Queen Charlotte Track Day 1 – Camp Bay Campsite

Today was the start of the Queen Charlotte Track for me. Left Picton this morning on a one-hour boat taxi to the start of the tramp in the middle of the beautiful Marlborough Sounds. There were about 8 other people on the boat with me, most of them carrying day packs for either a day walk or in conjunction with the pack ferrying service. Started to walk just before 12 noon. It was a very pretty trail through the forest with occasional views of the sounds. It’s an easy trail with good grade, SO much different than the other ones I’ve been on recently – no river crossings, no 3-wire bridges, no cableways, no alpine crossings, nothing. 27 km today. Almost boring compared to what I’ve been doing, but I enjoyed being able to cruise. It wouldn’t be a day in New Zealand without a bit of rain, and sure enough we had a few showers in the afternoon, some of them quite heavy. And then the Southerly came in, that freezing cold wind straight from Antarctica, and it was quite cold in the rain. I hereby request that they eliminate the word’summer’ from the New Zealand vocabulary.

Got to the campsite here around 6:30pm and thankfully the rain stopped while I set up my tent. It’s going to be a bitter cold night, I can feel it. But I’ve heard that it’s supposed to clear tomorrow.

Views of the Marlborough Sounds

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Add comment February 21st, 2003