Queen Charlotte Track- luxury backpacking!

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Blake and I had a great time in Wellington, New Zealand's capital city, before we took the ferry to Picton for the second leg of our trip - the South Island. Blake has been wanting to try some wines and on the ferry was no exception... except... that she had cold cereal with a sauvigon blanc!! Personally I am no expert at wines but even I don't know what kind of wine goes best with cold cereal!! In Picton we parted ways, I was heading off for the Queen Charlotte Track a 71 km, 4 day walk along in the ridges of Marlborough Sound. Blake was headed off to kayak and hike at Abel Tasman NP. The Queen Charlotte isn't like the rest of the tracks in NZ. It was an old pack trail and it links to nice lodges and resorts along the way. You can have you luggage transported everyday so you backpack with a daypack, eat the fanciest meals and have a lunch packed for you plus stay in posh rooms... all you have to do is walk still.
The Queen Charlotte was great... since it is on the ridges you do lots of climbing! The track starts at Ship Cove where Capt. Cook (maybe you've heard of him, he seems to have everything named after him around the world including in Anchorage, AK) first came to NZ. He loved it until he sent some of his men out and they never returned - Maoris were cannibals and they were HUNGRY!
The first night I stayed at Furneaux Lodge a very classy resort that was originally a private home built in the 1880s so it is very prim and proper British. It was also ground zero for an all weekend stag party or bachelor party and my god... men are animals! The groom to be was wearing a dress... a dress an old woman might wear with no shape to it... and a motorcycle helmet. It's amazing how much beer young men can consume and still stand. I tried to block them out while I soaked up the views of the water including a private helicopter... this place was a world away from the place in Wellington where we stayed... that place should be condemned. After that place I deserve a break.
The second day was supposed to be the easiest... a nice 3.5 hour walk to Punga Cove, my next resort. Instead, I thought I will do some extra trips... 3.5 hours later and after hiking for 1 hr 40 min. straight up a mountain for a view and to see some old mine shafts. At the mine shafts I was alone and I was listening to my ipod when it began to act in an impossible manner... I am pretty sure that the place was haunted so I left. I was so tired and I hadn't even begun my actual walk for the day!! Besides, I brushed against some stinging nettle, an import from the UK, and my skin blistered immediately. It was so painful. I was chatting with a local guy on the trail so recommended that I use a natural remedy... bushman's toilet paper is the vernacular term... but it worked great!! He told me that if you were to fall into that stuff you can easily die... gulp. The hike continued... and continued until I couldn't take it anymore and I quit 5 minutes before the end and sat there until I could walk again... good thing there was a hot tub at the resort so I revived a little bit. It was really buggy so the hard part was getting out of the hot tub before the bugs ate me like corn on the cob. At Punga Cove, most of the workers were travellers who had run out of money. NZ has been successful at making a whole industry of working travellers.
The third day was supposed to be 23 km but track crosses private land and a landowner had closed a 1 km section for "animal control" whatever that means. I heard lots of gun shots so I wasn't eager to find out. So there is a free water taxi around it to my next hotel, the ultra swanky resort, The Portage. The third day was along the ridges with green mussel farms dotting the water and a king salmon farm (ewwww... farmed fish) and there were quaint little farms nestled amongst the green mountains. I climbed to the highest point on the track, 474 m. I arrived at the water taxi pickup and while I was waiting I saw a giant sting ray in the water, they look so graceful as they glide effortlessly through the water.
At the pickup point, I met this Japanese girl who was looking exhausted. Turns out this is her first tramping trip ever and someone told her that she could save money and do my first two days in one day without a problem... that's 27 km! She made it 10 hours later but she was so exhausted that she immediately went to sleep for 10 hours and the next day she was so tired and sore. In fact I saw her the last day and back in Picton it was painful to watch her as she hobbled off bent over like an old woman. I don't think that she will be tramping again. Too bad because it's so fun to be bitten by bugs, sweaty and carry a heavy pack!
The Portage Hotel was a brand new hotel and I was the only one in the backpackers section so I had a flat screen tv to myself... how often does that happen when you're out backpacking? Some people do backpack to these resorts, but many more just arrive by boat or car freshly groomed. I walk and I am sweaty, dirty and tired and they always look so perfectly coifed... it's disgusting... go work up a sweat!
The fourth and final day was a hot and long day at 21 km to Anakiwa. The views along the way were amazing, fern filled forets ringed by blue-green water and further out the sea was a nice green with many boats against a deep rich blue sky. Heaven at last! Along the track I met two families who were backpacking with two 2 year olds! You're never too young to start backpacking. The last day's walk had many mountain bikers and I was nearly run over a couple of times. There was a narrow section where the track was cut into a cliff and I hurried through that section quickly because I didn't want to decide what would happen to me if I were to encounter a bike... jump off a cliff or smash myself into the rock wall. Not too pleasant to think about... it would ruin my tan.
Lake Waikaremoana, Tongiraro Crossing, Queen Charlotte Track... next Heaphy Track... we are putting in some serious mileage!

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