Mirrormere, Isengard & Lothlórien

4.5.

We rose with the view of a beautiful lake surrounded by the large friends of other travelling parties. Our large friend Bill-Errol Took, better known as Bert, seemed a bit small in comparison to some of his colleagues but none of them have a Mordor sign in the front, so he is obviously on a much more important quest. Part of a quest of hobbits is obviously food and our stocks have been running low. We returned to the charming settlement of Queenstown where we first stepped foot on the lands of Middle Earth. Here we fed Bert and acquired new nourishment for us. Then we intended to climb the hill on which wargs crossed the paths with the fellowship of the ring. However, the path was blocked and we could not pass (we would have had to apply for entry beforehand in the invisible library of all things). Instead we started a new quest to the Mirrormere, where Durin once saw the mirrors of the mountains and where the crown of Durin lies. For this we had to go far up the Misty Mountains. Bert carried us far up past magnificent views above settlements below. Yet, as a large friend he could only carry us so far. Like Bill the Pony, we had to leave him behind at some point to continue on foot. Finally, we reached the Dimrill Dale and there we spotted the Mirrormere. There we rested for a bit, gazing at the mountains and mere. On our way down, we halted to look upon the hill of which we had tried to reach earlier that day. Evening came and we set camp next to another part of Anduin river.

5.5.

We set out for Isengard that morning. Hopeful that we were too small for Saruman to spot us, we left our camp and headed off past the lake of Queenstown. Up and down a winding road we went until we reached the Isen. To be able to see Orthanc we had to use our inner eye and pass into the realms of Middle Earth, as it is not visible in the realm where this place is called new Zealand. From here we moved on through the enchanted forest of Lothlorien on to the other side of Isengard. Here we rested on the fields of victory to enjoy some well earned comforts. Few other travellers past us here and gave us some confused looks, but they are probably not used to seeing halflings lounging on folding chairs next to a road in between the mountains enjoying a cup of tea. We continued on past the Edge of Lothlorien and reached the resting place for the night. When we wanted to prepare our dinner something terrible happened: we ran out of gazious wood for our cooking campfire. We knew this would happen eventually at some point on our journey with Bert, so we had food packed that we would not need our inside campfire. Nevertheless it still reduces our quality of living by miles as Bert does not have any heating. It is currently the end of autumn or rather the beginning of winter in the southern hemisphere and New Zealand can get cold. We are happy if the daytime temperature is above 10 degree which is survivable with three layers of clothing and a mug of hot tea to warm up. At night it is something around 0 degrees. So to be able to sleep we rely on four layers of blankets, adjustable layers of clothing and mainly hot water bottles. With the next place where we could fill up on wood too far away to reach (same with any place where we could connect Bert to power which would allow us to heat him in other ways) we decided that we would survive the night like this. So we cuddled up in each two layers of clothing and four layers of blankets watching the stories of Vikings before falling asleep with many stars twinkling overhead.

6.5.

We woke up a bit stiff from too many layers of clothing but we were decently warm actually. We usually eat a hot bowl of porridge in the morning. This day we had to rely on muesli with soymilk. Don't get me wrong that is a great breakfast, but with a temperature of three degrees inside your living space a hot breakfast is very welcome. But I have complained enough now, the scenery around us was still absolutely stunning and our plan was to hike up a mountain and find the wizards vail. And that’s what we did. Following a winding path up a mountain, through an enchanted forest full of fairies and bowtruckles, crossing crystal clear streams and climbing over moss covered tree trunks we gradually moved upwards. We met few other beings, just a couple of other lonely adventurers travelling along the path. After another look at our map we had to discover that the climbing up to the wizards vail would be 2 hours longer than we had anticipated and we could not hope to reach our destination and get back during daylight. Yet as the journey was still stunning we were not disheartened. After a lunch break over looking a small waterfall we made our way back to Bert. 2 hours later we set off back towards Queenstown. There we finally refilled our wood. As a treat for the night we actually paid to get a hot shower. After 24 hours without anything warm we were quite ready for that (also we really needed a shower after the hike).

7.5.

The sun rose and so did we. We had rested at the same spot as we had two nights ago next to the river Anduin. To be precise it is close to the Pillars of Kings. There is a bridge that crosses the canyon where people take all their courage and jump into the abyss only tight to a rope. We watched a person jump and were really tempted to channel our inner Gryffindor to do that too, yet we were discouraged by the high prices and decided to move these plans to a later day. Rather we set off for the Ford of Bruinen which is set in the lovely place called Arrowtown. The place was full of golden autumn trees with the sun shining through the branches. It was a magical place after all it borders Rivendell, so what do you expect. In this town, lies also the Gladden fields where the Ring betrayed Isildur and he was slain by Orcs. Thankfully, the Ring did not betray us as we took our traditional Ring video next to the not so deep and roaring river as Peter Jackson would make you believe. From there we ventured north, always following the path towards mount doom.