Why yes, it is pleasing to see my name in the paper again. There is a downside, though - I only knew my photo was being used because of a Google alert, and most definitely not because of a payment appearing in my bank account. Stuff has quite the library of my images, sent in over the years accompanying scores of my travel stories. They all got filed away, even the ones they didn’t use, and pop up occasionally in other people’s stories. I suppose I’m lucky to get at least the (non-monetary) credit.
It’s a shame though why the photo has had to appear at all. The Skippers Canyon Bridge is a classic, in use since 1901, 96m long and 91m high, enabling access for gold hunters along the Shotover River and all their supporting industries, up to and including a very chilly school. It was the world’s biggest and most productive gold rush for a while there, through the 1860s, Typically, it was built towards the end of the action, when the miners were already moving on, so its use was limited, but it did get a second life as a tourist attraction, which is why I was there in 2021, to do a story.
Apparently, after its latest annual inspection, the 14 wire cables it’s suspended from are now suspect, so not even pedestrians are allowed onto it, which will really be stymying operators like Nomad Safaris who took me on a really good day’s outing along the canyon. Shame. But better than yet another disaster story, of tourists plummeting to their deaths, eh?
