Keith - "Mayor", miner and clown.

Keith turned up late one night at a DOC campsite at Goldsborough, scene of a once thriving gold town not far from Hokitika. I was tucked up with a book, when he called to me through the tent,"hello neighbour" and began explaining how he'd stopped to assist a family having trouble with their car. "New Zealand would be a cold place if we didn't help one another," he said. Keith's been visiting Goldsborough for decades - doing his own prospecting - and says that in the past people have jokingly referred to him as the "mayor". But he explained that in real life he is a professional clown and works with disadvantaged children in Hanover, in Germany. He met his German wife-to-be at Goldsborough when she was visiting New Zealand nearly four years ago. They've since married, and he'd come back to NZ to attend to some business and family matters, before returning. But he couldn't resist trying his hand at a little prospecting.