So much rubbish strewn across our lovely landscape

We’re rapidly reaching the end of another strange year disrupted by social lockdowns and restrictions, and I’m guessing most people won’t be sad to see the end of it.

Of course our beautiful visitor hotspots in Fiordland, around the southern coast and on Stewart Island/Rakiura have been badly affected by the lack of visitors but I’ve got my fingers crossed that the new traffic light system will have doors opening and tills ringing again to some extent as domestic travel becomes more attainable with My Vaccine Passes.

Meanwhile, out in Southland’s rural communities the wheels of industry have kept turning at a great rate.

The awesome thing about Southlanders is that we’re generally productive and resilient types, who get on with the job no matter what challenges get thrown in our direction.

The fact that rural people are always so busy is one of the main reasons that Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks and I hatched our Farmgate vaccination tour early in November.

With rural people flat out working on their farms as summer approached, getting into town for a Covid jab wasn’t as simple as hopping in the ute and driving a few blocks to the nearest centre.

We thought taking mobile vaccination clinics to rural areas was a better way of giving those people a chance to protect themselves and their families without having to take half a day or more off work.

And so it proved, with around 400 people taking up the offer. We were rapt with the turnout and the great feedback we got.

This week Mayor Tracy and I have been out and about again for Farmgate Tour 2, bringing our caravans to 25 communities right across Southland so that those who were vaccinated last time could get their followup jabs.

I don’t have the final numbers as I’m writing this, but I know that this concept is a good one and I’m thrilled we were able to do this for our communities.

What I’m not so thrilled about is what I’ve seen as I’ve towed my caravan around hundreds of kilometres of Southland roads in the past month.

In fact, it’s made me quite grumpy and that’s not something I enjoy this close to Christmas.

I’ll be blunt. There’s a heck of a lot of roadside rubbish blotting our beautiful landscapes.

I’ve seen way more plastic, cans and bottles, cardboard and even household rubbish than I’ve ever noticed before in my local travels, and I’m not happy about it.

As we all know, it hasn’t come from the hordes of visitors who’ve been flocking to Southland in the past 12 months, because there haven’t been any.

This is graphic, unattractive evidence of Southlanders littering Southland.

I’m not going to deny that there has always been an element of this happening – a small minority of people who think it’s OK to empty their car boots or even trailers of their rubbish in any obscure location they can find.

But I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed as much rubbish dumped in full view on our roadsides as I’ve seen in the past month.

There’s no attempt being made to hide the evidence.

We’re getting too free and easy with our litter, folks. People have even been dumping their household rubbish, including old mattresses, in the skip bins at the Lumsden Railway Precinct.

For goodness’; sake, let’s have some pride in the place we live in.

Through our partnership with WasteNet, Southland District Council provides plenty of purpose-built outlets for you to take your rubbish, green waste and recycling, and in some areas we offer a roadside wheelie bin service.

The transfer stations are there to be used, and there’s only a small fee charged to help keep the operations running.

We live in a lovely spot, with some of the most stunning scenery in the country. Let’s respect the land and be thankful for what it gives back to us.

That’s my last gripe for this column this year. I’m going to end on a much brighter note.

I want to wish you all a happy, peaceful, relaxing Christmas and New Year. I hope you stay healthy and safe and have the opportunity to relax with your families and friends.

Be kind to each other, and bring on 2022.