Bev Buist

Our route northwards from Te Anau took us inland through towns that had grown up during New Zealand's 19th century gold rush. The big finds of precious ore soon came to an end but not before prospectors had been enticed from all corners of the world, including Cornwall. Around the town of Cromwell there was a Cornish Point on the banks of the Clutha River, and a line of peaks on some nearby hills was called Carrick Range.
When the search for gold came to an end the towns had to find a new reason to exist, or die. Some found that the land was good for growing fruit, and all along our route there were stalls - some just sheds with a few small sacks of fruit and noone in attendance. At these you weighed and helped yourself to the fruit wanted and were trusted to leave the correct money. Others were large, supervised, warehouses with many big crates of fruit.

The town of Clyde was in the middle of 'fruit country' but we parked Tim in the main street not to buy fruit but to answer the call of nature.  I was very impressed with the public toilet facilities. I had seen something similar in big cities before but not in a tiny pocket of habitation in the middle of nowhere.
I was confronted by a row of polished metal cubicles with buttons that lit up and had to be pushed to open a door. Inside there was music, automatic flushing and hand washing facilities and more buttons to push when it was time to leave. A voice pronounced solemnly that I had a maximum of 10 minutes - but not what would happen if I overstayed my welcome.
Outside there was an aluminium mural to one side and a living/growing wall on the other
I was in the process of taking a photo of this building of civic importance into which considerable thought had clearly gone when I inadvertently caught on film a lovely lady called Bev Buist.

Bev recovered her composure quickly after being taken by surprise and photographed leaving the public conveniences and we had a good chat.
Bev was on her way from her home in Dunedin to a family wedding in Cromwell. She and her husband were also about to move house; into a property that a couple had had built for themselves but then never moved into because they split up. Bev looked suitably sad when telling this story but couldn't resist a broad smile when she described how lovely the house is.
Then she agreed to pose for a proper photograph.