Many of my travel-savvy friends have told me that New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Having never been myself, I can only take their word on it. But the fact that the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the upcoming film The Hobbit were all filmed there makes me think I should visit as soon as I possibly can.

Trey Ratcliff recognizes the beauty in the country, and decided to showcase it in an epic time-lapse video, which he calls 30 Days and 30 Nights in Queenstown.

I shot and edited the entire piece myself here in Queenstown, New Zealand. All of the shots are from this little fertile crescent. I get many questions about that interior shot, and that is from the Commonage Villas ( http://www.commonagevillas.com/ ). I stayed there for about a month while house-shopping, and I think it has some of the best views in Queenstown! Besides that location, every shot was less than a fifteen minute drive from my home.

He says that he put over 300 hours of work into the project and compiled over tens of thousands of photos in the process (not all of which he used, obviously). Nevertheless, it’s a wonderful achievement and mandatory viewing if you have around six minutes to spare (and I know you do).

Oh, and you can thank Hans Zimmer for the epic soundtrack.

Check it out below: