City boy goes bush...

... and gets stuck in the mud. It was inevitable really. Driving through the Catlins, a beautiful forest reserve at the southernmost tip of NZ, it was getting dark, and I was getting desperate. I had promised myself I would finally make proper use of my camper, and sleep by the side of a road - just me, the birds and the cold for company. I spied a field with a track into it, and some large ferns to screen me from the road, and after a quick shufti, I turned in. About 5 metres down the track I realised I was sliding sideways rather than driving, the alignment of my front wheels bearing no relation to my direction of travel. Hmmm, I thought, cogently.

A few yards on, and now on grass, I parked up hidden from the road. There was just enough light for me to cook my dinner, so while my venison sausages were turning brown, I went to inspect the track. Alarm bells rang when I found a number of estate agents' signs by the track, which had been ripped down and turned into convenient car wheel-sized rectangles. The track itself was rather haphazardly and forlornly lined with thick fern branches. A gloom descending, on me as well as the scenery, I trudged back to my car to find the number for the AA and whether my phone had reception. It didn't.

I spent an evening cursing my wrecklessness, and only finishing off such a good book as Atonement could distract me from the walking and grovelling I would have to do, and the sarcasm I would have to bear, tomorrow - Easter Sunday.

In the morning, after a few failed attempts to extract the car, which only deepened the twin troughs it was in, I decided to have a hearty breakfast and prepare for a long walk to the nearest town - 10km I estimated. With thumb out by the side of the road I trudged off. Joy of joys, though, and a hunter pulled up in a 4x4 beside me, complete with loaded rifle on the passenger seat. With a toothless grin he sized-up my predicament immediately, and with only a hint of mickey-taking, he reversed and had my car out in a jiffy. As he was leaving he said, "If you'd called the AA, they would only have sent me you know". I smiled at $250 saved, but tonight I'm staying in a hostel.