Blogs from Queen Charlotte Sound, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

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Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queen Charlotte Sound February 14th 2012

Happy Valentines’ Day! And what a great day it is – for years and years I have dreaded this day like the plague. Even at school, the girls used to make a mad dash to see what the first post and the second post (remember the days of second post?!) had brought for them, whether it be cards, flowers or chocolates (inevitably sent by parents but passed off to peers as gifts from ‘Rupert’, ‘Jonty’ or ‘Farquar’). In working life, especially in London, you’d see the PAs desks, dripping in floral arrangements, and have to fight for a spot on the tube with about 500 red roses. I’m glad those days are over (admittedly it would have been nice if I’d got one surprise card, or one solitary flower in all these years), however I can ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queen Charlotte Sound October 31st 2011

Walked on the Queen Charolotte trail today and somehow managed to hike 13 or 14 miles without even breaking a sweat (we're fabulous. just kidding. after hiking straight up the steepest road evreything else seems trivial). We went swimming in Davies Bay in turquois waters. It looked Bahama, but was just about as cold as Wyoming alpine lakes. We saw some wild goats munching on local flora. We also ate ALL the leftovers, which we were forced to finish off because Brian threatened to throw a revolt if there was a day 3 of spaghetti. I would write more but Brian is growing anxious. We head out on the Abel Tasman trail starting November 3rd until the 6th. We'll write again soon after that!!! ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queen Charlotte Sound January 19th 2011

Day 51: (Captain) Cook's Tour Today, on impulse, I took a three-hour cruise to see the monument to Captain Cook at Ship Cove. Cook anchored there for nearly six months, careening his ship and revictualling. The cruise, conducted by Beachcomber Cruises, went in a fairly small catamaran, the Tiri-Cat. As Mel had assured me, I had no trouble boarding her, but her motor vibrated enough to hurt my shoulder, though fortunately not on a troublesome frequency. As always, most passengers preferred to sit upstairs, but I stayed downstairs on the rear deck. There was padded bench seating there, on top of stowage bins, and it was both comfortable and, for the first two-thirds of the trip, shady. Mel ran me in to the dock at Picton. From there, we sailed for an hour to reach Ship ... read more
The long pier
Maori footbridge
Poisoned pines


The weather improved as we left the North Island and our ferry journey was very scenic. We had decided to spend more time in the South Island where we knew there would be more to see and do and seeing as we hadn’t great weather in the North Island we were hopeful for some better weather the further south we travelled. We cruised from Wellington through the Cook Strait and into the Marlborough Sounds where we spent a total of three nights taking in the views and doing a spot of tramping (New Zealand lingo for Hiking). We stayed in a DOC campsite the first night in a beautiful location in a sheltered little inlet of the Marlborough sound and with the sun shining it was just gorgeous. DOC campsites are mostly free and are run ... read more
Queen Charlotte Track
Abel Tasman National Park
Queen Charlotte drive

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queen Charlotte Sound January 18th 2010

The Sounds are actually sunken river valleys, glistening blue seas, regenorated bush clad spurs stretching into the water. So we caught a water taxi out to the Batch where we stayed where we stayed with John AA and Rachel and their three children. One day we took a hike up to the Queen Charlotte track, four hours round trip. From there we could look down on the Bay of Many Coves and on the other side of the ridge into the Kenepuru Sound. Blessed with a rare sunny day. ... read more
Kenepuru Sound
Bay of Many Coves - again
Antique boat

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queen Charlotte Sound December 25th 2009

It is Christmas time and in the southern hemisphere things are strange. No snow, no cold, less decorations, less Christmas music (which is a good thing). This is only my second Christmas in my life that I have been away from family and close friends. Am I lonely? Well, I would say no but I would really like to have Christmas dinner with the friends and family that I love. But with it being summer here, it feels nothing like Christmas. Christmas at my home consists of an over abundance of food, a house completely full of my relatives (which results in an abundance of shouting and laughing), an over abundance of wood on the fire (which results in many pairs of red cheeks) and an over abundance of rum, beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks ... read more
Picton's Christmas Tree
The gang ready to party
High Fives and Beer

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queen Charlotte Sound December 19th 2009

It has been over a month since my last blog. This employment thing can really put a damper on the frequency of my travel blogs. The Marlborough Sounds are amazingly beautiful and I savour my moments on the balcony with my morning coffee on clear days. I work 5 or 6 day weeks, 45 to 60 hours between two restaurants. So most days are slightly different then previous one. Life is different out here in the sounds. Firstly we have to plan our trip to Picton so we buy what we need. This requires a 15 minute ferry ride through the sounds to the little town of Picton. There I usually load up on food, beer and something to read. Usually you are picking up beer for other friends too. This requires a grocery store staff ... read more
The Sounds In The Morning
The Sounds In The Evening
Sunset In The Sounds

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queen Charlotte Sound December 9th 2009

To say that the beginning of my road trip went off without a hitch would be a lie, but even with the problems we had, it is testament to the Queen Charlotte Track’s sheer beauty that even when the fog rolls in and the skies open you are still astounded by the incredible landscapes surrounding you. We arrived at Picton in glorious sunshine with high spirits and eager anticipation of our first hike. The plan was to catch a ferry out to the end of the trail (Ship Cove) and hike the 71km track back over 4 days/3nights. We started late in the afternoon, landing in Ship Cove at about 2.30pm, and headed straight into the thick jungle that covered the hillside. The first day we only hiked 4.5km but this took 2 hours due to ... read more
on the boat out to ship cove
Photo 4
beginning of the track

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queen Charlotte Sound November 4th 2009

Slept in this morning. This morning i’ve just been relaxing and catching up on my journal. After lunch Carolin drove me down to the wharf to catch my boat tour. There was some really crazy wind all day and clouds had rolled in but they said the tour was still on but that we might not be able go to Motuara Island which is a bird sanctuary island at the end of the Queen Charlotte sounds. We saw a colony of some Spotted Shags which are a bird that live on the rocks. They are cool birds and have bright blue faces. Then further along we spotted 4 NZ fur seals lying on the rocks along with the rare King shag bird. Apparently this bird is only found in this region of NZ. We got lucky ... read more
boat
leaving Picton
the sounds


15/06/09 Monday Day 304 Ship Cove to Endeavour Inlet 15 kilometres After getting up early, we headed down towards the harbour area in Picton where we booked our boat trip and accommodation with Beachcombers. This is a great service as they will transport your bags to your accommodation each day. Our first section to walk today is 15 kilometres from Ship Cove to Endeavour Inlet where we would be staying the night in Furneaux Lodge. At the very start at Ship Cove is a big climb. We had a great day weather wise for the walk, blue skies and dry. The scenery and views along the way are amazing. Some of the track even goes through farmers land. Every 5k’s they have a kilometre to go sign to the end. There’s loads of little bridges to ... read more




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