The Soaring Kiwi and the Sauerkraut

by Phil Southward

The Soaring Kiwi and the Sauerkraut is the offbeat travel tale of a hang gliding New Zealander who makes the mistake of marrying a grumpy German and moving to Munich, the city of big beer and Lederhosen you couldn't whip a high ranking motorsport official into wearing. A big life style change for the kiwi known to most of the world as:

a) a small brown furry fruit
b) a brand of shoe polish
c) a motorcycle helmet

but is in fact a small brown, nocturnal bird found only in New Zealand. And can’t fly. Perfect prerequisites for our Soaring Kiwi, on his quest to become the world’s worst hang glider champion.

From the:

• pinnacle of the dedicated dot.com entrepreneur with a cunning business plan, to the tedium trough of the underemployed with an efficient German employer that isn’t

• climax in every teenage petrol head’s wet dream of piloting a big black car really, really fast, legally, to the pit of despair while being overtaken by a Mini

• thrill of the first proper sentence in German, to realising said sentence could have been uttered by any good international man of mystery

• relief of freedom from pain, to the tortures of Germany’s modern medieval medical establishment

the Soaring Kiwi and the Sauerkraut is a germane journey through the highs and lows of adjusting to life in a new country with bad coffee.

Genres: Travel

328 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2015

About the author

The Soaring Kiwi, aka Phil Southward, is a wannabe competition hang gliding pilot and author. Phil was born in the small town of Lower Hutt, a suburb of the big, for New Zealand standards, capital city Wellington.

After completing an unremarkable few years at school, he went on to squeeze a further forgettable number of years in the IT industry while travelling, skiing, windsurfing, surfing, hang gliding and mountain biking whenever he could. Making the mistake of marrying the Sauerkraut, a grumpy German he met in Wellington, Phil moved to Munich where he lives today.

Phil has two great little girls, a hang glider, paraglider, windsurfer, surfboard, mountain bike, motorcycle, three pairs of skis and a number of toy Porsches.

Reviews

[Lisa Dymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

You'll read this book thinking Phil the author is actually speaking to you personally- a kind of New Zealand Bill Bryson. Laugh out loud at his antics settling into a new culture - a great read for anyone who has moved countries and encountered bureaucratic nightmares or just travelling through. He's obviously a genuine petrolhead from a long line of petrolheads and he's in car heaven - or is he? Those who have experienced the Autobahn at a standstill or had Autobahn car envy will empathise with him. Funny book, funny man.

[Zama Nkosi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Soaring Kiwi and the Sauerkraut was an enjoyable read and at times had me laughing-out-loud on my train ride to work. Any expat who's moved to Germany will relate on so many levels with this book and will surely make a great gift for those friends who live here...

I highly recommend this book and plan on buying it for friends too!

[Lois Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable, tongue in cheek amusing read describing his new life in a new country. His attempts to master a new language, culture as well as getting to grips with the countries bureaucratic minefields. Extremely funny in parts and a perfect book to take on holiday to while away a long plane journey.

[Glen Salmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great lighthearted funny interesting and informative journey with Phil