All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.

Twelve years ago, I saw The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time. It eventually settled into the lofty position of Derek’s favorite movie ever, where I suspect it will remain forever. My favorite scene in that movie, and my favorite scene in any movie, is the last one. Most of it was shot at North Mavora Lake, which has therefore been the one place in the world I’ve wanted to go to more than any other.

The trip happened because a bunch of people wanted to hike the Kepler Track. I had already done this last month, but I saw an opportunity to do something else. I went in one of the two Kepler-bound cars and dropped the others off in Te Anau on Friday. On Sunday, I met them at the Rainbow Reach trailhead, where they ended their hike. This was a mutually beneficial arrangement because they got transport from one trailhead to another on Sunday, thereby cutting out a few hours of the most boring section of the track, and I got a car and a weekend all to myself.

The following map shows where I drove between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. I spent Friday night in Te Anau, Saturday at North Mavora Lake, Saturday night at the Borland Lodge, Sunday morning at Borland Pass (“Unnamed Road”), Sunday midday at Lake Monowai, and Sunday afternoon at Manapouri and Rainbow Reach. Sunday evening was for driving back to Dunedin, which you should know by now is not on that map.

Saturday’s sunrise cast a decent alpenglow over the Jackson Peaks, so I enjoyed the view for a couple minutes on Lake Te Anau, then drove east. Most of the drive to the Mavora Lakes was on a dirt road, but it was a nice dirt road, so it was a nice drive.

Mararoa River from the dirt road.

I am not a good enough writer to accurately convey my excitement as I approached the lake, so I will not try. And I do not say that because I think I’m a bad writer. When I finally got there, when I finally parked the car at the edge of the lake, the first thing I did was grab my phone and listen to the part of the soundtrack that plays during the scene that was filmed there. It’s called “The Breaking of the Fellowship,” and it is my favorite seven minutes and twenty-one seconds of music. It’s right here if you’d like to take a listen.

The footprints are mine. Nobody else was there. Just me and Howard Shore.

I will hold on to those few minutes until death or dementia take them from me.

I took a good long look at Mount Eldon (pictured above), and decided I might as well try climbing it. There are no trails on that side of the lake, but I knew it would be easy going once I got above the bushline, until the very top which I figured could be problematic. So I studied it from the east side and decided I’d stay on the lakeshore for a good long while until I got far enough up the lake that the bushline wouldn’t be too far away. See how it dips in elevation to the right of the picture? I wanted to start ascending there in order to minimize the bushwhacking.

Well, that didn’t work. I started climbing too soon, and spent two and a half hours in the forest, making my way up the slope at a glacial pace. The trees were tightly packed, the ground was covered in slippery ferns, and the branches did everything in their power to cut my legs in half. When I finally made it through the trees, I looked around and realized I had gone up the section where the line was really high. Not optimal. But I was through it, so it didn’t matter at that point.

Looking up right after getting out of the forest.

It took another hour to get from the bushline to the snow line, but that hour provided far better views (all of them) and far fewer cuts (none of them). Once I got near the top, I found a little gap in the rock cliffs that I was able to scramble through.

The gap is pretty much smack in the middle of this picture.

The view from the saddle above the gap was, of course, spectacular, but I didn’t climb all that way to stop at the saddle.

Looking west from the saddle. That’s Lake Te Anau in the distance.

I wasn’t sure — and I’m still not — whether Mount Eldon was north or south of the saddle, but since the mountain south of the saddle was closer, I figured I’d climb it.

Looking south toward the mountain I climbed right afterward from the saddle.

I made my way up near the top, but didn’t actually get to the summit because it would have required a very steep ascent up a rock face that, while doable, probably wasn’t advisable since I was alone up there. Eldon itself gets up to 1625 meters (5331 ft), so I was probably somewhere between 1610 and 1620, which is almost exactly 1000 meters above the lakeshore where I began. I contented myself with a little nook right below the top, where I took the following five pictures.

After enjoying the view and some dark chocolate for a while, I made my way back down, but I veered off in a different direction in order to choose a path that would involve less bushwhacking.

North Mavora Lake is in the valley between the hill in the foreground and 1700m Mount Campbell in the background.

South Mavora Lake and the Eyre Mountains. (One letter away from being a Game of Thrones reference, I know.)

I went far enough north to reach the point where the slope was almost entirely devoid of trees. Even though this meant I had to walk farther once I got to the bottom, it cut a good hour and a half out of the descent. It also meant I got a great view of the lakes the whole way down. Plus, sliding down scree can be fun.

North Mavora Lake and Mt. Campbell. That’s South Mavora Lake on the far right side. Like all panoramas, you can make this one a lot bigger.

Frodo and Sam have reached the eastern shore.

Trippy, eh?

Looking north toward 1996m Mount Mavora over the lake from its southern end.

It was a long hike and it was a good hike. The sun was beginning to set by the time I got back to the car, so most of my drive to Borland Lodge happened in the dark. I did, however, manage to stop at the filming location for the edge of Fangorn Forest on my way out. It’s not as iconic or easily recognizable as the lake because it’s basically just a forest that abruptly turns into grassland, but it’s LotR, so I had to take a look.

I know, I didn’t get the right angle. Which is frustrating because, looking at that Gandalf picture, I recognize those mountains as the ones directly north of where I was. Unfortunately, I had the camera pointed east on my picture.

I woke up the next morning in Borland Lodge, knowing that I had agreed to be at Rainbow Reach to pick up my friends at 2:00. That gave me enough time to do a few things. First, I hiked partway up to Eldrig Peak. I wanted to make it to the top, but since I was on a time crunch I only made it up to a rock outcropping where I took the following two pictures.

After that, I drove to Lake Monowai, ran along a trail for a little bit, and enjoyed the nice weather. (Nice weather two days in a row is really weird here.)

Lake Monowai Road.

Lake Monowai.

Then I drove to Rainbow Reach, stopping along the road every so often to take in the view.

Lake Monowai Road nearing the intersection with Blackmount Redcliff Road.

Blackmount Redcliff Road.

Lake Manapouri.

More Lake Manapouri.

I arrived at Rainbow Reach before my friends had finished the Kepler Track, so I went on a little run and met them on the trail. Then we drove over to Lake Te Anau and hung out for a bit on the shore before heading east to Dunedin.

Lake Te Anau.

Somewhere in the flatlands of central Southland, the sunset demanded that we pull over and admire it.