The man who shot a viral video of a car packed with three calves in South Auckland says the unexpected popularity of the footage has brought back great memories.
Scotsman James Alexander was driving in Pukekohe last October when he saw a car passing him with an unusual set of
passengers in the backseat.
"My friend was driving and I said to [him], 'I've just seen three calves drive past in the car, you need to catch that car'.
"So we drove up to it and I said, 'There's three f***ing calves in the car! Three f***ing calves'," he said, bursting into peals of laughter at the memory.
"Three calves and their arses all sticking out the window. I can't believe it. And how do you . . . It wasn't a huge car. It was just a wee car."
He uploaded the video to his personal Facebook page, and nearly eight months later it made its way to the 'Only in New Zealand' Facebook page, where it's racked up more than 130,000 views.
A friend who recognised Alexander's voice told him yesterday that his video had appeared on the Herald website, which was the first time Alexander, a health and safety officer, realised he'd accidentally gone viral.
"That's never ever happened to me before. I think something that was so innocent and so funny, it's really appealed to people all over the world. I think it shows New Zealand in a great light," he said.
Reading through all the Facebook comments today reminded the father of two how funny he'd found the whole incident.
"That just made our whole month. I love it. I really love it."
Alexander didn't know who sent his video to the page, but he agreed three calves in the back of a car was something you'd only see in New Zealand.
"It's something you would never see in Scotland," he said.
"We were all in stitches. I've never seen that in my life before."
Originally from a town outside of Glasgow, Alexander has lived in New Zealand for 22 years.
Popping three calves in the back of a car was a reflection of the laid-back Kiwi lifestyle he'd come to recognise, he said.
"Like 'oh we'll go drop the kids off and then we'll go get the calves'."
Alexander's work as a health and safety officer didn't give him pause for concern about the unorthodox arrangement.
He took his work seriously while on the job but it was important to be able to laugh in unusual situations, he said.
He thought the cows were probably having a better time in the car than they would in a trailer anyway.
"It's nice and soft seats where they can relax and then fart out the window."