Kiwis describe central Otago as "the heart of New Zealand" and it has been for us the most scenic part of this beautiful country so far.
This area includes Lake Wanaka, with its picture perfect lake, laid back town and fab cinema, where we watched The Hobbit 2 on comfy seats eating freshly baked cookies after a morning lazing in the sun sitting on a lookout high above the lake.
Queenstown also lies within this area, and although we found the town a little too commercial and touristy for us, the road out to Glen Orchy and into the mountains (Mount Aspiring, how good a name is that!) was the stuff of films, utterly unbelievable, and difficult to drive more than 5 minutes without stopping to take some more photos of the turquoise lake, misty mountains, shining braided river and alpine meadows.
