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Published: March 5th 2007
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Ship Cove, start of the track
This is the view from the start of the track, Captian Cook stayed here for about 100 days on his journey of discovery around the pacific We drove back to Picton on the 24th and spent a couple days getting organized for the Queen Charlotte Track. The QCT is 71km long and takes most people 4 days do complete. This was our plan to walk the track in 4 days and camp along the way. It was a nice plan, but sometimes plans just don't work they way you think they will!!
DAY 1
To get to the start of the track we were boated out to Ship Cove. Our boat left Picton at 9am and got us to Ship Cove in an hour. We decided to pay the extra money to get our packs transferred to the places we would be staying so we didn't have to carry them. Thank God we did this otherwise we'd still be sitting at Ship Cove. For the first day we decided to walk to Miners Camp, which is 16kms from the start. The track doesn't ease you into anything as the first hour was straight up a mountain, not a gentle slope, straight up. Dave and I both sounded like steam trains by the time we get to the top of one hill, then we'd go around the corner
Looking South over Resolution Bay
The hills in the background are what we had to climb over, lucky us !!! and find yet another hill that's even steeper! We did manage to conquer that section of the track the middle part was pretty good. The views were awesome, it was a nice day and the coves were really pretty. Although the nice day turned out to be not so good when you walking through the hottest part of the day. We managed to walk the 16 kms in 4hrs and 25mins, which we didn't think was to bad. About an hour away I had to give my feet a pep talk because they were really starting to hurt, the last time I talked to my feet I was drunk! Anyways we got to our camp and discovered we were sleeping in an orchard with 9 free range chickens and their shit! YEAH! It wasn't to bad though, although there was a rowdy possum that made noise most of the night.
DAY 2
The next morning we'd pack up and were back on by 9:30am, for our shortest day. This day we only had to walk 9.5kms to Camp Bay and managed to do it in 3hrs. The day was cloudy and a lot cooler then the day before, which
Kendra near the end of the first day
Crossing a swing bridge after 16 kms not looking so flash. made for not so nice pictures but much more comfortable for walking. We saw less people this day and more wildlife, we saw a shag sitting in a tree above us when we stopped for a snack and saw a few weka's walking around in the bush. The walk was a hell of a lot easier this day also, any climbs we had to do were gentle slopes instead of straight up. Once we arrived at our campsite we set up our house and then rewarded ourselves with a nap! After our well deserved nap we spent the rest of our day boiling water for drinking, which is not as exciting as it sounds! We hardly got any sleep this night because of the possums that were running around. We could hear them running all over the place and every now and then they'd run right by our heads. The ear plugs kinda worked but they'd fall out all the time. It also rained during the night and was still misting when we got up.
DAY 3
Because of our crappy sleep we were up and on the track by 8:30am this day. This was our longest day, we
had to walk 25km and it damn near killed us! It started out not to bad, but that was just away to lull us into a false sense of security. The first 1 1/2 was good, but after that it was up one mountain, down the other side and then straight up another bloody moutain. We spent most of the time along the mountain ridges so we hardly saw any good views of the coves. We were at one stage able to see back into Picton (which was just a cruel tease) and saw ferries coming in and leaving. By the time we reached 21km and were being passed by people twice our age, with their nice hiking boot and cute little walking sticks I was pretty much over this walk!
It took some serious pep talking to myself to finish the last 5km done. By the time we reached to end (after 7 1/2hrs) Dave's knees were twice the size they should be and I had 3 blisters on my feet and one covered the entire bottom of one of my toes. Nice. We didn't camp that night instead we payed the money and got a real bed.
The not-so elusive Weka
one of NZ's endangered birds We decided that night we didn't think we'd be able to do the last day of 20kms since we could hardly move. Which really sucked cuz we didn't want to quit but we'd likely still be out there if we tried.
DAY 4
That morning we got on the boat with our bags and headed back to Picton. For anybody who ever wants to do this track here's a little advice.....BUY PROPER HIKING BOOTS!! The shoes we had on were good for day hikes, but when you start talking over 3 hrs they just didn't cut it. We could feel every rock we stepped on and they just didn't have enough support. It might not be a bad idea to get a pair of hobbit feet as well, or hang out with a mountain goat they like to climb mountains.
When we got back to Picton we did nothing absolutely and it was great!! We left the next afternoon and got on the ferry and headed back to the North Island. Sad to leave the South Island behind since it means our tour of NZ is almost over and the fact that the South Island is great. Every
Looking South to Picton
The ferry travelling down the sound to Picton so close yet soooo far place is different then the next and the views are amazing, would highly recommend that if your coming to NZ the South Island is a must.
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