Te Araroa : Wellington to Havelock

KM this section : 84
KM completed : 1770

On the ferry.

I could spend longer in Wellington, there is plenty going on, but South Island calls, and I have a busy day ahead.  Firstly the three hour inter island ferry, which is really no different from the familiar English Channel experience - albeit with rather better views as we sail through the Queen Charlotte Sound towards Picton.  One thing, do foot passengers need to check in luggage when crossing the channel?  Well, I manage to keep my bag, once again good that it is small, but have to surrender my poles.  Turns out to be a bad idea - they emerge from the baggage carousel at the other end bent and broken, oops.  This would happen when I have another boat to catch from across the harbour in - quick watch check - thirty minutes...

Ship Cove.

OK, I phone the water taxi people, as long as I get there for 1:30pm it's good.  Duty manager at the ferry port is apologetic, offers me a new looking carbon fibre(!) pole from lost property plus fifty dollars compensation there and then.  Five minutes walk to the other boat, and there is a sports shop over the road, one new pole, much like my old ones (except, you know, not knackered) for forty-five dollars.  Profit!  Could have been much worse... The water taxi turns out to be the mail run up the sound, interesting as we get a commentary on the various bird refuges and so forth, plus the people who have paid sometimes millions of dollars for houses only accessible by boat.  Then they get tourists filming them when they collect their mail...

With a weka.

After a couple of hours I am dropped off at Ship Cove, this is where Captain Cook first set foot on New Zealand soil, liked the place so much he came back four times.  Well, it does seem rather nice... the landscape here was impressive from sea level, but from the path it is something else again.  The Queen Charlotte Track as it's called follows a narrow spit of land, affording incredible views to either side of the Marlborough sounds - river valleys long since drowned as the sea rose.  What's more I can appreciate the view as I walk on a nicely formed cycle track, hopefully this is how South Island will be.  There is even a little resort thirteen kilometres or so in, where I celebrate with some rather fine food.  Don't make it much further for some reason.

The whole track was like this...

The guide on the water taxi had warned us about thieving wekas, to be honest I assumed this was Kiwi humour.  But no, next morning as I'm packing up the tent a flightless bird is approaching my tent pegs with an inquisitive, indeed acquisitive eye.  Later one even grabs my boot by the lace and tries to drag it off... all part off the South Island experience, which so far is all good.  New poles are good, so are the new shoes, and the track is fantastic, I take many photos and don't want to stop walking, making nearly fifty kilometres on my second day here.  Well, the first was an easy one in terms of walking, what with most of the day on boats it was practically a zero.

Speaking of zero days, I did plan to have one at Pelaros Bridge, forty kilometres or so on, but there is really nothing there other than a cafe and campsite, so I go for two easy days instead, twenty kilometres to Havelock then.  Nice place, I get a bed, beer and burger - plus a sewing kit, one of my rucksack zips, and a trouser pocket need work.  The pocket, I rarely use, so it looks like I've worn the thread away from the inside purely through walking!

Photos to go with this post can be found here.