Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand

December 2015

Central Otago is an area of inland Otago about three to four hours drive from Dunedin—Otago’s capital city that sits on the east coast and our temporary home for six months. Like Lake Tekapo, we visited this area on two separate occasions. For Christmas Marielle and I went to Wanaka followed by a relaxing weekend in Queenstown. One of the more remarkable areas of our visit was the drive to and walk along the Rob Roy Glacier Track located in Mt. Aspiring National Park. The drive to get there is about an hour outside of Wanaka, made so long only by eighty percent of the drive being on a dirt road that follows Matukituki River to the base of the hiking trail. When my brother, Adam, came to visit us in February, we decided it was worth another visit and added it to our extended weekend adventure to Milford Sound. 

Both Queenstown and Wanaka hold their respective jewels and are therefore equally unique and wonderful. One point of awe however must be pointed out as what visitors and locals alike have lovingly come to know as the Wanaka Tree. It sits alone about ten to fifteen meters off the shores of Lake Wanaka, but seems to float in solitude, gently grazing the water's surface. Queenstown has the Remarkables—an aptly named mountain range that lies just south of the lakeside town—among many other moments of discovered joy. These two towns receive their rightful attention by summer hikers and swimmers and winter skiers and boarders and as a result can be heavily trafficked all year. But each allows you a personal greeting when you can find moments of quiet one-on-one time somewhere seemingly made just for you.

Though most of the photos are of the Rob Roy Glacier Track, Queenstown in particular will be remembered by me as a Christmas spent in the summer, far away from home or family. Though it wasn’t exactly how I would imagine spending Christmas, there was something wonderful and certainly unique about the trip. It was a trip meant to be spent firstly on tiring and long hikes only to earn the second half of quiet comfort in a fancy hotel. What I will often remember are the walks from the hotel into town holding Marielle's hand. We saw Star Wars there and ate well. That Christmas wasn't much like the white ones we'd come to know in New York, nor the warm family ones from our childhood, but we did have each other.