New Zealand, 2016

A few days ago I came back from New Zealand, hence my absence over the past week, and it was STUNNING. The lakes were so, so blue (I still can’t get over just how BLUE some of them were), gorgeous snow-covered mountains—some of which were so high that on cloudy days you couldn’t even see the top. We went to the south part of the South Island (next—I’d looooove to got to the South part of the North Island, and the North part of the South Island.)

It’s so HARD to find quite the right words to describe just how beautiful New Zealand is, so some of these pictures are just a fraction of the beautiful country.

Lake Hawea was so damn clear you could see right down to the very bottom. So clear you could see the clouds and mountains reflected in the water. Utterly STUNNING—thanks to the windless morning we were having. That mountain range was just outside Lake Hawea was equally was stunning in the late afternoon sunshine. New Zealand is an endless terrain of mountains and crystal lakes, and oh my gosh, I can easily say I’ve NEVER seen anything quite like it in my life.

Queenstown. Is. Gorgeous. I didn’t have my camera with me the day we actually went into the city (which I so, so, so regret) but the city sits overlooking Lake Wakatipu, with yet another stunningly turquoise lake. The pictures above are actually from the sky gondola going up and SO incredible seeing the city, and lake, from above.

Above, the Clifden Suspension Bridge crossed the Waiau River (top left) which was actually the River Anduin & Fanghorn Forest (bottom right) from The Lord of the Rings (!!!!!) So incredible to see where one of my favorite movies was filmed, and it’s hardly surprising why they chose NZ to be the filming location. Magic and beauty almost literally pours from the terrain. The waterfall was at Haast Pass, called Thunder Creek Falls—accurate, given the sound that came from it.

Aaaaaand, speaking of Haast Pass: the Gates of Haast (top right); the rushing river below the bridge (bottom left.)

Mount Cook/Aoraki was probably one of my favourite places in the entire trip. Nothing LOTR-related things here, but we did pass Twizel—where Middle-Earth’s Gondor and the Battle of Pelennor Fields was filmed. I literally could not get enough of Mount Cook; I could have walked all day long. Even though the top of Mount Cook is SO high it was completely covered in cloud, it was JUST as gorgeous as I hoped it would be. We crossed suspension bridges over roaring rivers, and it was very, very windy, so they literally swayed as we crossed them.

All in all: an incredible, breathtaking trip!!