While we're all isolating, we want to keep showing you our great country. Stuff Travel's Back Your Backyard project offers Kiwis a chance to see their country from the safety of home, and hopes to give you some ideas once we're allowed to travel again. Join us as we showcase the best Aotearoa has to offer.



I've always thought if I could travel back in time and visit a part of New Zealand before mass tourism became an issue, it would be Mackenzie Region. It's the snowy heart of the Southern Alps - home to our tallest mountains and bright blue glacial lakes, like Tekapo and Pukaki.

But in recent years, there's no hiding, it became overrun with tourists. In 2020 alone, more than a million were expected to set eyes on Lake Tekapo. But the hordes of tourists are no more; you'd have to rewind more than 50 years to see anything similar.

BROOK SABIN Lake Pukaki is fed by the Tasman and Hooker glaciers.

So, for the rest of the year - with the borders expected to remain closed - Mackenzie Region is going to be like stepping back in time. You have to look for silver linings in bleak situations, and one of them will be that we get to experience this treasure without the crowds; a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Read about my experience visiting the region last year here, and I'm certain after taking a look, you'll also be adding stargazing at Tekapo Springs on an underwater hammock to your bucket list too.

READ MORE:

* New Zealand's new tourism boom towns

* Tekapo: New Zealand's most beautiful view

* You don't need to go anywhere: Why Tekapo is better than Iceland

Follow us on instagram.com/stufftravelnz for travel inspiration, and tag #backyourbackyard with your photos for a chance to be featured on Stuff. Please remember to stay home, and only use previously captured. This series was filmed and photographed prior to the coronavirus outbreak.

