Atka Reid and Hana Schofield, both now of Auckland, flew from Christchurch to Queenstown on Wednesday to give free talks in Wanaka and Arrowtown this week as part of their tour to promote their new book Goodbye Sarajevo.
The number one international non-fiction bestseller in New Zealand was published by Allen and Unwin in May. The book will feature when the country is "guest of honour" at the 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest literary marketplace.
Mrs Schofield was 12 when she was put on one of the last United Nations evacuation buses to flee besieged Sarajevo.
Mrs Reid was 21 when she was left behind in the war-torn city to look after their five younger siblings.
With contact lost between them, Hana was forced to cope as a child refugee in Croatia, while Atka survived snipers, mortar attacks and food shortages.
Their mother, working internationally for a humanitarian aid organisation, was unable to reach them and their father was numbed with shock at what was happening to Sarajevo. Their uncle was killed while queuing for bread and their young cousin lost his leg.
"I was working as an interpreter for foreign journalists in Sarajevo and that's how I met New Zealand war photographer Andrew Reid," Mrs Reid said.
"We worked together and fell in love and ended up in New Zealand and his parents sponsored my family to come and live here as well, all 13 members of them."
Asked if it was difficult to adapt, Mrs Schofield said they were all grateful to be alive and to New Zealand "for a second chance".
"It was only six or seven years later that we realised we were all in that survival mode and different age-groups in the family have adapted differently.
"It's a lot easier for children and our grandmother was absolutely fine, but a lot harder for the parents."
The family is now thriving in Christchurch, Auckland and Sydney, Mrs Reid said.
"Our message is, especially to teenagers, when things are tough it's actually then when you learn most about yourself and about people around you, so instead of running away, don't waste a good crisis, because that's when you learn what you're made of."
