Walking with Rocks, Dreaming with Rivers: My Year in the Waikato

In 2020 Richard von Sturmer spent twelve months exploring the Waikato region, this book is the record of his discoveries, reveries and experiences. It is a travel journal to some of the lesser visited parts of the Waikato, including the Hinuera Natural Stone quarry, the remnants of the Tokanui Pyschiatric Hospital, the New Zealand Heritage site of the Rotowaro Carbonisation Works, the location of the historic Beeville community, Taupiri cemetery, the peat lakes, and much else. Von Sturmer is guided to sacred locations by Ngati Apakura and Ngati Maniapoto descendent Dr Tom Roa, and by master carver Wiremu Puke, and through all his travels he finds moments of unexpected enchantment: a tree root mistaken for a taniwha, a horse disguised as a zebra. Illustrated by his finely observed photographs Walking with Rocks, Dreaming with Rivers is full of gateways into a hidden Waikato.