Mattie Tries to Be Outdoorsy

Up and out early, I left Queenstown for Lake Tekapo-- a tiny town of 300 people. The four hour journey was a bit out of my way, but Tekapo is in the Dark Sky Reserve, one of the darkest skies in the world. I just hoped the weather would cooperate! There was snowfall in the area, and temperatures to match-- it's been in the twenties. Seems I didn't get enough of it at Hamilton-- Brr!

I quickly saw that even if the weather didn't hold up, it would still be worth it. The colors here are incredible. It's as if my surroundings were painted. The water is a brilliant shape of turquoise. This is because of a mineral found in the crushed rock that hangs In the water. I've never seen water this color, it's as if someone dumped massive amounts if food dye in the lake. At my hostel in Dunedin the man behind the counter told me about the little church you see in the picture, The Church of the Good Sheoard. As you can see it's tiny, but for some reason it's quite the tourist attraction. Beside it is a statue of a collie dog in honor of all the dogs who made living there possible.

I spent the rest of the day taking a hike. It was mostly successful-- until it started snowing. I quickly went back after that!

Back at the hostel, the receptionist was beyond thrilled when she saw my name. Tekapo is in "Mackenzie Country" and thus everything seems to belong to me-- Mackenzie's cafe, Mackenzie's street, Mackenzie Tavern ect. It has been pretty exciting. It's named after James Mackenzie a convicted sheep rustler.

As you can see the weather wasn't cooperating. Clouds were rolling on in, and despite my demands they weren't budging. After dinner I decided it was time to see the sky--I was worried it wouldn't cooperate.

Headlight on I headed out into the dark with my special "stars playlist." The sky was completely cloudy except for a small patch. Even in that small part there were more stars than I've ever seen. I went to a zip line type swing for fun beside the water. I had found it that afternoon, and had multiple people videotape me doing it (which was a bit weird.) Having done it a few times with my headlight on, and feeling overly confident I decided I wanted to see if my camera could pick up any of the stars in a movie. I shot off into the dark, holding my camera in one hand and on for dear life with the other. It didn't work. But, I now have a 15 second video of complete black where you hear the zip line, then a thud and then laughing. I couldn't see where the zipline ended and the force of it swing me forward connecting my jaw with my fist. I have a small faint bruise and a bit of a sore jaw after technically punching myself in the face.

Within an hour the sky began to clear-- two hours later I was standing under a clear night sky. I could see the entire Milky Way it lookd as if the sky had folded itself inside out revealing more stars with a deep purple backdrop. I tried to take a picture-- and accidentally (and quite unflatteringly) caught myself looking just a bit enthusiastic. The picture doesn't nearly do it justice, there were so many more stars than my camera could capture.

Needless to say-- it was worth it. I can't wait for tonight.