books in the series so if you can get your children interested, they'll be set for a good long while.
Rumour has it that there is a brand new film version of Swallows & Amazons due for release in cinemas fairly soon so for those of us who remember the 1960s tv series and the later 1974 film, this remake is bound to be worthwhile. Watch this space (as they say).
Common whipping, lashing, tying up and getting knotted
.......a fascinating little book called 'Stringlopedia' by Adam Hart-Davis.
It's a mixture of science, history, and trivia which takes you through every conceivable use of strands, strings, twine and rope, from common shoelaces to string theory.
Perhaps you were a fan of Swallows and Amazons and wanted to learn how to tie all the knots they mentioned: if so, this is the book for you. Learn to tie stoppers, reefs, bends, hitches, loops and whippings like a real pro.
Find out about rope & religion, rope in weaponry, string in sport, string and magic, loopy inventions and much, much more.
This is a fun, fascinating, frivolous but fact-filled little book. And if you haven't read any of the Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazon books, then check out our catalogue now.
