Queen Charlotte Track

Back in the intenet world, a quick report on the last couple of days.  Today, Friday, we drove from our lovely lodgings near Blenheim to Picton and found (a) the ferry terminal and (b) the place where we were to be briefed on our walk (in that order because our instructions suggested that we had to walk our luggage from (b) to (a) tomorrow and that we may only have 15 minutes to do so!).  The plan was to take a water taxi across the sound to the end of the walking track and then walk back to a place called Furneaux Lodge where we were to stay the night (about 15km).  We had packed what we needed in our backpack and camera bag and were handed our packed lunch to add to these.  The water taxi is intriguing in that it is the local delivery service, bus and means of communication.  The route is dictated by who and what needs to be where and who needs picking up - the passengers included the tourists and locals who were off to their 'batch' to tidy it up for an upcoming rental (a batch here is a holiday home, not a loaf).  We were advised that there was a waterfall near Ship Cove (our drop off point) that was worth a visit.  As with most of the places we seem to visit, Captain Cook got there first and there is a memorial to him in the bay!

We did the kilometre or so to the waterfall (which was very pretty) and back again and then set off on out 'tramp'.  The first part was uphill to gain height to walk around the headlands.  It was through the temperate rain forest and, every now and then, there are views over the sound and the bays in it.



As we had loitered in Ship Cove, we had let the others that were on the same taxi get ahead and, therefore, had the track to ourselves for a while.  The walk was somewhat more defined than the Hollyford and one did not get the same feeling of being out of the way as there were little houses about here and there and regular views of boats on the sound.  We did the run to Endeavour Inlet and on to Furneaux Lodge (an extra 25 minutes) in about 4 1/2 hours.

Blister Prevention en route

We were pleased to get into a shower, sit and read for a bit and then adjourn to the bar for something to eat and to watch the Rugby Sevens from Wellington.  We both agreed that we felt more tired from this walk than the first day of the Hollyford, but then worked out we had done the same distance in about an hour's less time!!