The Journey

by Catharine H Smither

The Journey is a story of two halves; it is part travel guide to one of the most popular and exciting destinations in the world – New Zealand – and partly a spiritual journey of discovery. It follows Catharine’s own journey on the other side of the world – alone for the first time, in a campervan – and how she made this the most important and memorable trip of her life. The Journey is a unique blend of fiction and non-fiction. The fiction parts are humorous inventions of all the towns she stayed in and the people she talked to, whilst the non-fiction parts detail the scenery and beautiful landscapes that this country is famous for. Every evening on her travels, she would reflect and record her experiences, bringing out the questions and struggles in her head and dealing with them one by one.

“It is not only a journey across the magical land of my dreams, it is all my fantasies come true, all my soul laid bare and my heart given the chance to write the truth in the hope that it will help other readers discover their own meaning to life as I did.”
The Journey is a travel guide, not just to New Zealand, but to discovering who you really are. It provides answers to all those nagging questions in your head with humour and compassion, and is also an informative book about solo adventuring. It is comparable to Bill Bryson’s writing, and has been inspired by Wendy Alec’s Chronicles of Brothers, a book Catharine read during her time in New Zealand.

“I was at a point in my life where I constantly thought, ‘there must be more to life than this’. The sort of advice I needed had not been written. Going to New Zealand helped me; I had talks with myself and finally came to know myself,” says Catharine, who hopes that her book will help people deal with the same issues that she herself once faced.

Author news

Starting life as a blog, this book received positive comments and feedback from family and friends at first but through word of mouth, begun to attract compliments from strangers and academics whose thoughts had been challenged and changed by the words they had read.

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About the Author

Catharine H Smither

Self appointed adventurer, worrier, dreamer and romantic is living the perfect, peaceful hobbit life in the Berkshire countryside. Living her passionate, pastoral dream by waking each day to go outdoors and work with the noble horses in her care. Whilst riding and caring for her beloved creatures, she tries to rationalise and justify the millions of thoughts, ideas and questions that will come flying rudely into life. Considering herself wise at an early age (as many young people do), it is slowly being discovered that while wisdom is highly desired, it is not always necessary to make a person happy and fulfilled. She just wants to spread the word that we all have the strength, power and ability to help ourselves, make beautiful things come into our lives and to be the best, most truest person we can become and be in love with everything in this wonderful world