Back in 2015, whilst travelling around New Zealand, we found ourselves in the small and little-heralded South Island town of Twizel, which sits between the big tourist attractions of Queenstown, Lake Wanaka, Lake Tekapo and Aoraki / Mount Cook.

A slight mix-up involving bus timetables and hotel bookings meant we would be unexpectedly “stranded” there for about 27 hours.

Twizel (pronunciation wise, it “rhymes” with Tideswell) was established in the 1960s to house workers brought to the area to construct NZ’s largest hydro electric scheme, connecting the existing and newly created lakes with massive canals and a network of dams. It was only supposed to be a temporary town but was saved from the bulldozers by construction workers and their families, who had grown attached to their new homes and wanted to stay in the area. The Rough Guide to NZ suggests destruction would have been a “kinder fate”, which sounds a bit harsh.

Admittedly, it doesn’t have quite the same draw as its near neighbours of Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook, but it can’t be that bad, can it? 

We thought it seemed a little unfair. No need to be so dismissive. So we set out to prove them wrong – and found 27 things to do in Twizel in 27 hours.

We explored, we wandered, we watched the world go by. We made the most of every moment. We didn’t rush. We had some fun. We hugged trees and skimmed stones. We spotted wildlife. We stopped for coffee and cake (several times). We played crazy golf (of course).

We found a new place to call home for a day and we loved it.

You definitely can’t judge a book by its cover, or a place by a page in a guidebook (if it even has an entry).

You just need to keep exploring.

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