Anduin, Fangorn & Milford Sound

Our tale continues. Our way leads us into the deapth of middle earth. We feel the power of the ring growing as our journey draws closer to its end, but we still have many leagues to go and beautiful places to find and oh let me tell you about the places we have seen the past couple of days, beautiful is to simple a word to describe the magnificence of the pictures only mother nature can create.

30.4

A new dawn was rising. The sky over the forest we stayed in was painted red and gold. The two Hobbits, who's story is told here were sleeping soundly, hiding from the cruel grasp of the frost underneath five blankets. We rose when the little glen we stayed in was reached by the first rays of sunlight. To prepare ourselves for the many adventures of that day we had a hearty breakfast on the shores of a beautiful forest lake. Then we travelled on. Our direction this time: north! We followed the winding road up, up, up until we reached a mighty river. There, we left our large friend behind and the two of us wandered on the western shore of the river searching the right spot. The river next to us was at least partially the big river Anduin, which the fellowship followed on three small boats gifted to them by the Lady Galadriel from Lorièn until their fellowship split up and followed different paths. We are not a horde of Uruk-hais capable of forming our own path so we followed what seemed to be a small footpath next to the river. But we were soon betrayed. As soon as it was too far for us to turn around the path disappeared, leaving us caught between the freezing river and a steep cliff. The only options: turning back and admitting defeat, finding a way up the cliff or swimming. With a temperature of less then 12 °C we decided against swimming and turning back was no real option for us, so we climbed. The few bushed growing on the riverbank helped us up. Our mountaineering expertise and our knowledge on how hard it is to cause a stone avalanche aquired in Chimgan, Uzbekistan (we will forever curse and remember you Small Chimgan!) helped us almost to the top. The last 2 m of the cliff was rising straight up in front of us, the problem: the cliff was made up of dirt and small stones, that could easily be pulled out of the cliff and therefore offered no help in reaching the top. At last we found a spot where our combined strength allowed us to reach the top. Covered in dust and laughing that we found ourselves once again in a situation where all paths disappeared (this time maps.me was not even involved). And then we reached the lookout point. From that point we could see the roaring river rushing past below us. Anduin the great showed itself in it's full glory. We drove on to another point, where Peter Jackson ordered his crew to capture the might of the river. Dusty and happy we drove on, further north to the small village of Te Anau. It is a charming village on the shore of the lake Te Anau, a huge waterhole next to the high mountains of the Fjordland. At this point the sky sent down buckets of water, so our village explorations were cut short. In that town we refreshed our large friend for our long trip planed the next day. We retired to bed on the northern end of lake Te Anau in a small forest.

1.5

It was day six since we left Christchurch. For the second time since then we awoke with the wish for a shower. Sadly public showers usually cost too much gold for two travelling Hobbits, but we found ourselves on the shores of a fresh, clear glacier lake. So as the sun rose we put on our Bikinis, grabbed our ecological soap, our pot and towels and headed to the lake. It was cold. It was less then 10 °C outside. But we survived and were ready to tackle the day. Our quest that day: Milford Sound. It is the place everyone kept on recommending to us, so social pressure forced us to make the drive to the distant Fjord. To be honest: The way there was truly beautiful. We passed open plains, tall mountains, rocky cliffs with small waterfalls and quiet lakes. We stopped several times just to marvel at the view over the mountains and after two hours we reached Milford Sound. We decided to not do one of the horrendiously overpriced boat cruises, but walked along the side of the Fjord on foot. It is truly a beautiful spot on this planet filled with all kind of wonders. In the afternoon, we started the long drive back down serpentine roads. We stopped at one point next to a bright blue river fed by the surrounding glacier to wash our hair (a cold endevour) and then ventured on, past all the beautiful viewpoints to a quiet camping ground run by an old, superfriendly guy called Andy.

2.5

The next morning we left Andy's place behind to find the hidden secrets of the old forest of Fangorn. For that thrilling endevour we headed up a winding, gravel road. The road was rather long, but also a dead end, so we decided to first drive through the beautiful landscape of hills and forests and stop to explore on the way back. The combination of the magnificent view and the gravel road slowed our progress to a crawl. We did not care at all, but the middle aged guy in his pick up truck, driving behind us did. When we reached the end of the road he pulled over next to us, I was ready to hear that if we were to go any slower we would go backwards, but the guy behind us was surprisingly kind. In the parallel universe where New Zealand is called Middle earth he would probably be called Treebeard, for he was the owner of the land and the forest and he gave us the right instruction and permission to find the true fangorn forest as it hides behind a gate and a big sign warning people to stay out. We spend some time exploring the forest and the hills surrounding it. After some time of walking and wondering we returned to our large friend and continued on to the small town called Lumsden. Is it a spectacular place? Not really. It has a nice camping ground though, so we stayed there that night.

3.5

On we hurried. North. Fueled by porridge and apples we followed new roads, some smooth some made out of tiny stones and sand. Our destination that day were two lakes, close to one another. But our first stop was on the fields of Rohan, where brown, grassy hills reach a forests edge and mark the spot where a hundred Uruk-hai once fell under the force of the shining spears of the Rohirrim. From there on we made it to the river junction of the Silverload and the Anduin. A place of surreal peace and quiet. We just stood on a creaking bridge for a long while and listened to the sound of birds chirping and watched the water plants move in the current of the cristal clear water. Shortly before noon we reached the second, bigger lake. It's shores mark the point of the breaking of the fellowship of the ring, for in the surrounding woods Boromir son of Denethor died and Frodo and Sam crossed that lake, that bears the name Anduin in that universe, to set our to Mordor alone. We explored the riverbank and the forest before we decided to make use of the warm sun and took a shower with the fresh, cold and clear lake water. The sun was warm, but it was still no more that 12 °C. After that cool refreshing endevour we ate lunch on the lake shore and spend the hours talking and reheating in the sunshine. Before the sun began to hide behind the mountains, we packed our stuff and left that beautiful piece of land to head further north, to new adventures and lands we haven't explored yet. But that is to be told in other chapters.