Tay Street – Invercargill

I rolled through the city of Invercargill. I’m never too sure what to make of Invercargill. Whenever I’m there, the place always seems to have a quiet, sleepy feel. This occasion was no different. I had a look around by walking up one side of the main shopping district and back down the other. It was quiet, very very quiet. I walked a total of four city blocks and only saw a handful of people the entire time. This seemed strange, even for Invercargill. The city itself was surveyed by British civil engineer John Turnbull Thomson who emigrated to New Zealand in early 1856 before  working as Chief Surveyor of the Otago Province until 1873. I began thinking about him, as I crossed a depressingly empty street. By the time I reached the other side, I decided he must have been an optimist. Someone with a utopian vision for New Zealand’s southernmost city. Why else would he design the streets so humongously wide? Honestly, they seem massively wide. You could sail the RMS Titanic along the main street and still have room for the RMS Carpathia to come to its rescue.