Fragile but beautiful

You know that feeling you get when you are completely in awe of the world around you? When the size of it bewilders you, the beauty almost makes you cry with gratitude, and the tranquillity makes you wonder just how lucky you are? That’s the feeling I experienced again and again when travelling a few days through the Mackenzie region.

It’s the expanse of this place, the sense of space and openness, combined with the little moments of joy or the vignettes of colour amongst a dry, parched summer, that touch me. Covering over 7000 square kilometres of some of the most outstanding landscapes in Aotearoa New Zealand, there’s something quite distinct about this place.

First up, the region boasts the world’s largest gold-tier status dark-sky reserve, meaning it has some of the purest night skies in the world. Street lighting is regulated not only with the amount of light that is allowed but also the direction