This book, full of journeys and discoveries, comes after years visiting museums and libraries nationwide. Annette has gathered more than 70 interviews also and much of the social history is recorded nowhere else. As she learnt, Rotoiti has been used for centuries to rest and relax, first for Maori on a 'greenstone trail' to the Coast, and later with settler-explorers they guided. Rotoiti in the early 20th century was a trailblazer for conservation, with an inspiring last-minute campaign to save shoreline forests.