Hiking the Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds
From RTW 2007 in Marlborough, New Zealand on Sep 11 '07
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The Queen Charlotte Track, located at the top of New Zealand's South Island in the Marlborough Sounds, offers a spectacular trip through the Marlborough Sounds, from the historic Ship Cove through to Anikiwa in the Grove Arm giving unsurpassed views of Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds over the 70-plus km, 4 day walk.
We were really looking forward to stretching our legs on this classic Kiwi tramp, and V was especially pleased that her poor back would not be taking the strain of any huge tramping rucksacks as the water taxi kindly transported our packs each day.
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Monday morning was deemed a suitable day to start the hike, and we boarded the water taxi with some trepidation at what we had let ourselves in for. A stunning hour ferry ride later, we found ourselves in Ship Cove, where Captain Cook had landed 5 times during his explorations here.
As the water taxi pulled away from the pontoon, leaving us in absolute peace, we found ourselves feeling quite overawed and could readily imagine what Cook must have felt when he arrived in this place.
A quick side trip to a nice waterfall aside, we found the start of the track and started walking....
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Day 1 started with a 2 hour walk to Resolution Bay. Climbing steeply away from Ship Cove, we found ourselves underneath deep canopy shades of tree ferns, the occasional nikau palm and other plants. A lookout the top of this climb gave us our first stunning viewpoint of good views of Motuara Island and the outer Queen Charlotte Sound, as well as our first glimpse of North Island. We also met a weka, a wild hen who seemed happier to steal our cereal bars than look at the view.
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From here we climbed over the Ship Cove / Resolution Bay Saddle and descended into Resolution Bay itself. We forgot that the cafe at Resolution Bay had the best muffin cakes in the South Island until it was too late to retrace our steps - we could have done with them as we ascended over a ridge and leads down into Endeavour Inlet. From here we gradually descended through sections of rainforest to original native bush and crystal clear streams. Slowly snatches of the nearby sea and foreshore came into view. as we walked towards the head of the inlet and Furneaux Lodge. Fish and Chips, with some nice cold beers, helped us celebrate our first day on the track, with 15km completed.
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Day 2 of 12.5km was supposed to be the easiest on the track, as we followed the follows the coastline around Endeavour Inlet,through groves of tree ferns some beech and a huge variety of birds. We passed some old antimony mines, and ended our shorter day The area is rich with history, and the population was once over 400, many of whom worked the antimony mines. We stayed the night at the awesome Mahana Lodge www.mahanahomestead.com in Punga Cove, where John and Ann made us feel most welcome and fully catered to Rob's Chocolate Cake requirements! They had a dell of glow-worms in their back garden, which was really interesting to see.
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The toughest day in terms of both length (23km) and steepness was definitely day 3 - but whenever the hills all got a bit too much we turned the corner and were surrounded by the most amazing views. After climbing away steeply from Camp Bay/Punga Cove, sweeping panoramas of the Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds came into view. We were very glad we made the extra climb up to the lookout where an incredible panorama of Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds through the entire 360 degrees made V pleased she had charged her camera!
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Back onto the main track and the trek to Torea Saddle/The Portage was interspersed with one breathtaking vista after another. Eventually the track twisted steeply down to the road between The Portage and Torea Bay. This road, or saddle, is the same as that used by the Maori to haul their wakas (traditional Maori canoe) between the Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds, saving many hours of paddling. We stayed at the Portage Resort Bunkhouse that night, and eased our aching limbs into a well deserved spa pool.
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The final day dawned slight overcast, a change from the lovely weather we had been lucky to enjoy on the track so far. After a very steep climb from Portage up to the ridge, we got to the two highest points on the way to Mistletoe Bay/Te Mahia, which were over 400m. From their summits you get a strong feeling that Kenepuru, Mahau and Queen Charlotte Sounds are indeed the sunken valleys between the peaks and ridges you are walking on.
This last section follows old bridle paths above Onahau Bay, skirting some farm paddocks and then passing through rapidly regenerating forest which supports large populations of birds. We also came across a baby wild pig, which followed us for a bit before deciding we weren't its parents and wandering off! The track went back into the forest before descending into Bottle Bay. From here the track sidles just above the sea to Davies (Umungata) Bay, where we found a nice lunch spot.
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The last hour to Anakiwa again follows an old bridle path. A wide and easy path, it ran through forest featuring enormous beech trees and is a perfect conclusion to the Queen Charlotte track. We arrived at Anikiwa to the brilliant Anikiwa Backpackers www.anakiwabackpackers.co.nz , and although our food bag arrived a while later we still managed to celebrate a fantastic few days. We caught an entertaining lift back to our car in Picton on the postvan, where the postie pointed out all the entries to the "best dressed letterbox" competition he was running.
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All in all, one of the highlights of our adventures so far, and only a couple of blisters!
V&R
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