i thought i was safe in new zealand. there are no bears, no wild cats, no snakes, no huge insects, or anything that would really do you any harm. so saturday night i settled into my sleeping bag in the tent with complete ease, ready for a restful nights sleep out in the back bush of new zealand. just as i was drifting off there came a horrible noise out of the forest just a little up the hill from our camping area. a noise unlike anything i've ever heard before, the call of some wild beast that would make an easy early night snack out of campers. so i pulled the sleeping back up over my ears, and hoped maybe it was still full from the campers it snacked on the night before. but ten minutes later, there was the noise again.. about ten feet from the tent! i was terrified.. i woke up aidan who was peacefully sleeping next to me, to explain we were about to die. the animal called again, but he didn't seem overly concerned.. he just say's "hmm.. that's a weird noise." instead of finding a torch and chasing off the beast like a proper boyfriend, he just suggested i snuggle up and go back to sleep. i'm not going out there myself, so i take his suggestion.. but sleep is a long way off with the wild calls and grunts just a short way off, and nothing but two thin sheets of nylon as protection. at one point the creature even pushed on the side of the tent, but could probably smell we were just two skinning kids and not worth the effort. it was horrible. eventually after an hour or two i fell into a light sleep, woken by any small sound in the night. it was a rather restless night. when we got up in the morning i investigated around the area, but didn't see any tracks or signs of my nightmare.. until i went to the car to get my things out. the entire bottom half of the car the entire way around had been marked by the creature! (which maybe suggests the creature wasn't very tall, but i think it just preferred the bottom half). little neat tongue prints all around the outside! the only two animals of any size out in the bush are boar, which are fairly rare, and possum, which are incredibly prolific. seeing no tusk prints on the side of the car, and several clawed paw prints.. i'm thinking it was probably a possum. or a whole herd of possums, from the look of the car. i have this image in my mind of me in my sleeping bag, my features distorted by pure terror.. the tent completely surround by a ring of possums ten deep, silently staring.. moon light glinting off their beady eyes, saliva dripping from their teeth,.. all waiting the final attack call from their leader. horrible creatures.
thankfully they were more interested in the car, and we survived the night. it's a beautiful area around there, in the gallery are some pictures of the falls and river. the foxglove is just coming into bloom, it's every where.. alongside the road and in any open area. the river was full from the past week of rain, so we weren't able to hike most sections as we had planned.. it was simply too deep and fast. but it was still fun. and cooking dinner over the fire was very enjoyable as well.. nothing gourmet, just beans on toast. but it was nice to have a hot meal, and nice to sit around the fire as the stars came out. aside from the night terrors, it was a beautiful weekend.
