Tussock by Bruce Hunt (David Bateman, $70)

Many of the magnificent landscapes the first humans to reach New Zealand must have marvelled at have, sadly, long gone. But sufficient still remain to stir the hearts of those who live here today. The landscape celebrated in this book is the tussock of Otago and the Mackenzie Basin. Tussock actually thrived as a result of the destruction of bush cover by the fires, and thereafter was partially protected by its inaccessibility. But in recent years the forces of development have reached the great valley. Fortunately, as Hunt rejoices in the preface to his homage to what he calls ‘‘the Backlands’’, the surrounding hills and mountains remain relatively untouched: ‘‘There is something wholesome and humbling, exhilarating and frightening in being in such vast and remote landscapes where you cannot but get a sense of your own insignificance.’’