Nick’s world tour

I’ve done a fair bit of trekking this year, with a good number of overnight trips, but this must be the most civilised. In the Marlborough Sounds, a track crosses private land, winding in and out of picturesque bays and along tree covered ridges. To access the track, you really need to go by boat, and included in the price of your ticket are bag transfers. This means that for the 70-odd kilometres, all you need to carry is your lunch and camera, and each night your bag is wherever you have chosen to stay. Cheating? Maybe, but if you carried it yourself, it would be a waste of money, right?!

The mist is burning off the sea as we leave Picton for the 45 minute boat ride out to Ship Cover (Capt Cook named this one too, and there’s a little monument to him). A little warm up track is to a waterfall and then it’s a steep climb up which is where you are glad you’re not carrying much. Most of today’s walk is shaded by trees, a bonus as it’s very hot despite the early hour. Mid morning we stop off at Resolution Bay where there is a little tea shop.

Of course we partake, and it comes on a little silver tray with a muffin! This is like a pleasant Sunday afternoon stroll in the English countryside! There’s another climb to before Endeavour Inlet and a long loop around this bay to Punga Cove. I’m staying at a little lodge overlooking the deep blue water. After a swim it’s time for the homecooked meal out on the verandah, with veggies from the garden. After dark we all wander up to the glow worm dell near the stream.

Next day is a long slog, but luckily it’s a bit cooler and cloudier today. There’s a long climb to the top of the Torea Saddle and a long ridge walk to Portage. The final day is hot and sunny again, with a couple of hills to climb to get the blood pumping straight away, a break at Misteltoe Bay where the ducks take an interest in lunch. A couple more climbs later, and we descend to Anikawa: the end of the track, and the appropriately named Blist’d Foot cafe where we wait for the boat back to Picton.

A pretty good way to spend a few days, especially because I only decided to do this when I picked up a leaflet about the track at a bus stop the other day!

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 11th, 2007 at 3:26 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.