Queen Charlotte Walkway

What a lovely start to our journey south. Great tracks although muddy after recent southerlies and cold at first. People en route were grumbling about the absence of summer - but it soon hit us with a vengeance, and the road walk into Havelock was over melted tar.

Leaving Cowshed Bay, Day 4

The Queen Charlotte Walkway is a wonderful trail, magnificent forest and views along the way. We shared the trail with walkers, trampers, cyclists and even had lunch with two horsewomen. At most camps the morning was heralded by a spectacular dawn chorus, and at night we enjoyed hearing the cheeky wekas screeching. They often appeared around meal times within a foot of us, beadily eyeing our food. We had to enlighten four Israeli lads that they were NOT kiwis.

Our favourite camp was Davies Bay where we refreshed ourselves with a swim, and ate our meal overlooking the emerald green waters of the Sound. The campers next to us lived just a couple of kilometres from our home - small world.

A big bonus for Rob is that he has so far managed to have a pint of beer on 3 separate occasions - this really is quite a civilised stretch of the Te Araroa Trail. However, that is all coming to an end - tomorrow we head up to Pelorus, and then go to do battle with our worst fears - crossing the Richmond Range via Mt Rintoul to the rugged Red Hills. We hope the next posting will be from Nelson around the 16th January.

Notes:

Day 1: Ship Cove to Miners’ Camp. 16 km
Day 2: Miners’ Camp to Bay of Many Coves Shelter. 19 km
Day 3: Bay of Many Coves to Cowshed Bay campsite. 15 km
Day 4: Cowshed Bay to Davies Bay campsite. 18 km
Day 5: Davies Bay to Havelock YHA. 19 km

On the road again...

42 dehydrated dinners prepared and assembled, 8 food parcels packed and posted, every item weighed, and weighed again for another trial pack, things spread all over the floor waiting to be finally stashed in the Osprey packs. News arriving that there are slips on the tramping access road in Richmond which our son Sam and his partner Lorraine are scheduled to travel up to meet us. Oh dear. We hope they make it, we really want their company over the Richmond range -and that night’s dinner and our food parcel!

It will be a lovely change for us to have company on some sections of the South Island trail. Our nephew-in-law Adi is meeting us at West Sabine Hut, and accompanying us over the Waiau Pass, and on over Harpers.

We wonder if we will catch sight of any Paradise Ducks in the South Island – they were like a talisman for us in the north where we saw them almost every day. We worry about how our bodies will hold up over two and a half months. I have nightmares about the rivers and Rob wakes up in a sweat dreaming about Mt Rintoul. But at the same time we are itching to get going again.

Not sure where and when we will be able to post to the blog again – it could be some weeks away. But in the meantime, it’s on with the boots and off we go in the teeth of a cold southerly to Ship Cove, destination Bluff…