Not even ten minutes outside of Queenstown Sharyl took a right turn up away from Lake Wakatipu onto a winding mountain road. The road climbed into a narrow valley, and away from the crowded streets of Queenstown.
After a mile or so the road flattened out and turned from asphalt to gravel. The late afternoon sun, and the clouds rolling through were providing dramatic depth and lighting for the rugged mountains we were snaking our way through. We soon came upon a small lake and the road turned to one lane. Thankfully we hadn’t seen any other cars since turning off the highway 4 miles earlier, Sharyl navigated the single lane without issue, until an oncoming car forced her right up to the road edge in the RV as she expertly squeezed by. Moments later a small SUV came racing right up to us, appearing to want Sharyl to back the RV up over the 1/4 mile of single lane road she’d just driven!
A second later we were laughing, realizing it was Bubba trying to scare us. He quickly backed his car down the road for 200 yards to where it widened up and he could turn around, leading us down into what might be the most breathtaking mountain lake and valley I’ve ever seen.
With only a handful of campers and RVs spread over a large area we had an entire lakeside area to ourselves. As we got set up on the site Bubba made hot chocolate on his camp stove, and the three boys ran around. River discovered a love of hot chocolate, and Reef & Ola worked on a puzzle in the camper van for a bit.
After we were all set with camp for the night we went for a short walk around part of the lake, skipping stones, and getting a few family photos.
After a dinner of assorted items, and a bottle of “Mills Reef” wine (Sharyl bought it for the name), everyone got into a heated game of “spot it” a card game the McLean Ohana had brought with them that Reef turned out to be a natural at. Then it was lights out and the end of an unforgettable day.
At 6 am the next morning Sharyl was up, hoping to catch the mountains lighting up over the next 45 minutes. I joined her 20 min later, and we still had a 15 min wait before it was even starting to turn into a hint of light.
Gradually the hills lit up, but some cloud cover prevented a true sunrise - it was beautiful no less. We shot a time-lapse video of the camp as we were getting our coffee together and you can see some of the resident ducks scamper by. After a breakfast of scrambled eggs and hash browns - and Waffles for the boys - Bubba jumped in the lake for a swim. I quickly followed as did Ola and a naked River. Reef dipped his feet in but decided it was too cold. The ladies didn’t have any interest in a freezing swim at sunrise.
We then packed up, took a couple full group shots - couldn’t decide which background was better towards the lake or away from the lake, so we did both. Then much to the dismay of both Ola and Reef we parted ways, the McLeans starting the trek back towards Christchurch and on back to Maui, while we buckled up for the drive out of the valley - past some sheep - and on to Wanaka.
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