Advertisement
Published: February 1st 2016
Well we have crammed a bit in since our last blog. Left Kenepuru Heads on Saturday and headed to Portage where we walked over the Torea Saddle (part of the Queen Charlotte Walk) to Torea Bay. At the top of the hill is a War Memorial to fallen local soldiers. The bay is small but looks like lovely safe anchorage. A good wharf, where Queen Charlotte track walkers can be dropped off by water taxi. If you don’t like roughing it (DOC Camp style) you can organise someone to get you bags dropped off here and taken to the hotel at Portage😊.
From here we headed onto Havelock to pick up a few supplies. There is a great lookout on the way that sits high on the top of a ridge before you head down to Havelock, called Cullen Pt. What fantastic views down over Havelock and Mahau Sounds. Supplies collected, and a brisk walk around the Havelock Marina, before having a well-deserved local Craft beer at the Captains Daughter. Friendly staff here and worth a visit if you are in the area.
Back on the road and our next stop is Pelorus Bridge. Awesome place, where the Rai
river meets the Pelorus river. The water is so clear and the sandflys so big! There is a nice DOC camp here if you want to brave the bugs.
We chose to carryon to Elaine Bay for the night. Elaine Bay sits on the Tennyson Inlet (Pelorus Sounds). A rather short but long trip out. The road is narrow and windy like most roads around the Marlborough Sounds. But the reward at the end is worth it. Elaine Bay is stunning and is on my top list. We stayed two nights here as we could not get a camp site in French Pass. Lance was probably relieved as I understand the gravel road heading out there is very windy and narrow even though its only 22kms it takes 1 ½ hours to get there. Sunday morning we walked the Piwakawaka track from Elaine Bay to Piwakwaka Bay. Now this is a lovely secluded bay, with one small bach with boat access only. Couldn’t resist a swim here even though we didn’t bring our togs……you know what they say undies, undies, undies….. togs, togs togs😊.
Monday we packed up and headed back, stopping at Okiwi Bay. Another beautiful spot,
that sits on the Croisilles Harbour. We sat on the beach in the sun for a coffee and I spent quite some time trying to take photos of bees on Agapanthas, lucky Lance was kept amused by the ongoings (stupid people that had no idea) at the boat ramp. On our hit list next was the Goat Hill track which we had seen at the top of the high ridge (395m) west before dropping down into Okiwi Bay. It is about 3.8kms one way and takes you from the top of the ridge down to Wharf Road at Okiwi Bay. From here you can wander another 800m odd down to the wharf. Nice track that is maintained by locals, a couple of lookouts over the Harbour and Bay. It is a little overgrown in places but generally ok. It’s a bit of a grind up on return, probably better to do from Wharf road end so that your return is downhill. In desperate need of cooling off we headed to Cable Bay for a swim. A very popular (no undie swimming here), stony beach that is in Tasman Bay (20kms from Nelson). You have the beach on one side of
the causeway and the Wakapuaka Estuary on the other. Cable Bay was also where the first telegraphic cables were laid to Australia in 1876. A Lovely swim and rest on the beach in the sun before heading to Nelson for the night.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.145s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 15; qc: 82; dbt: 0.097s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Mandy griffiths
non-member comment
bee
Very cool bee pic, luvin it!