Leaving Charlotte

I have had a fantastic time on the Queen Charlotte track. The Marlborough Sounds are about as scenic as it comes. Each night I was treated to fantastic cuisine before heading back to my tent (or the Possum's Nest on the first night).

The most scenic day was the first.



Probably for this reason I saw many other walkers, the majority of whom did the walk as a day trip, being picked up from Furneaux Lodge and heading back to Picton by boat. The second day was very short, only about 3 hours walking. As it was a great day I spent much of it lying on the jetty in the sun.

The bag dropping did not go quite as planned. Geoff, the owner of the Furneaux Lodge thought that I was paranoid when I checked (for the second time) on leaving that my bag would be put on the correct boat bound to the correct destination, Camp Bay. Sure enough, it was not there when I arrived, nor was it on the next boat. A few radio calls established that it was still sitting outside the Possum's Nest, having been forgotten about. It duly arrived on the 3 pm boat.

Whilst waiting I was able to enjoy some Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc with two entertaining Americans, Linda and Shari, who were lunching at the adjoining Punga Cove Resort (incidentally run by Geoff's father Ralph, so I was not overly concerned about finding a bed if my pack did not turn up with my tent).


Camping at Camp Bay was hilarious. A family with 9 children, from Palmerston North, turned up. The children came to offer me all sorts of advice with pitching my tent etc and volunteered that they are all adopted. They were obviously having a great time. The "children" were aged from young adult to about 4. I was modestly incredulous when I was told that the next day they were to walk the same distance as me, 24k with probably another 2k in climbs.



On leaving Camp Bay, heading for Portage, I arrived having seen only 3 people in 24k of track, quite a contrast to the first day.

On arrival the usual locate the backpack issue arose. I discovered that Portage (and the adjoining Cowshed Bay campsite where I was staying) are on the other side of the peninsula from the other resorts/campsites. I read that the water taxis do not go to Portage as it is too far around the peninsula and that the Maoris used to haul their canoes over the saddle at this point to save the long sea journey. Having located the campsite, with no sign of my pack, I headed for the resort and enquiries directed me to the "pack rack" where I duly found my pack. I then headed back to Cowshed Bay, pitched the tent and sorted myself for the evening. Then, following the pattern of the last few days I headed back to the restaurant at the resort and had a great meal. Scallops followed by blue cod and panacotta - its tough on the Queen Charlotte!

The last two nights have been interesting also in that I have travelled without a torch and have had to find my way back to my tent through the canopy of rain forest in pitch dark!

When I awoke this morning I noticed that I had stumbled through the assembled tents of the Palmerston North family, who had made it. The mother had driven to the end of the days walk and then ran back to the start and along the track to join her family - she runs marathons!



Today I caught the boat back to Picton, drove to Nelson and then flew to Auckland, where I am staying with my cousin Derrick and his family for two nights before heading to Tasmania.

Thanks for your comments. I look forward to receiving more...