Daily Photo – Carlin Creek, Jacks Point & Frankton

I returned to the car and drove along a glorious, yet winding road to Jack’s Point, a resort on the edge of Lake Wakatipu framed by the dramatic, snow-covered peaks of the Remarkables on one side and rocky tussock covered hills on the other. Driving past these mountains, I couldn’t help but think how New Zealand manages to pull off grandeur with an unconcerned casualness that suggests it couldn’t care less. Here there are cliffs and ridgelines that in any other country would be accompanied by large neon signs, a theme park and a small gift shop selling cheap nic nac’s at alarming prices. Yet in New Zealand, you get a faintly apologetic lay-by with enough space for three cars and a weather-beaten sign that says simply Scenic Reserve. It’s the understatement that gets you.

The mountains rise with a nonchalance look of indifference – dark peaks climbing skyward, capped with a magnificent sweep of white that lingers well beyond winter and deep into spring. Below, sheep graze, blissfully unaware they’ve been granted one of the finest views on earth.

And here’s the curious thing: New Zealanders will politely nod at this magnificence, then tell you that the real treat is a pie from a family run bakery just down the road. That’s the enduring charm. In a land where the scenery can reduce you to stunned silence, the locals carry on, unimpressed – somehow making it more enduring