Off The Charts Tessa's New Cook Book

HOW SHE MAPPED THE EXPLORER’S ROUTE AROUND NEW ZEALAND.

- Lynley Ward

Given the role water has played in her life, it’s hardly surprising there’s a strong aquatic theme in award-winning author and champion swimmer Tessa Duder’s latest book.

“I can’t keep away from it! I’m an Aucklander,” she tells the Weekly, admitting she even likes to sleep with her windows open just to hear the waves washing ashore on nearby Milford Beach.

With the Hauraki Gulf forming a picturesque vista from the vantage of her North Shore home, the 78-year-old author proudly shows off her new work on 18th century British naval captain James Cook as the country marks 250 years of Maori and Pakeha encounters.

“I’m extremely pleased with the book. The publishers have given it really high production values with a hard cover and especially the jacket, which is the pièce de résistance really,” she beams, pointing out the reproduction of the intrepid explorer’s chart hidden on the underside.

It’s a project that’s been five years in the making with the seafaring author, who has served on the Spirit of Adventure Trust board for nearly three decades, melding her interest of period ships with an historical map of New Zealand that, for decades, was a staple fixture on walls in schools, homes and offices across the country.