Dr Sinclair's Grave, Mesopotamia

Today I joined Mike from the local store on the mail run to Mesopotamia, the last homestead on the Rangitata Gorge, 50 kilometres along the winding gravel road from Peel Forest.

The drive along the gorge is full of amazing vistas, with the snow capped mountains of the McLeod, Two Thumbs and Harper ranges rising from the river flats. Suffice to say, it's a heck of a rural delivery run!

Mesopotamia, as you'd expect from such a name, is a land between the rivers; the Potts, Havelock, Clyde and of course mighty Rangitata. It's situated in wide flood plain of these braided rivers, surrounded by mountains.

In a small cemetery at the end of the road stands the last resting place of Dr Andrew Sinclair, naval surgeon, naturalist and colonial administrator of Sir George Grey, the 3rd Governor General of New Zealand.

Dr Sinclair was drowned in the Rangitata in 1861 as he tried to cross between Erewhon and Mesopotamia stations whilst assisting Julius Von Haast as the noted naturalist explored the inland interior.

Fittingly Sinclair rests in the shadow of a peak named in his honour, Mt Sinclair, seen here in the background beyond the matagouri bushes.