About Peter Blakeborough
Author Peter Blakeborough was born in New Zealand in 1937, the eighth of eleven children.
In 1954 he learned to fly with the Auckland Aero Club in de Havilland Tiger Moth open-cockpit biplanes and had completed several flying tours around New Zealand by the age of twenty-one.
In 1958 he became a foundation member of the Piako Gliding Club, a volunteer glider tow-pilot, instructor, and chief flying instructor. He managed a fund-raising project that enabled the club to double its fleet size.
Next, the author worked as an agricultural aviation loader driver in many parts of New Zealand before going to Australia, where he became a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman and sales manager.
Back in Auckland in 1964, he drove buses, trucks, and taxis and started a business dealing in coins and stamps.
His first non-fiction book, The Coinage of New Zealand, 1840-1967, was published in 1966 by Minerva. He was the founding editor of The New Zealand Coin Journal from 1966-1967, distributed nationally and internationally.
The author joined the New Zealand National Party in 1970 and was a candidate in the 1972 general election. Later, he formed the New Zealand Liberal Party and was its leader in the 1975 general election. He joined the New Zealand Party and was a candidate again in 1984.
Meanwhile, never afraid to rock the boat, the author operated a taxi business in South Auckland where, despite opposition, he is remembered as the person responsible for launching the first eight-passenger taxi-van service in New Zealand, a concept that changed passenger transport in New Zealand.
Next, the author established Panorama Tours, a unique three-hour city tour with hourly departures throughout the day. He also escorted tours to Australia, Malaysia, and along the Silk Road from China to Pakistan.
In 2001 and again in 2003, he went to America and drove long-haul trucks through forty states. From that experience, he published Highway America - the adventures of a Kiwi truck driver.
Peter Blakeborough has flown more than fifty types of aircraft and, as a flight simulator enthusiast, has added another fifty virtual types. He has been an international yachtsman and has completed numerous walks in remote mountain areas of New Zealand.
In 2009, he published the Asker Trilogy of Australian and New Zealand historical fiction. His most recent book is The New Zealand Tour Commentary – a handbook for tour driver...