Book excerpt: The third, crazy, Spike Milliganesque story in the hilarious Aunt Effie series for junior readers. Aunt Effie is restless. She and her 26 nieces and nephews are off again in the scow Margery Daw on a treasure hunt across the pirate-infested waterways of the Hauraki Gulf and The Waikato. However boat and crew become marvellously sidetracked: the scow is converted into a travelling cowshed for cross-country travel; a hot-pool swim makes the little ones go bendy; the race between Banana Bob's Model T Ford and Uncle Chris's Stanley Steamer is fraught with high-jinks and skulduggery. Meanwhile back in Auckland, One Tree Hill has sprung a leak and Rangitoto Island is sinking while the Prime Minister gambles away the nation's taxes in the Casino Tower. In this third Aunt Effie travelogue, Jack Lasenby creates another glorious, crazy kaleidoscope of time, place and circumstance.