Well, here I sit preparing to embark on this task... I have to wait til my soup cooks, and cellphone charges. You'd not think that this would be a part of this challenge, but the sad truth is that a near neighbour died last week walking this neighbourhood at night. He turned an ankle while cutting through someone's back garden, and died of hypothermia. The serach the whole neighbourhood and found him 3 days later when the people living there returned home from a short holiday... Thus a belly full of soup, a fully charged cellphone and my warmest clothes are vital compnents of this task. As the Flight of the Conchords might say, it's not actually forplay, but it's very very important...

As it happens, my very warmest clothes happen to include my wollen funeral suit, so at least I'll be properly dressed if the worst happens. And there is something about going out into the evening in evening clothes that seems appropriate.

I can hear the wind howling through the trees, and the temperature is -4C and dropping, with snow on the way, but having finished my soup I can think of no good reason not to leave now... I'm going outside - and I may be some time.

Just before I continue, I would like to just mention the cultural imperialism embodied in this task. I mean really, "take photos" in the "deepest darkest night". Only a townie would assume that there would be light enough for photos in deepest darkest night. Fortunately I don't live on the farm anymore (where you literally can't see the hand at the end of your arm on a dark night - sometimes you can't even tell if you have your eyes open), so I could use the scattered streetlights to take some shots - but really...

Oh, and I decided that I would at least have a go at "deepest darkest night" so I headed off into the forest nearby. You will have to excuse the quality of the photos there, I was covering my eyes to preserve my nightsight for what little light there was. As a result I just pointed the camera in a random direction and waited til I heard the flash... It was actually fun to go night walking again. I haven't been truely night-walking since I walked 27 miles across the hills a few years ago, following the southern cross south without any natural lights. You never really lose the skills.

Anyway, I started out into the night. I noticed the somewhat iconic bus parked outside my front door. Queenstown is where commercial bungy jumping started - this bus still takes people to the original site daily so they can throw themselves off a perfectly good bridge.

All of the streetlights here are sodium lights, which lend a warm glow to everything, despite the bitter cold. The trees rear up like withches fingers against the sky, and I discover an odd pagan idol squatting on a stone plinth.

As I get to the main road a bus pulls up and people get out. Just what a tour bus is doing dropping tourists off in the middle of a suburban street at 2AM is anyone's guess, but they scuttled away in the direction opposite mine. There are no hotels at all that way, so it's a mystery.

Following the street that leads to the forest, I stopped to snap shots as I reached each distant pool of light. I cam across another strange idol - the severed head of a woman set upon a rough wooden body. Slightly surreal in the flickering light of the misbehaving streetlight...

People having a party on their balcony stared and gestured at me, so I hurried away before they could decend upon me in a mob.

I found a nice palm tree, enjoying the winter as they do here. Actually, I was struck by how many palm trees and toi toi bushes were to be found in this part of town. Must be some new fashion.

Coming to the gate blocking car access to the forest track, I crossed, waited 5 minutes with my eyes screwed shut, and then continued down the hill. A simple tip for those walking in the forst at night - shuffle. Not only does this save you from falling down cliffs, but it helps you find sticks to use to feel your path and prevent slips. I had remembered to wear black shoes too, as this helps you see your feet clearly against the ground without blinding you the way white shoes do.

The first 3 river corssings were simple enough, if you listen carefully you can hear where there are rocks, and your stick will help you find the flat dry ones. The fourth river crossing was tougher, as it was deep and wide, but if you lay your stick on the surface you can "float" it across the river surface until you feel a rock jutting up. It helped that I have done this river often during the day.

You forget just how easy it is to get freaked out in the forest at night. This is true even in New Zealand where there are no dangerous animals AT ALL. It's not quite as bad a golf courses (at night they are the WORST of all possible worlds. You are exposed, but there is movement, and a forests edge from which "things" can see you), but the little sounds etc speak to the primal reflexes. Hear a hedgehog scuttling, the rattle of seed-pods, walk through a spiders web - any of these will have your heart in your throat. Especially hedgehogs. I mean if I had a totem animal it would be the hedgehog, but there's something about the way they move, like drifting snuffling shadows...

Anyway, treked about 1km into the forest. After that it turns to cliffs, and I don't care HOW good you are moving in the dark, cliffs are NOT something you should do alone in sub zero temperatures. I've seen a guy go from twisting an ankle to convulsions and coma from hypotermia in less than 5 minutes - and THAT was in summer. Cliffs are a NO!!! So it was turn around time and home...

Again, it's easy to forget just how much harder it is to go downhill in the dark than up. Going up you can kick into the slope in front of you, and lean into your stick. Going down it's all too easy to slip and start tumbling... Actually took over an hour to get out, and it'd only taken half that to get in....

Just as I was coming to the last river crossing on the way back the snow started in ernest. It had started settling by the time I walked in my door. Still, there was time to stop and take a few shots. We had 2 warm days earlier this week, and several cherry trees decided that they would have a go at blooming. Not all over you understand, just the odd blossom.

Anyway, that was quite an adventure - well worth finding SFO just to be reminded how much I enjoy that sort of thing... Just why this is an Aesthematics task and not a Psychogeographical task rather baffles me, but there you go...