Heading North

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As we drove back up towards Havelock the weather got better and better. By the time we had turned off onto the Queen Charlotte Road the sun was high in the sky and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. This walk is 57km long and is meant to be taken over several days, as we only have a few hours we drove to one of the lookout sections and climbed the mountain to the top. From the top we had perfect views across the whole of Queen Charlotte Sound. We also had great views of the forthcoming cloud that was gradually enveloping the mountains in front of us. As we descended the clouds were already reaching us. We decided that the quickest way to see the most of the sound was to drive along the gravel road that runs the full length of the land strip. We stopped several times for views but decided that we should drive all the way to the end of the land. After quite some time driving down a very winding gravel track we reached a gate that said 'Private no access', bloody typical after all that. All the way along the track were scattered isolated houses. I don't know why anyone would want an hour’s drive just to get from their house to the nearest road. It was 60km from one end of the gravel road to the other and by the time we reached the highway the petrol tank was looking very empty. By now the sun had gone and it was starting to rain.

As we got into Picton just 24km from the end of the Queen Charlotte Track there was more water on the roads than we had petrol in our tank. We coasted down the hill into Picton and found the first petrol station. The tank can hold 60 litres and that was how much I put in, we must have been running on fumes. The rain was so heavy that it was hard to see anything of Picton so we just drove to the hostel that was recommended in the guide book. From this point on the guide book should be thrown away as the hostel has to be the worst we have ever been in. From the outside it looked like it used to be a big B&Q Building. The dorm room had 28 beds in it and the whole road facing wall was glass. It boasted a swimming pool, it looked like a mouldy garden pond! Luckily for us we were leaving at 6am the next morning to catch the ferry. Rather than spend the evening in this place we went over to another hostel to meet a couple of friends that we had met in Queenstown. It was a much nicer hostel and no one seemed to notice that we shouldn’t be there.

Getting up at 6am was easy considering I had not actually had any sleep all night. The latest check in for the car was 7am and we got there at 6.59am. While waiting in line I watched someone hand over their passport to get on the boat. It did feel a bit like leaving one country and going into another but who was stupid enough to think they would need to show their passport. We got the car onto the boat and made our way to the lounge bar. The ferry crossing was going to take 3 hours 20 minutes and I was hoping that it was going to be a calm crossing. It takes the first hour of the crossing just to get out of the sound and into the ocean. This was lovely and calm and I was able to read. Once we hit the ocean everything changed. At one point I was looking out of the window and the view was changing every few seconds from sea to sky and then back to sea again. For the rest of the trip I went out on deck and watched as Wellington slowly came into view.

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