Roadkill (by Laura)

As Joe says in his blog below, driving in New Zealand has been a fantastic experience - so much space and nature right at your door, rather than dimly distant across a six lane motorway.

However, for a vegetarian of almost twenty years, there has been one serious obstacle to complete enjoyment and relaxation: roadkill.

It's not that I'm squeamish and have a problem with the sight of blood. It's more that our little compact car seems to be adding so gleefully to the numbers of carcasses littering New Zealand's highways.

Birds and butterflies seem to throw themselves willfully at our windscreen, divebombing in quick formation and bouncing off across the windscreen. Possums and other furry friends likewise make a mad dash in front of our advancing wheels. The resulting bloodbath is mainly due to a lack of decent training ground. You would never catch a worldly London pigeon being caught in the path of a car (if only).

All it's meant for Joe and I is that we've spent many an otherwise enjoyable journey struck with the sort of faces we would normally reserve only for watching an England vs Ireland rugby match.

Laura