Glenorchy

At the end of the 46km drive from Queenstown sitting at the upper reaches of Lake Wakatipu lies the quiet and spacious small settlement of Glenorchy. With 28 kids at the local primary school, and tea towels being sold to fundraise the local church restoration, the town offers a glimpse back to a low-key New Zealand now largely reserved for towns off the beaten track.

But with New Zealand's great outdoors increasingly featuring on (if not topping) worldwide travel bucket lists, Glenorchy is no longer an isolated outpost. Thousands of travellers pass through the town each year to walk tracks such as the Routeburn and Rees Dart, and experience other natural treasures hidden deep within the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area.

Glenorchy is, in fact, rapidly moving forward, as evidenced by the recent opening of Camp Glenorchy, New Zealand's first net-zero-energy accommodation.

Camp Glenorchy, along with Mrs Woolly's General Store and Campground, forms part of The Headwaters, a charitable trust distributing the returns from these enterprises back to the community. So even as it becomes busier and more popular, its community is still firmly rooted in the nostalgic New Zealand way of life. glenorchy-nz.com