Queen Charlotte Track, part 2

After a great meal and healthy breakfast at Mahana Lodge, we were off on day #2 of our tramp on the QCT.  There were 24.5 kilometers to conquer before we were at the next lodge, and I was a bit apprehensive.  Of course, Mahana Lodge was at sea level, so the first 30 minutes of walking was straight up a hill, and then we continued uphill but at a lesser grade.  The day was spent walking the hilly ridge of the peninsula, with Queen Charlotte Sound to our south and Kenepuru Sound to our north. 

Here is our first glimpse of Kenepuru Sound, very pastoral and beautiful.  We spent the day climbing up and down on the ridgeline you see in the left of the photo, and at the end of the day, we could look back and spot the farm we had initially seen, way at the end of the sound.  

Along the way, we stopped to eat delicious lunches we carried from Mahana Lodge, and we found a group of like-paced travelers: we passed them when they were taking a break, and then they would pass us, and we began to recognize faces.  Overall, there was less traffic than the day before, as day hikers were not on this segment.  The high point of the climb was 420 meters, then we went down a bit, only to go back to 404 meters.  Finally, we reached the turnoff to the Portage Bay Hotel, our destination for the night, and down we walked, back to sea level.  It was great to take off our hiking boots, enjoy the view from our room. and have a cold beer.  Yes, there were cars;  it seems most people DROVE to the resort, but we saw several familiar faces from the track in the bar and the restaurant.

We woke on day #3 to the sound of rain, lots of steady rain.  We were prepared though, wrapped our cameras in plastic and put on our raincoats.   Today, the hotel drove all the trekkers up 200 meters to meet the track, so we only had the second 200 meters to the top of the ridge to climb.  I was definitely slower on day #3.  The rain would tease us and seem to stop, but whenever I put down my hood or thought about taking off my raincoat, it would start again.  Although the track continued for another 15 km, this was our short day of walking, and we soon saw the turnoff to Lochmara Lodge where we were stopping.  I had wanted to stay overnight here, but the lodge was booked, so we settled for lunch and walking around.  Luckily, by that time, the rain had stopped.
    Lochmara Lodge is famous for promoting art, and sculpture is scattered throughout their grounds. This mosaic sofa reminded us of Gaudi's art in Barcelona.

The lodge is also known for environmental awareness and protecting native species.  They have a breeding program for threatened parakeets.  We got to help out at the daily feeding.

Finally, it was time to go back to Picton via water taxi #4.  We had a great time.

Queen Charlotte Track, Part One

We have a hard time understanding how holidays work but we certainly are not going to let that disrupt an opportunity to take one. New Zealand Has a couple more national holidays than we do in the states and fortunately they seem to be clustered when we are here. The government also requires 4 weeks of vacation time for employees, considerably more than in the states. Anyways, despite being a much less "religious" country than the states, both Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays and we took that four day weekend and ran with it out to the Marlborough Sounds. The Queen Charlotte Track is one of the great walks in New Zealand that has a very important advantage over the others, you can do the multiday walk and have your gear transported by water taxi from one location to the other. That was perfect for us, a 25 kilometer walk is quite enough without a heavy pack on our back. In addition, our lodging is not in a tent but in a charming lodge that is perhaps accessible only by water and can still serve up wonderful accommodations and meals.------------------------------ We began our adventure from Picton, a wonderful small port town on that serves as the southern Island port for the InterIsland Ferry between the North and South Islands. We stayed at a great B and B just above the port where we left early Friday morning on a sea taxi to Motuara Island, one of the predator free islands in New Zealand that serves as a bird refuge. It took decades to eradicate the mammals, mainly possums and stoats, that have devastated the New Zealand bird populations. We did get the chance to see the New Zealand Saddleback, that has recovered from near extinction with only 37 individuals to a population of several thousands now, as well as Little Blue Penguins in their nesting boxes,_______ ______ From Motuara we caught another ferry to Resolution Bay where we began our track. The first day was a beautiful short hike over to Endeavor inlet where we caught yet another water taxi over to Ponga Cove and walked to our destination at Mahana Lodge. Mahana had three other couples doing the track staying at their fabulous retreat. An international group we were, with Americans, New Zealanders, Australians, and a fellow from London. Many walk the track but cycling is equally as popular as the route, though quite hilly, is well maintained and suitable for mountain bikes, with a fair amount of pushing to be expected. We had a wonderful dinner together with great conversation and Marlborough wines. It was quite a pleasure to run into all these new found friends as we all wound are way around the track over the next couple of days.