October 12th 2021: Woodworthia rachaelalis

I've realised over the years that I spend way more time on our coastline than I do in the mountains. Even though I love that feeling of falling snow and the promise of powder runs the next day, or alpine vistas that seem like you're living inside a painting, I just don't get there enough. So, last week when a commercial client sent me to Alexandra for a job, I got reacquainted with the beautiful Central Otago landscapes.

And it is stunning. At first glance it seems barren and jagged and inhospitable ... and mostly it is. Cold winters and scorching summers pour fuel on that story. But look a little closer and you'll find hidden dams, lakes, lichens, mosses, geckos, skinks and birds thriving there. I usually set up my tripod and track the sun and wait for the light to spill on all the right parts of the landscape in front of me. So, I get a lot of time to look closer. Sometimes face down in a rocky micro-scape, time a distant ideology.

This was how I found one particular dark brown splotchy gecko on my travels. It didn't seem to have a current description when I went searching online so I assumed immediately that it was a new species, with zero scientific basis for that decision, and named it after my wife. The Rachael gecko, or Woodworthia rachaelalis in Latin. About as long as my index finger, Woodworthia rachaelalis didn't hang around long enough for me to get a photo. But I will never forget the surpise look on its face when I found it. It was very similar to the surprised look on my wife's face when I told her I had named a gecko after her.

I discovered many new things about Central Otago during this trip – enough to want to return and explore more, at a slow pace, and to maybe even capture Woodworthia rachaelalis sunbaking near the entrance of her rock, or just making a real gecko of herself.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS If you haven't already got your signed copy of Surf Dreams, then we still have plenty of them right here. And my newest book Living The Dream is available for pre-order and ships at the start of November. Come on, your coffee table deserves something fresh ...