Desert Road Aliens

638x700mm framed
Edition of 5

Yesterday I met a couple of Aliens.

The highway through this area is called the Desert Road. I do not get that because a desert to me is a sandy, hot and dry place where shorts are worn, you get burnt and see mirages with camels.

This inhospitable place ain’t nothing like that. It is 2000 ft above sea level and runs along the Volcanic Plateau between mountains and gets damn cold …. with 270 ground frosts annually.

The landscape on this misty day seemed eerily Martian, with power pylons spanning miles through the tundra.

Off road here the NZ army plays war games with tanks, guns and live ammo, clearly off limits to civvies like me. Small signs every few kms make this very clear. It was raining, there were no fences or traffic around, so in I went, aliens in hand.

I walked 150 meters from my car to line the pylons up, when the police car arrived with flashing lights and blaring siren..

“Do you realise it is an offense to trespass on Army property”.

I successfully ate humble pie.