A very big insect

This very big insect was sitting on my path this morning. I'd never seen anything like it before and freaked out and rang the Ministry of Ag and Fisheries, thinking it might be some foreign invasive species that you hear about every now and then in the news. The guy on the phone first said I should look up the protectnz site, and then suggested I put the insect in the freezer overnight and then send it in to MAF for identification. Well, I'm glad I didn't go along with that advice, cos it turns out it's a lovely harmless native dragonfly, or kapokapowai. It's so pretty! And so fucking huge! It normally hangs out in wetlands, so I'm not sure what it was doing hanging out in suburban Wadestown. Maybe the horrendous winds we are having at the moment blew it off course. Check it out - these guys mature in the mud for five to six years in their larval state.