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Published: April 15th 2016
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We farewell Blenheim today (Saturday), calling in at the Wairau Bar for a look. What a cool little spot with the river mouth and views across to Boulder Bank and White Cliffs. A couple of local fishermen were having a great time catching good sized Kahawai just inside the river mouth. Today there was a busy Spoonbill bird mooching around looking for food in the shallow waters.
Further up the road is Rarangi Beach and DOC camp. The small DOC Camp borders the beach and is a great spot for the night. A short walk from camp takes you over a stone staircase and into Monkey Bay. Both Rarangi and Monkey Bay are pretty but beware probably not too safe for swimming. Reminded me a bit of Napier with the pebbly beach and steep drop offs.
Sunday and it’s time to move onto Whites Bay DOC Camp. A lovely safe swimming bay with steep ranges surrounding the camp. You do unfortunately lose the sun a little earlier because of the high ranges, but it’s still a lovely spot to stay. The bay has an awesome feature with a Rock Archway at the end of the beach giving you a
glimpse of Rarangi Beach. The walks from here are for the energetic and yes you have to climb the ranges to go anywhereJ. Monday we headed off to do the Port Underwood Lookout track. The view is best as you first get to the top of the Bluff edge. Unfortunately the actual lookout further along is a little overgrown. From the lookout you can walk the Black Jack Loop track back to camp but for some reason we decided to carry on up and over the Port Underwood road to the Loop/Mt Robertson Track. The information board at camp says its takes 5-6 hrs for the loop track or 8-10hrs to get up Mt Robertson. So as you can guess the Loop Track is what we did. There is also some pretty mean looking mountain bike tracks off this track with some serious warnings for the mad Mountain Bikers. The only person we met was some mad mother in her late model 4wd Hilux ute coming down the narrow track. We had to push ourselves into the gorse a bit to let her pass. Apparently she had taken her son to the top so he could mountain bike back down.
Looking at the new scratches on the ute I would have told him to bike or walk up! The track itself climbs to about 730m and is a good steady climb. At the 700m junction is the Mt Robertson track (from here another 2 hours walk and another 336 metres). Mmmm tempting (not) but there isn’t enough hours in the day anyway😊. The track down from here I class as a little unpleasant. It’s a steep and a little hard on the knees, the footing is over loose rocks and stones and the occasional tree hugging is required. Only one near miss so I must be getting better😊. Overall the track is good if you want a good workout but the views are few and far between which is a little bit disappointing.
Tuesday and we decide to drive the Port Underwood road north towards Picton. We had lots of warnings about this road as it is very windy and narrow in places. But being mid-week there was little traffic today and we had no issues. Fantastic views and Bays along the way made this a nice drive. The first bay was Robin Hood Bay (There is a small
DOC camp you can stay here). The upper beach here has a high boulder bank of stones that have obviously washed up in big seas. Next bay was Ocean Bay, and then onto my favourite Tom Canes Bay (see photo). Our final stop for the night is right on the waterfront at Whatamango Bay DOC camp. Whatamango Bay is nice for a stopover but there is not a lot to do here.
Wednesday after washing the dust off the windows we head off to Picton. It’s time to do the washing so we park up at Parklands Motor Camp in Waikawa Bay. A great little camp, located just down the road from the Marina and close to all the Picton Walks. 1
st load of washing on and we get a chance to have a late afternoon wander down at the Marina.
Thursday morning and the walking shoes are on. Heading to Picton on the Waikawa-Picton track (takes about 50 mins). The day is gorgeous and the sun is lovely and warm. A great day for a wander around Picton foreshore and town. After a quick bite to eat we make our way out to Snout Head. The tracks
start at the Picton Marina. You need to allow a good 2 hours one way for this walk. We walk past Shelly Beach and past the Yacht Club, then onto Bob’s Bay for a look. A short climb out of Bob’s Bay and then up onto the track to Snout Track Carpark. If you are lucky you will get to see the Interislander or Bluebridge Ferry Sail pass along the track. From the carpark you climb further up the ridge and onto Queen Charlotte View. Yes and that’s what you get a spectacular view of the Queen Charlotte. From here the track descends through bush to a small grass picnic area at the end of the Headland and more beautiful views of the Queen Charlotte. It’s getting late so we don’t hang around too long, but it would be a nice place to have a picnic lunch and watch the world go by. I dragged my feet up the track, then back on the Picton- Waikawa track back to camp. I'm feeling a bit shagged after 6 hrs on the feet, actually I felt buggered before I even got out of bed come to think of it! Sometimes you just
have one of those days. It was still worth the effort and the reward was more stunning views of our beautiful country. I can feel a rest day coming onJ.
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