The Happy Isles of Oceania

Paddling the Pacific

De: Paul Theroux

Narrado por: Charlie Anson

The author of The Great Railway Bazaar explores the South Pacific by kayak: “This exhilarating epic ranks with [his] best travel books” (Publishers Weekly).

In one of his most exotic and adventuresome journeys, travel writer Paul Theroux embarks on an eighteen-month tour of the South Pacific, exploring fifty-one islands by collapsible kayak. Beginning in New Zealand's rain forests and ultimately coming to shore thousands of miles away in Hawaii, Theroux paddles alone over isolated atolls, through dirty harbors and shark-filled waters, and along treacherous coastlines.

Along the way, Theroux meets the king of Tonga, encounters street gangs in Auckland, and investigates a cargo cult in Vanuatu. From Australia to Tahiti, Fiji, Easter Island, and beyond, this exhilarating tropical epic is full of disarming observations and high adventure.

Favorite on audible now♡

I read this book when I was young. Shortly after I left my own home going on my own 1st adventure.

I went to Colorado and worked at a ski resort. My first adult vacation I went to Australia for a month. Later circumstances took me to Alaska, and kept me there for 10 years. There I met my husband. His family had a boat out of Valdez. I got to have a few more amazing adventures. I caught many monster fish, hunted Montague Island, and loved filling our freezer recreationally. I got to show that world to my father before he passed. He loved it too.

I still dream one day, perhaps a catamaran will allow me to have simular experiences in tropical weather and blue waters. For now, we pay the mortgage and I enjoy my little family.

I will never memorize all the knowledge Paul Theroux shares in his books... so i can listen to them over and over.

As a kid I wrote down every unfamiliar word in books and defined them in the margins.
In Happy Isles wanted to do more. I WANTED to follow his path on a map. Now with audible, I can pull up google maps and do that. I gives me great joy. Probably NOT best for my blossoming insomnia.😆

I loved this book. I prepuchased it in anticipation!! I have many other audible books of Theroux too. My attention for reading is harder now... but I relish my bedtime stories and road tips with audible.

This is like visiting an old friend. Thank you for putting it on audible. 💓

Enjoyable Read - Listened Twice

One of his best- colorful characters and kayaking around a ton of islands. What a wonderfully ballsy thing to do! This is why I love reading Theroux.