Day 27 - 28 (February 23 - 24) - Mavora Lakes

Day 27

We were woken up by the blue sky, although it was supposed to be cloudy today. It invited us to have a nice breakfast outside. Mattis felt comfortable here. After breakfast, he went to the playground alone and made friends with a German-French boy named Emil. The two of them also explored the rest of the campsite on their own, so the two mothers had to catch them again.

Actually, we should check out of the campsite in Te Anau at 10 o'clock, but that didn't really work out. But no one noticed here anyway. And it was reassuring to hear that Emil's family (also with 2 children, the same age as ours) has the same time issues as us and they never get anywhere before 11/12 o'clock.

For today, we planned to visit some Lord of the Rings filming locations. The filming location of the "Dead Marshes," a swamp area, was right next to Te Anau, but it couldn't be found exactly. So we continued to the Mavora Lakes. There were supposed to be 3 filming locations at the lakes.

When we turned off the main road, a sign showed "37 km gravel road" to the Mavora Lakes. We briefly considered whether we really wanted to do that. Fortunately, we decided to do it. The road was pure pleasure. We drove through huge flocks of sheep twice, which were running on the road. The first time, we were unsure if we should drive after the sheep. But the "shepherd" in the car behind us said we should just drive through the flock. That's what everyone does. Ok. So we did that too. There were thousands of sheep, no joke, and we were in the middle of them with our camper van. It was spectacular for Mattis, of course. And then we drove through such pristine, remote nature. Mountains on the right and left, rivers, golden meadows...

And finally, we arrived at the Mavora Lakes. We were thrilled by the beauty of this spot at the front smaller lake. It was immediately clear that we would stay here for a while. When we arrived at the back lake, it was also incredibly beautiful. A magnificent lake surrounded by mountains and forest, with only the sound of waterfall in the background, away from tourists. This is one of our new dream spots in New Zealand. Somehow, the Lord of the Rings spots always lead us to such unique places.

Since we were here already around 2 p.m. today, we had the whole day ahead of us. Perfect. It was warm and sunny. Mattis dipped his feet in the water and played at the water's edge. I also briefly put Lea down on the stone beach to play there. But since there were a few sandflies here (although not many), I didn't want to leave Lea lying there like this. Especially when you lie still somewhere, they like to bite you. So Tim walked around with Lea for a bit and explored the surroundings. There are forests and meadows around the lake. Later, Mattis and I also explored the forest.

In the late afternoon, we sat by the water. Mattis slid his feet along the stones. He thought it was funny. Tim went for a swim in the lake with a wetsuit. Phew, it was cold. Of course, Mattis also wanted to go in the water and was allowed to swim on Tim. But after a short time, it was too cold for him. I also briefly went in with a bikini and a surfboard, but as expected, it was too cold for me. But still a great refreshment.

The great thing was that we could camp right by the lake at this fantastic location. It is a DOC campsite (Mavora Lakes Campsite, $16). What luck.

In the evening, Tim and I watched the stars. It is a new moon right now and we had a starry night. It is so dark in this remote place that you have a perfect view. It was incredible. Wrapped up in a jacket and blanket, we admired the countless stars and shooting stars. You can even see the Milky Way here. In the background, you could only hear the sound of the waterfall. Otherwise, it was silent. One funny thing we saw was a chain of satellites with 29 satellites, which moved across the sky. We had already seen them at Lake Pukaki and were quite astonished.

Day 28

We slept until 10 o'clock. It was again a sunny day, only windy from noon on. We stayed by the lake all day. A dream. Tim and Mattis were throwing stones into the water. I enjoyed the sun and wrote a bit for the blog. Lea took her nap in the camper van, and later, Mattis slept in a blanket wrapped in front of the camper van in the shade.

In the morning, Mattis saw horses. A "cowboy" with a hat and his wife were riding out with their 3 horses. When Mattis saw the horses from afar, he immediately wanted to run after them (which we did for a while) and said he wanted to pet the horses and ride the white horse later.

Without me telling Tim about it, he later told me that he was with Mattis at the horses and Mattis was allowed to ride the white horse. How funny. That Mattis even dared to get on the big horse. The white horse had to endure a lot while riding because Mattis had his money box with him and the clapping thing couldn't be let go even while riding. The horse was a bit disturbed by it and Mattis was accordingly surprised.

After a small afternoon snack with fried potatoes, avocado, and tomatoes, we walked together to the horses ("Say hello to the horses," as Mattis says so nicely). The horses are really beautiful and quite trusting, especially the gray one, which is still quite young. Then we went to the suspension bridge and across the lake and on the other side along the river, which led to the second, smaller Mavora Lake. It was a relaxed little hike. When we walked through the forest, there were two highlights: First, we met a little bird, a robin, which came very close to us on the ground and had no fear at all. You can tell that there are no predators here and therefore no real enemies for them (Only possums, which were introduced to New Zealand and are hunted with traps everywhere in the forest due to their surplus population).

The second highlight was Mattis not doing his big business in the diaper for the first time, but in the middle of the forest. As long as he currently walks without a diaper, like today, he pees in the potty or in nature. But as soon as he has to go for the big one, he asks for a diaper. That's why today was so special for us. And the best thing was that he was proud of himself and was so happy about it. I think today could be the beginning of Mattis being diaper-free. We'll see.

Otherwise, Mattis, as he put it himself, jogged through the forest most of the time and was quite skillful when it came to not tripping over the many roots.

On the way back to the camper van, we stopped at the horses again, of course. Then we briefly threw stones into the water again, and then we had dinner, pasta with canned tomato sauce. It's supposed to be the best tomato sauce in New Zealand. It tasted like ketchup with something strange in it. Even Mattis preferred to eat just the noodles after a few spoonfuls.

In the evening, we all cuddled comfortably until it was time for the kids to go to bed around 9 o'clock again.