Late November 2015; Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki, New Zealand. We were alone, the sky and the sun and just us, a million sheep and long roads and just us. Back home everyone we loved prepared for another winter but we skipped it that year, and for a few months everything was the shade of blue you only see when the bright and unobstructed sun bleaches it without apology. We learned lupins were weeds, an invasive species that nonetheless lined highways with bursts of color every few meters.
it was winter everywhere else
