I wake up early and get my stuff ready for traveling. Because I want to say goodbye to my friends here I have to wait for a while for them to get out of bed, so I decide to walk one last time to the Starbucks downtown. Where it was bright skies for almost a week, it’s now cloudy again, but not too bad.

With a coffee in hand I walk back to the hostel and say goodbye to my new friends. I am thankful to have met these people and that we had a great time together. I get in my car and turn on the road trip playlist. It feels good to be driving again. I’m driving to the Mavora lakes which is about two hours from Queenstown. The road is absolutely beautiful, especially the last hour on gravel roads. There is almost no one out here, it’s so remote. When I get closer to the lake the mountains come closer as well and on the green fields next to the road are thousands of sheep with little lambs. I think this is one of the most beautiful drives so far. I stop several times to take pictures and also make a quick stop at another Lord of the Rings location, Vangorn Forest. The area really looks like the movie. Then I drive a bit further and arrive at the lakes. The view is absolutely amazing and I walk by the waterside until I get a clear view of the mountains in the distance. This is such a peaceful place, especially if you realise that there is practically no one here within at least 40 kilometers. I’m thinking about camping here today, but since it’s still quite early in the day I decide to drive further.

I drive further in the direction of Milford Sound. When I’m driving through the mountains, cell phone reception disappears and I still need to send some work e-mails today, so I keep driving in the hope to get reception again, but I get nothing. Since I can’t go online and it’s still light outside, I decide to drive all the way to Milford Sound. It’s a long and beautiful drive, but I don’t stop for pictures now, because I want to reach it before it gets dark outside. Just around sunset I arrive at the camping place. They have internet here, but it’s quite expensive because it goes via satellite. Something is better than nothing and in the evening I practice my patience while I send out the e-mails and make myself some dinner. It’s not handy that the internet is slow, but I also find it kind of cool to be online via a satellite, that’s a new thing I’ve never done before. Tomorrow I’ll take the time to discover Milford Sound.