Who was That Man?

When Opportunity knocks, ignore it. Hey, we didn't know.

There I was sitting on a rock at the end of the swing bridge at the Routeburn River crossing. "Everything all right there?" a man in a wide brimmed hat asked.

"Yes, my husband is down on the rocks waiting to get a picture. Gives me a chance to relax for a minute," I said.

John had climbed down to the river to get a picture of me crossing the bridge. His first attempt had failed. I was pushed to the other side when a group of trampers came up behind me. I went back and forth twice more with the same results. Now I was waiting while a large group prepared to cross.

The man I had spoken with stopped mid-way on the bridge; he smiled and waved his hands at John. Then he froze momentarily, both arms extended as if in a pose. John waved back but thought nothing of it and continued waiting until he saw me in the camera's frame.

Well it appears that gentleman would have made for a more interesting picture. When the Hut Warden came to collect our camp passes she commented, "And I thought I'd seen it all today. A computer in the woods. I guess seeing the Prime MInister wasn't enough."

"The Prime Minister was here?" John asked.

"Sure, did you see him tramping out today? He was wearing a wide brimmed hat. He was with his family, the Secretary of State and the secret police." I had wondered why the man I'd spoken with wouldn't cross the bridge until two other men went before him. "The bridge held me just fine," I remember thinking.

John is of course kicking himself now for not snapping the shutter. Hey, he looked no different from any other tramper. How was John to know? So this is the next best thing, a journal entry describing how we almost had a picture of the Prime Minister of New Zealand as he crossed the swing bridge on the Routeburn sandwiched between a body guard and his Secretary of State.

While I waited for their group to pass, I chatted briefly with the woman at his side. Apparently the Prime Minister's wife. "These swing bridges can make you seasick huh?" I commented. She only looked at me.

Opportunities come and opportunities go and sometimes, when they stare you right in the face, you ignore them.