Props to Steve for the time he spent researching potential campgrounds prior to our South Island trip. He found a website called "rankers" that shows rankings and feedback from all regions of New Zealand on campgrounds and other attractions. One campground that was highly ranked was Moke Lake, a Department of Conservation site about 20 minutes outside of Queenstown.
After making our way through Queenstown, and on the tail end of a long day of travel, that last 20 minutes felt like 2 hours as we climbed into the hills toward the campground! I was starting to wonder if Moke Lake actually existed, but sure enough, we soon arrived. The campground host was an extremely friendly older woman who directed us to set up camp wherever we desired. That's another interesting thing about the DOC campground sites...they aren't numbered, so you just drive around, pick a spot you like, and hope to heck that someone doesn't get too cozy by setting up really close to you! We chose a nice big spot, fairly close to the water. Even though it was pretty cold, the rain let up and we set up our tents quickly:
I got busy making burritos for dinner in our camp kitchen. Yum! Nothing like a belly full of beans and cheese before a long night of tent sharing.
After dinner, the kids took out our cricket set and began playing in the small field adjacent to our camp. Pretty soon, they recruited us all to play. We had a blast.
The next morning dawned clear and sunny and beautiful! We spent a good part of the day in Queenstown (next post), but still had time for fishing and taking walks and relaxing at Moke Lake:
Despite valiant and patient efforts, especially from Grandpa and Cameron, we didn't catch any fish on our whole trip! Oh wait, Steve is reminding me that Ray caught one, but it was pretty tiny. Luke and Landon had no interest in fishing, but really enjoyed exploring and looking at the horses.
Thumbs up from Steve (on behalf of us all) for Moke Lake! Nights 4/5 ---
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