A myth to be corrected: It is not sheep the kiwis have lot’s of. It is any other animal than that. I did some empirical studies yesterday while driving through rich green meadows, always on the lookout for those 40 million sheep everybody keeps talking about when it comes to NZ’s fauna. There is cattle everywhere. And then some more cattle. And then two donkeys on a leash. A horse wrapped in a blanket. More cattle. A stunned hare. A flock of ducks crossing the motorway, totally relaxed. Some furry-feathery roadkill (is there any animal having fur and feathers at the same time? Urrghs…) No sheep, nowhere.
My ugly car transported me south, leaving Auckland as an early bird (still jetlagged, I guess), headed towards Wellington as a rough direction as I’ll need to catch a ferry the day after. I went on the forgotten world highway, a lone 155 km stretch of road leading through lush green pasture, many, many hills, 99.000 bends in the road and some tail-surfing along the 11 km unpaved road in the middle of it. I passed “the republic”, a 30 head village who have declared independence from NZ after being dissatisfied with a couple of political decisions. Love that, yes, just make your own state if there is none you like. Just take your fellow village people on a D.I.Y. mission. Who needs to rent a maker space if the entire village is one?
It took till the middle of the afternoon until I saw the first sheep, shorn bald and seemingly a little irritated. But there are some, at least.
Survivor in a forgotten world.
Did not find out whether a visa is needed. Just entered illegally.
No sheep.
Still no sheep, nowhere.
No sheep to be seen. Q.E.D.
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