Really Not All That Big

It was jarring at times to realize how small New Zealand is. The size of the land mass isn't quite 2/3 that of California's. The South Island has only one quarter of the total population on it: about one million people.

The result is that the entire place has a down-home feel about it. Everyone seems to know each other, or nearly so.

One night, watching a human interest story on the TV News about the return of Jake the Rescue Dog to service in Greymouth following recovery from extensive injuries, I realized I already possessed a photo of Jake's helicopter on my camera. Not that many people do rescue work there, and even fewer dogs!