In the calm days of 2017, a group of young(ish) NZers set out to follow the length of the Waikato river – starting on foot, tramping to the summit of Ruapehu then kayaking around Taupō and down all the way to Port Waikato – a month-long journey of more than 400 kilometres. Inspired first by their adventuring outside of New Zealand, 'Where The River Runs' is the record of this more local journey and all the learning that comes with connecting to the place we call home.

Combining photography, research, and lived experience, the book charts a path through the complicated layers that make up modern New Zealand, from colonial invasion to the building of dams, contemporary efforts to restore river health and the tentative emergence of Pākehā culture, posing the question, 'What does it mean to live well in this place?'