Mavora Lakes

Well yesterday I bought a sleeping bag for myself. Not a tent - I planned on sleeping under the stars at Mavora Lakes.

When I got there and started getting my stuff together for a good 4 hour hike, I wanted to make sure I had what I needed to cook tea over a fire because by the time I got out to my destination, it would be about tea time. Then I would hike back to the car, drive to the part of the lakes for camping and spend my evening under the stars.

I then realized - did I happen to BUY the food I was going to have to survive on? Noooo! But I was willing to let that one slide. I did have other food - enough to last me until morning.

But then when I started on my hike, about 15 minutes down the path, it turned into a complete mud site for as far as I could see. And I was not prepared for mud, that's for sure. Not this kind of mud.

So I decided "well this may be a nice place to sit and read my bible" so I went down to the beach (not far from Frodo and Sam's location from their beautiful moment...

"I'm going to Mordor alone!"
"Of course you are! And I'm coming with you!"

Anyways...I sat down, opened my bag, put away my camera, took out my bible and then it started. 3 torturous minutes of SANDFLY ATTACKS.

Now this may not mean anything to you north americans, but sandflies are more of a pest than mosquitoes in the deep, dark cottage country of Northern Ontario.

And then I realized the other thing I forgot. Sandfly repellent. I meant to buy some, but forgot. And I know it sounds lame but because of that exact reason, I left the Mavora lakes after only a 2 hour and 15 minute stay.

You may think this is lame. However, when I got home and explained to people that I had to leave because of lack of food and sandfly repellent. Everyone said that it was ok without the food but the repellent was more important and they all agreed that it would have been a miserable rest of the day without it.

So I felt a little discouraged. But there had to be a reason in my leaving. So I left. But not before meeting a friend who was also going to Te Anau and planned on hitch hiking. His name is Roman and he's from Switzerland. He's been in New Zealand just as long as I have and is staying for another month. He's been backpacking around all the tracks and mountains and living out of his bag. It's so weird.

Anyways, it seemed perfect that his next destination was Te Anau. And I was the only person leaving the park at that time...no one else was even at the lakes except two other cars and they'd only just arrived! So this guy was gunna be really stuck - so I offered him a ride home.

It was a really good ride, we talked a lot about New Zealand itself and actually...we found out we're both Lord of the Rings fans. He was going to the youth hostel in town for two days and then is leaving for Milford Sound tomorrow morning. I told him that I could likely get him a free bed to stay in for those nights rather than having to fork out 25 NZD per night. So I gave Karl a call and they were happy to have him there.

He's coming for our weekly Fish n Chip night tonight over at Rae and Neil's place.

As far as I've gathered, he's not given much thought to God, except that he came across a lot of faith issues when he was doing his papers on Tolkien in school. He's 20, by the way, and just finished school - about to go into university and wanted to travel before then.

So yeah, it was a good time. He came to my place for tea (roast beef) and then we went to Karl's for a cuppa and I left at about 7:30. He's going to probably go see the movie about the Fiordlands over at the cinema and maybe get into the caves if the boats are running and if they're not full up. Then I'm picking him up at 6 for tea.

It's just been a really good thing to see that God has been using me and the people in this town to make him feel comfortable, save him a few bucks...be really friendly, etc. It's often relationships and hospitality that display God's love and I hope it will get him thinking.

So that, I believe, was my real reason for leaving Mavora Lakes. I had a good time and saw what I wanted to see.

So that's my story. I'll put pictures up soon of my LOTR findings and of Fish n Chip night coz I haven't had a lot of pictures of people from my church and who I hang out with. So I'll do that tonight.

The end!