Walking and walking and walking near Picton -- the Queen Charlotte Track and others

In the beginning, God created the earth, then after a while he put some humans on that earth.  Those humans lumbered around on their four limbs for a few (ok, many) thousands of years before some show off started to balance on just two legs (probably to impress some chick), and eventually, everyone else decided to copy him (all the cool kids were doing it) and humans became bipeds. 

A loooong time later, a biped known as Nadine decided to put her walking shoes on and get out walking. 

Cause there’s some good walking to be done in these parts.

Picton is known among travellers mainly for two things: its port (the ferry that links the two main islands travels between here and Wellington) and for being the gateway to the Queen Charlotte Track.

Ferry leaving Picton bound for Wellington. The trip takes approximately tree hours. There are two companies who each run four or five crossings a day.

I did a section of the track during my last trip and liked it so much, that I decided to do it again. So on Tuesday, I booked the required taxi boat and accommodation for Wednesday and Thursday.

Since I’ve been fairly inactive lately, I wanted to get a bit of exercise in so that the long walks wouldn’t be such a shock to the old legs.

So Tuesday afternoon, I filled up my water bottle, grabbed some sunscreen and my big hat, and headed out to The Snout, a finger of land that juts out into the Queen Charlotte Sounds from downtown Picton.  

It was a beautiful walk (are there any other kind in NZ? If so, I haven’t found one yet) with great views of  the Sounds and of Picton itself.

View of Picton from the Snout Track.

I hadn’t really looked into the length of the walk, nor at the weather, which was, in retrospect, a bit unwise. Turns out that it was a 12km treck, half of which was uphill on un-sheltered paths, all in blazing sun (have I mentioned how insanely strong the sun is here?).  That lone bottle of water I brought with me was far from enough.  By the time I stumbled back into town more than three hours later, I was dehydrated, dizzy, and weak.  I rushed to the grocery store and bought myself a beverage as quickly as I could.

With that experience fresh on my mind, I packed three full bottles for the Queen Charlotte. 

The QC track runs for 71km along a series of undulating bays. Done from tip to tip, the QC generally takes four or five days to complete. One of the great things about the track though is that you can do as little or as much of it as you want.  A taxi boat ferries you to the point of entry you select, and picks you up on the day you choose at the place you choose.

I opted to do the first 27km since that section offers nice long flat-ish sections (not too much climbing!) and can be spread out over the course of two days with one night spent along the track.

The best thing about the QC though is the logistics of it.  The taxi boat ride in is phenomenally beautiful, and depending on which company you go with, you often end up visiting a bunch of the bays and homesteads since they’re dropping off supplies and mail.  Those boats also drop off trampers’ packs, so you don’t have to carry much on your back, even if you’re doing a multi-day hike.  There, waiting for you by the door of your room or cabin will be your bags, transported here as if by magic! Bliss!

I won’t bore you with the details of the walk.  All I’ll say is that it’s nice. Sometimes you’re on the top of a big hill enjoying stunning views on both sides. Others, you’re nearly at sea level marvelling at the colour of the water. In either case, you’re really happy to be there.

One of the many coves along the Queen Charlotte.

Pretty flowers along the track.

This unidentified plant is among my favourite in NZ. I've seen it up and down the country. It's really cool.

I did 15km over three and a half hours the first day, and spent the night at Furneaux Lodge.  It should actually be called Fur-NO Lodge – the place is an overpriced hole.  I was all alone in a bare and spooky cabin which is set up to sleep 25 people. Presumably these 25 people are simple folk who don’t need such luxuries as entertainment, or hot showers, or a kettle, or rubbish bins, or lights, or in some cases, walls, cause Furno didn’t supply these. Sheesh.

FurNO lodge's backpacker cabin

Oh well.  It was just for one night, and now I can spread the news throughout the land of how crappy a place it is. 

Day two was a bit of a bother, not because the terrain was hard or the road long or the weather bad. Nay, it was an easy 12km over mostly flat land in ideal conditions. My toes, however, had been reduced to bulbous lumps of blisters from the previous day’s efforts. I have no idea why.  I have good hiking shoes and I’ve walked greater distances in them.  In any case, they hurt, and I limped most of the way to the pickup point.

The weka is a flightless wood hen.  As you can see, they are rather unafraid of humans.

Fern shadows

Fun with tripod.

On the ride back to town yesterday we had an unexpected treat.  We came across a pod of about 15 bottlenose dolphins and we watched them cavort around us for a good 20 minutes.  They even chased us for a bit when we started to drive away. I don’t think it’s possible to grow tired of watching those animals.

A synchronized dolphin dive.

Though I was sure I wouldn’t want to take one more step than absolutely necessary, today I set out to the grocery store to pick up some supplies (hair dye, wine) and was so seduced by the fabulous weather, that, on a whim, I decided to go for a walk.

There’s a path that leads up one of the many hills around Picton to a hilltop lookout that a few people had told me about. It wasn’t a long walk – only about an hour in total – and the view was great. I chatted with a retired kiwi couple at the top, then I made my way back down.  Other than a moment when I lost my footing and nearly went ass-over-teakettle, it was pretty uneventful. 

The view from up top.

So I’m back in Picton at the best hostel I’ve ever been to.  Tombstone has free breakfast, a hot tub, awesome hosts, two cute cats, a lemon tree, comfy beds, lots of room to spread out, and no idiotic 18-year-olds trying to impress one another.  It’s great.  So great in fact that I’ve decided to stick around for longer than I planned.  I’m going to take it easy here for the next two days, enjoy the sunshine, the tranquility and try to stay off my feet J

So I guess the last order of business is to let you know that I’ve been accepted into the graduate diploma of teaching programme at Otago.  So that’s good.  I’m leaning towards deferring until 2012 though.  I also have a meeting with the University of Victoria next week, so I want to wait to hear from them before deciding.

In any case, I’m continuing with the work for the prerequisite course for Otago, and managed to submit my essay a full three days early (a hostel is hardly the best environment in which to write an essay, BTW).

On one of the lookouts on the Queen Charlotte.  Note the tan :)