Down to the South Island..... hiking the Queen Charlotte Track


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Published: June 27th 2005
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I arrived at the ferry terminal in Welly only to bump into a couple I'd met in Taupo. Small world. Turns out we were planning on walking the Queen Charlotte Track on the same days and staying at the same hostel in Picton. And it was a lurvely hostel - free tea/coffee, free breakfast, free pick ups from the ferry (only 500m away but excellent for those of us with so many bags!!) and best off all - free apple crumble and ice cream every night.... yummmmmmmmmmy. Could have stayed here a while, almost did.... ahhhh

On my first day in Picton I went on the post boat around the Marlborough Sounds and discovered 2 things - the Sounds are flooded rivers rather than glacial valleys and despite the number of homes around the Sounds comparatively few people seem to live here all year(this I know cause the post boat only delivers to perminant residents!). I guess there must be lots of rich city folk with holiday homes here. Nice life if you can get it! The scenery really was beautiful and I can imagine staying here being very peacefull and calming.

On my second day I stared on what was meant to be a four day walk - the 71km Queen Charlotte Track which snakes around the Sounds going up to peaks, along ridges and through forest. This isn't quite what it seems.... unlike most of the other multi-day walks here you stay at hostels along the way and a boat transports your bags between accomodation each day - so no sleeping in huts and no carrying all your food, cooking gear etc etc etc... much easier!!!

We started from a place called Ship Cove (Captain Cook rested here on multiple occasions) where you immediately begin by going up a nice steep hill.... for about 45mins. I couldn't complain too much because there were mountain bikers struggling to push their bikes up the steepest parts... at least I only had to walk!! The views from the top made the climb worth while though. In the fist day I think we covered about 28km - as the boat didn't drop us off till gone 10am this meant pushing a fair pace to make sure we made it by 5pm when it was starting to get dark. At the end I was rather glad that I'd booked dinner at the hostel I stayed at - all I had to manage that night was eating a yummy 2 course dinner, washing a couple of plates and then collapsing in front of a roaring wooden fire. heaven!

The second day was described in my book as the most arduous.... still undecided about that... although I was fairly convinced this was true when I spent the first few hours going up hill. Its shorter than the first day, just the 24km to walk, but for a day of ridge walking (my idea of that is high and flat ish) there was an awfull lot of up and down... infact each time there was a down hill section I did it with mixed emotions - relief that my legs and lungs were getting a rest... tears cause I knew that hidding around the next corner was another nice evil climb. OK so maybe it wasn't quite that bad but it was another long 7hr walk - I think I decided today that 5hrs in one day is about enough for me... not so good when you know there's still another 2h to go!! Again the day provided beautiful clear sunny views out over the sounds.

The third day started as the first two had... with a nice hour plus walk up hill. Yipppeee. :0( However today was a short day!! I'd met someone in Taupo who'd recomended staying at an Eco-Lodge here - it was an hour off the track but well worth the detour. It's set right on the water front, has free kayaks, a spa, cosy wood burning fires, a whole menagerie of animals, hammocks to relax in everywhere... in fact I liked it so much I changed my plans so that I had an extra day here. Great in theory but my nice plans for a morning kayaking and afternoon relaxing and looking at lovely sea views from a hammock were somewhat ruined by near continuous rain and a strong wind. :0( Instead I spent the day toasting myself in front of the fire, reading my book and drinking tea. Not quite what I had in mind but just as relaxing!

Unfortunately the weather didn't change for the last day of my walk and so I finally got to put my wet weather stuff to good use. I walked this day with Katie who I'd met at the Eco-Lodge - it made a nice change to have someone to talk to and grumble about the rain with.... oh and it also helped to have back up when, walking along a narrow path with steep wooded slopes on either side, we encountered a mini herd (well, 4) of cow's on the path. Now being a city girl I'm used to seeing my cow's grazing in fields as I wizz passed on the motorway in my car. Or maybe on TV as I sit watching from the sofa. But they are huge and actually quite scary when you're face to face with them! We stood there deliberating for a few minutes about weather to scramble round them (which we decided was a bad plan as they might have a nasty kick), sit and wait for them to move (too much rain for that one) or ...??? in the end we started making enough noise that they had enough of us and moved themselves up slope.

Walking the rain is not quite so much fun as the sun and I started to have a sever sense of humour failure when, after about 5 hours of walking, we got to the end of the track an hour early only to find there was absolutely no shelter and the only coffee shop was shut!! The prospect of sitting in the rain for an hour wasn't a good one but fortunately the water taxi turned up an hour early - I haven't been that glad to see anyone in ages!!! Despite the soaking it was good to see the Sounds in these conditions...... honest!!!! ;0)


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