Picton to Kaikoura

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We boarded the Cougar Line boat at Picton on a damp dismal morning with our bikes and headed for Resolution Bay near the far end of the Queen Charlotte Track ever hopeful that the weather gods would shine on us again. On arrival an unpromising push up a very steep track took us out of the bay - with over 45km to go that day we were all hoping it wouldn't be typical! Fortunately we quickly joined the main track which looked much more rideable. From there we headed up and over to Endeavour Inlet and then round the various smaller bays. By lunchtime the sun was out and things were looking good. We pressed on aware that we were still less than half way. At the midway point the decision was to either take the road to Picton (as advised) or take on the tough 24km, 1000m climb of the main track. We obviously headed up the main track and were rewarded with stunning, contstantantly changing views over Queen Charlotte Sound and accross to the snow capped mountains in Nelson Lakes National Park. The price was several hours of tough but very rewarding mountainbiking and several sore points! We were all really relieved to finally roll down the hill into Portage, our first tarmac for over 6 hours riding. We relaxed over a quiet beer and some well earned chips.

The following morning Jules and I headed back on to the main track while the girls took the road option to avoid a punishing climb. Unfortunately they only deferred this as the point of rejoining the track wasn't well signed and they ended up riding round on a very scenic but very hilly road. The surprise of the trip so far was, as we neared the end of the track we came round a corner to be met by Kim and Ricky coming the other way!!! We hastily rearranged our plans and agreed to meet up that evening in nearby Linkwater where Kim and Ricky were staying for the night with Roz and Andy Clayton. The afternoon was spent relaxing on the beach in the sun. Jules even went for a (brief) swim. It was great to be able to catch up with Kim/Ricky over a few beers and involved much exchanging of tales from our trips so far. The mtb ride along the Queen Charlotte Track certainly ranks amongst the most memorable rides of my life.

Early the following morning we headed off for Kaikoura while the others headed off on kayaks in the sound. We arrived in Kaikoura in time for the whale watching boat only to find out that the whales were too far off shore for the boats and the sea cloud was too low for the plane trips. As the dolphins were also not to be found we had lunch at the nearby seal colony and then headed for the glaciers in the hope of having a good day there before a weather front arrived. The only slight problem with this plan was the 550km drive that involved...

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