 Nationally the lolly scramble is in full flight and insults are being tossed around freely. Locally the politicians are out in force and the hoardings are up, complete with plenty of childishly scribbled satirical humour.
That’s right, in case you have been living under a rock somewhere and not noticed, its election time!
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 It may seem semi-detached from reality but I have no plans for the advanced years of my life.
Firstly, with the rate my memory is malfunctioning (possibly due to the accumulation of quiet ales) coupled with excessive levels of joint degradation, my ability to function into old age will be minimal at best so it would be remiss of me to plan years as a silver fox golfing and tending to my petunias.
 Trotting around last week with veteran Mountain Scene chief news hound Scoop on our usual Friday morning run, basking in the early spring sunshine, the mildness of the weather was the subject of our banter.
As we solved the world’s problems, interrupted only to take a cheeky glance at nature’s more fortunate-looking athletes in their sleek attire speeding past us, we commented on the mild winter and the promise of an early summer and its associated influx of bikini-clad Swedish backpackers to the main bay.
 Out of a selfless concern for the future of Queenstown’s tourism industry and inspired by David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet series I’ve spent the last two weeks tracking one of the great tourist migrations.
Scandinavian tourist season from January to April each year involves the migration of juveniles making their first trip out of the nest halfway around the world to escape the harsh northern winter.
 Despite the plethora of tacky campaign adverts, stock standard election-year bickering and vote buying, it’s refreshingly easy to be distracted from the election hype, living in this unique part of the world.
You only have to take a glance out the window at snow-dusted mountains – in November?! – to realise the insignificance of anything a government can do compared with the real forces that shape our world. |
AuthorMark Wilson 
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