NEWSFLASH..... Santa had a crash in New Zealand and wont be available for annual events... anymore...

Part of the fun of getting off the beaten track in rural New Zealand is finding oddball and quirky things out of nowhere. I think this image definitely qualifies as an odd and very quirky thing to find in rural NZ.

My wife and I were exploring the Western Bay of Plenty a while ago (strangely enough around Christmas...) and while looking at the beautiful lake and hill vistas of Rotoiti - turned a corner on the dirt road we were following and found this. Dead. Santa.

Upon closer inspection, it looks like Santa may have been over the limit, got a bit brave on his mountain bike and failed to land a double grab superman sweeper with a huge acid drop, culminating in a mistimed nose stall... and a face plant into a row of rural mailboxes.

Quite a trick if he had landed it, but he didn't so no more Xmas's.... ever again!

I might add, we found him on Boxing day but a bit too late. He had passed on to that big toy making wonderland in the sky.

But seriously.... losses aside, photographically speaking - I love the contrast here between the contrasting red and the greens, the rural isolation, and of course the subject matter. Whoever thought this would be more interesting than a traditional nativity scene gets 2x thumbs up from me!

Click the image to be taken to the NZphotobook gallery to see more curated images.

Check back here often, or follow the path to LinkedIn and Instagram where I'll be prodding the public with a beg to vote for an image to stay, or go for a final cut before publishing. There might even be a YouTube video or 2 of the story behind the image... you just never know...