Queenstown, New Zealand

Sunday, February 5: Well, we found out that the church is true. Sunday morning we woke up early (for us, 8 AM is early,) showered, checked out of the campground, and caught a bus to Frankton where the Queenstown branch meets in a tiny but functional building. We were a couple of minutes late, so the meeting had already started, but we left our packs outside and snuck in to the back of the small room that sacrament meeting was being held in. There were probably about 20-25 of us there, and at least 6 of us were visitors. They said that was a pretty standard turn out for the Queenstown branch. It was really great to be there. It was fast and testimony meeting so we were able to get to know some of the members from their testimonies. One girl who was probably around 20 was the Y/W President, her 18 year old sister was her counselor and their 16 year old sister was their only young woman. That would make for an interesting Mutual activity. It was a really feel-good meeting with very faithful and humble members. We stuck around for sunday school and relief society/priesthood so I thought we were going to attend our first 3 hour block of church since our vacation began, but it turns out small branches only meet for 2 1/2 hours. Ha. So we didn't get the three hours in, but we did attend all of our meetings.

So after church Clark talked to the counselor in the branch presidency, Mark Scott, about some advice on where to camp and what to see. So Brother Scott told us that he would give us a ride out to a beautiful place and we could stay there if we wanted or we could just look around. We didn't want to intrude or be a burden, but he insisted that he had nothing to do until 8 when he needed to pick his wife up from work. (The story about his wife is to come, and it's a good one so I would keep reading if I were you.) We mentioned that we needed to buy a camera the next day and wondered if he could recommend a good place to do that. He said we wouldn't want to see Glenorchy (the place he was taking us) without a camera, so he took us to a shopping center where we got our new camera that we are going to glue to ourselves so we don't lose it. We stopped at Brother Scott's house for about a half hour to charge the camera and he showed us a website he has created. He is a cement truck driver by trade, but is hoping that in a few years he will be able to retire and his website will fund his retirement. His site is about Queenstown and everything it has to offer. We ended up booking our bungy jump though his website a few days later, so he made a few bucks off our jump.

After our camera battery had enough juice we hopped into his campervan and started driving along Lake Wakatipu towards Glenorchy which is a tiny town at the head of the lake about 45 minutes North-West of Queenstown. The drive itself was so beautiful. We stopped at several lookouts to take photos. Lake Wakatipu is so clear that its color is determined by the color of the sky. So on a really clear day, especially in the morning the lake is unbelievably blue. Here are a few photos from our drive to Glenorchy.

All these photos look the same but they are all so beautiful, I couldn't narrow it down.

The amazing thing was that there were no ski boats on the lake. Ever. Even on the weekends. It was so weird and such a shame to see a lake with perfectly smooth water and no ski boats. And it doesn't even cost to launch your boat!

You can see how clear the water is. We were probably about 150 feet away from the water and you can count the rocks until it drops off. Some parts of the lake are up to 420 meters deep. Thats 1380 feet deep! Its almost eerie how clear the water is with a lake that deep.

As soon as we arrived in Glenorchy we were leaving it again. Thats how small the town is. We stopped at the head of the lake where the river feeds it and enjoyed the view from the jetty.

After we looked around for a minute we carried on past Glenorchy and then it really started to look like The Lord of the Rings. They actually did shoot some of the first movie just a few miles down the road. I'll let the photos speak for themselves even though they don't capture the grandeur of the mountains and the true turquoise of the river.

There were heaps of sheep (picking up on the lingo)

Beautiful forest where we could have and would have camped if we had more food on us, but we didn't want to make Brother Scott drive us back to Glenorchy to load up. We didn't realize how beautiful it was going to be. 

This is the back of Brother Scott's head. At church I thought he just had bead head, but after our drive I realized is was from driving his camper van with the window down.

The campervan.
 There are hundreds of these vans all over Queenstown, mostly driven by tourists who have hired them for their vacation. But they are far more accessible than they are in the states. Loads of people own their own like Brother Scott, and use them to see New Zealand. Americans need to learn a lesson from the rest of the world and learn how to enjoy and make time for travel.

Look at that river! It was unreal. Brother Scott said there are usually dozens of huge trout hanging around in this pool area but we couldn't see any. He then became determined to find the trout and stopped at about three other spots to look for them. We didn't complain because it meant we were able to see more scenery.

The forest floor was covered in bright and pale green moss.

The swing bridge that crossed the river into the forest. It was surprisingly unstable. 

The water was so clear that Clark couldn't help himself. Then a couple that were sitting near the river scared him with stories of birds pooping up stream and microscopic bugs. But Brother Scott reassured him that it was ok and he's still alive, so the water is as pure as it looks. 

This is to prove how clear the water was and/or how good our camera is. We were probably 30 feet above the river and you can see the spots on the side of this trout. Brother Scott finally found them, but he said they are usually three times the size of this one. 

Unreal, right? 

Can't you just see Gandalf wading across this river? Well he probably did?

 The pictures really don't do justice to the places we saw. Clark declared it the most beautiful place he'd ever been, and I'd second that. It was breathtaking and walking around out there really makes you forget about the rest of the world. It's just you, nature, and God (and the few backpackers wondering around.) It really was painful heading back to Queenstown because we knew it will probably be years before we will have a chance to see it again. No one should live life without seeing this with their own eyes. Have I talked you into it yet?