Into the final few days to the end of the trip already. Today will be the last tramp we will be having in New Zealand. And it was definitely something to remember.
The morning was cooling with some high clouds. At half past eight in the morning, the town of Picton is almost dead silent except for the light wind blowing against the trees.
We left our apartment and walked to the Cougar Line office just a short walk away to report in for our Cruise and Hike packaged I saw that was quite interesting.
Passing by a castle-like gate.
Looking almost like an event of a zombie outbreak where everybody will be in hiding.
Beautiful and calm morning in Picton.
Looking out to the Sounds with the mirror-like reflection.
The Cougar Line office.
The track that we took is the Queen Charlotte track, starting from the far end of the sound at Ship Cove and passing by many inlets and bays before reaching the end at Anakiwa. It is one of the most scenic walks in New Zealand but it takes 3-5 days for the whole walk which we didn't have the time to do, so we only tried a short portion of it. We started at Ship Cove and ended our 5 hour tramp at the Furneaux Lodge in the Endeavour Inlet.
After checking-in, we waited around for a while then boarded the ferry that sent us all the way to Ship Cove.
A fishing boat that looks luxurious!
Selling fishes?
Our ferry on the left of the boardwalk.
On board the ferry waiting for others to get on.
The port of Picton as the ferry leaves.
I saw the mountains in front of the ferry looking really nice but couldn't get a clear front view so I tried stretching my hand out to snap a picture!
After making a few stops, mainly delivering things like newspapers, parcels and dropping a couple of people off, we reached Ship Cove slightly more than an hour since we left Picton.
We alighted at a jetty boardwalk and the boat left. The track starts here and will end a few days later for those attempting the entire track.
The people who were walking on the track.
The boardwalk to the shore.
I love how the water look so green!
We went to the toilet first before walking.
Saw a couple of Maori statues and went to take a look.
After taking a look at the Monument to Captain James Cook, we started the walk on the Queen Charlotte track.
DOC signboard showing the times needed to respective locations.
The first part of the track is a steep long climb all the way up to the ridge line.
A large fallen tree blocking the track.
Looking out from the ridge line into the Cook Strait. On a clear day, the north island of New Zealand can be seen.
On the opposite direction of the Cook Strait, Resolution Bay, too, can be seen from the ridge line.
After the ridge line, we descended steadily down a gentle downhill until we reached a sign that says the track crosses a private land. This portion of the track has many of the similar gates that we had to unlock them, open, cross it and locking them back again.
The first gate into the private land.
Unique lock!
Saw a mini waterfall along the track.
The vegetation here looks a lot scarcer.
An open area in the track.
Good view of the Resolution Bay.
We saw some of the guys, from the ferry that we took earlier, having lunch.
And we met this bird that kept following us for a good 10 minutes before deciding the we probably will not give him anything to eat and it walked away.
Almost 3 and a half hours later we reached the sea level of the track and saw a little outlet to the shore.
Someone stacked these stones here before us.
A large part of the rocks were covered with what looks like moss.
Nice framing of the trees with the Endeavour Inlet.
From here, it was about another 40 minutes more to the Furneaux Lodge where we ended our walk and waited for the ferry to pick us up. It started to drizzle here and it got much colder and windier.
An antique object, not sure what it is.
Finally we were reaching the end of the tiring walk!
But the sign earlier was still quite far from the end, until we saw this. But 20 meters takes 2 minutes?
At Furneaux Lodge where trampers can stay for the night if they were continuing on the track.
The bench which we rested on while waiting for the ferry to arrive.
After a while, it started to rain heavily and there was hail too. It got really cold and we took shelter in the trees near the jetty. The ferry ride back was quite choppy because of the high waves. But it was a great experience even though it was just a part of the entire Queen Charlotte track!
Back at the jetty in Picton, we ran back to our apartment from the jetty with the hail hitting our faces. Warmed ourselves up in the apartment then cooked dinner and rested for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment