Feeding the Pony

  Queenstown, New Zealand
Wednesday, November 2, 2005

A spontaneous, spur of the moment decision and an excitedly written text message was all it took to lure me out this afternoon. After texting back with a 'yay', the four-wheel drive pulled up outside in no time, and I jumped in, cramming myself in tightly with the other four (Jake, Traoine, Chicken and Jop) who were sat with bags, cameras and smiles. There was a pleasant air of excitement too as we headed towards Frankton; plenty of banter and piss-takes along with the odd giggle or two, which just screamed out that we were on a 'family outing'. We spent the afternoon at Deer Park Heights, a section of hilly land stretching from Frankton and out as far as the Queenstown golf course at Kelvin Heights. From Queenstown itself it doesn't look all that much - especially with the Remarkables as the backdrop - until you get there and realise that you really are quite high up, giving splendid views back over Queenstown and a superb glimpse of the vast expanse of Lake Wakatipu stretching south towards Kingston. It's also an interesting eye-opener to see how low the Skyline Restaurant is as it cowers pathetically before Ben Lomond. Beside the stunning views, the main attraction of Deer Park Heights is the animals. Many of them roam freely and you're permitted to hand-feed them with a specific 'meal' that you're encouraged to purchase by the tin full for a buck. Chicken was absolutely loving it, obviously having felt very at ease and at one with the other animals. That is until we got to the goats, where she was promptly assaulted by the whole gang who aggressively muscled right in (horns and all) on her meal tin, almost knocking her off her feet. Today, on animal hill, we learned that goats are entirely fearless of chickens.

My favourite by far was the little black baby lamb who ate from my hand so gently and couldn't manage to eat much after filling its little stomach in a matter of seconds. Feeding the huge monstrous bison was quite the opposite, making the whole feeding experience a hostile and messy one for all of us. Among the remainder were some right characters, showing off with their mad face pulling and sarcastic noises, displaying more personality than a lot of people I know.



At the top of the hill there are a couple of locations that were used to shoot a few of the scenes in the Lord of the Rings. We checked out one of them before heading swiftly back following a sudden change in temperature and a ferocious wind. Before we left we had a quick meander around the 'Korean Prison'. It was quite impressive, even more so after Mannion very knowledgeably informed us how it had been built years ago by the Koreans during the war. On closer inspection we came across the red sign fixed to the surrounding fence: 'MOVIE SET NO ENTRY - This Korean prison was built as a movie set for a Walt Disney film "The Rescue" in 1986'. The piss taking immediately followed.

To round off the afternoon we went for dinner in the cood fourt: Thai yellow curry for the Chike and me, Indian for the others. I think Jop had lamb. I couldn't bring myself to. I could still feel the little munching on my hand from earlier.

Spending an afternoon like that with the mad animal characters got me thinking about having a pet. I'd love a pet. I know that a traveller getting a pet is about as sensible as me growing my hair long, but it doesn't mean I can't long for one. I'd love to find just something maybe I could look after from time to time, or adopt and go visit. Something I could hold in my hands and gently squeeze. Like a marmot. I'd love a marmot. Apparently, when they feel they're in danger they emit an ear-splitting shriek, like a long, brain drilling: 'Eeeeeee!' Mine wouldn't. Mine would just smile. We'd have great times. I'd call it 'Mack'.