Queen Charlotte Track

The Queen Charlotte Track lies to the North of the Sound itself on land that is only tenuously connected to the mainland. The Sound is a system of flooded valleys and is hence different to a fjord which is, well, we'll tell you when we get there. Many (perhaps most) of the small settlements in the Sound have have no road access at all and are hence dependent on a boat to bring in supplies and mail. This has incidentally provided a great opportunity to deliver walkers as well, and, for their gear to be dropped off at their overnight stops. The whole area is beautiful beyond description with azure blue water, picturesque coves and forest-clad hills.

Simon taking a rare rest on the first day

Our friends Diane and Simon, lately from Auckland, had managed to arrange a long week-end to come and do some walking with us, so we'd settled on doing some of the Queen Charlotte Track. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), because our plans had still been uncertain, there were only expensive room options left – hence we were booked into a couple of swanky double rooms at the Punga Cove Resort!

Diane and Simon arrived in Picton shortly after 10am on Friday. Ian and I had got down to the Town Wharf at 8.45 to try and sort out the water taxis but it really was quite complicated as our accommodation required us to start in the middle of the walk. In the end, a very helpful lady sorted us out and we settled on splitting up so that the guys could do the arduous and hilly 25 km walk to the resort, whilst the girls took the mail boat! This is actually a very interesting option as it visits several remote villages and homesteads, and for some bizarre reason, sees fit to feed all the dogs, goats and even pigs that come down to meet it.

The guys still managed to be in the bar before the girls arrived. Simon is intensely competitive whereas Ian says that he is not competitive at all but very much dislikes coming second. The result had been a long, hot, fast walk, with a casual photo finish, and each of the guys subsequently blaming the other for the excessive pace. The resort itself was idyllic and we spent a couple of nights there in paradise.

The bar at Punga Cove

The second day we had a 4 hour walk on fairly level going but in scorching sunshine, to another bay where the mail boat picked us up again and whisked us back to Punga Cove. A long-abandoned tractor provided a bit of fun.

On the third day, we had about a one hour boat transfer to our starting point. Diane had not felt at all well when she got up that morning, probably a result of too much time in the Sun the previous day. Fortunately she gradually felt better during the boat trip so we all started together. The guidebook time for the leg was four hours , which was also the time interval between being dropped off and collected by the water taxi. Ian had spotted that the pick-up point was actually somewhat beyond the 'end' of the walk but decided to keep this to himself. The weather had changed and was much cooler and misty (we were lucky not to get rain), but this probably helped us as we needed to make good time. The additional part of the walk turned out to be a steep descent through mixed beech and podocarp forest (no, we didn't know what it meant either). This led to numerous hilarious jokes about root finding, keeping to the root, being off-root and so on. It was a great relief to arrive at at our pick-up point at Mistletoe Bay, if only to stop the awful puns. We actually had 10 minutes to spare, but the water taxi was already waiting for us.

Logistically the whole operation seemed fairly fraught. The organisation of the taxi and mail boat people was excellent. Luggage and people were transferred separately, and all ended up back at Picton, at the right time, without the need for the jet boat.

Jet boat on standby at the water taxi wharf

Diane and Simon still needed to be ferried back to Blenheim Airport however but having dropped them there and having confirmed that the flight had not been cancelled, Ian and Maggie returned to Picton and declared the whole week-end to have been a great success.