I've been back from my South Island roadie for a few weeks now and I've yet to download my pics from the trip which means the missus hasn't even seen them let alone my blog post. What is going on? Weeeelll, it's pedal-to-the-metal with final tweaks to The Freezer and there's no time to scratch. That's just how it is. But it seems nuts not to have some shots from the journey so I'll post a few on here.
Seriously, getting down one side of the island then visiting one old buddy then doing the thang at the Invercargill Library - lotta fun and met some lovely peeps - then skedaddling over to the West Coast, yes, in a snowstorm and making it back up to the top in time to visit another pal was full-on driving. We're not talking flat, straight highways for days here folks, plus I was towing my wee camper.
The Mt Aspiring National Park and Haast Pass are jaw-dropping magnificence to the max. The roads are so precipitous you can't stop to take photos but you'd be stopping every 30 seconds if you could just trying to capture the mind-blowing mountains and rivers and waterfalls and sheer cliffs and primordial forests. This is what NZ looked like before we cut everything down and recreated some facsimile of a tamed European landscape. Makes me weep.
I love this part of Aotearoa because, aside from the tourist villa shite at the glaciers and Haast, it's just forest and rivers and mountains and coast. No kiosks, nothing. Brilliant.
Anyhoos it was a great adventure. It was tiring and it was fab to see some old buddies and it was magical to meet Harry and Mildred. If you ever, ever, get to the far south, go to Queens Park in Invercargill and meet the tuatara. These amazing little dinosaur reptiles are just the bee's knees. They're not lizards. They don't even like getting too warm but they do like to come out of their burrows for the sun. I came back twice hoping to spot them before I left. And I did. And then I didn't want to leave.
They reckon Harry is 130 years old. That's him on the far right below and bottom right. . So he was born in the late 1800's. Makes my brain explode imagining what this little fella has seen and lived through, albeit at a rather slow pace. They can survive on one meal a week and can slow their breathing to one breath every few minutes. Talk about zen. Mildred is only about 80yrs old from memory. She's been growing a new tail for the past couple of decades. I am utterly enamoured. What a treat.
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