We wandered down to Picton again this weekend to hike part of the Queen Charlotte Track. Took the ferry on Friday night with our friend Lydia (she's the one who rows with the surf boats!), got into our hotel quite late that night, but got to wake up bright and early to this great view:
Josh and Lydia having breakfast at the harbor before we took the boat. The plan was to take the boat to Endeavour Inlet to where we jump on the track...the QC track is advertised as an all season track, but Josh had a heck of a time getting info and figuring out how we could just do a portion of it, 'cause so many places shut down over the winter. So finally, after talking to a million people we finally got an itinerary (well, Josh finally got us an itinerary). This including staying in the only 5 star resort in the sounds! We're such a flash bunch.
Picton harbor
On the boat!
Stopped at Ship's Cove, which is the first stop of the QC. Here are cute little oyster catchers (at least I think that's what Lydia told me these are called).
Blue cod getting fed--it was super funny. They were practically jumping out of the water and taking big ole bites of the bread slices.
The boat also serves as a mail boat, so we got to deliver some packages while enjoying the scenery!
We got dropped off and hiked up a road to the start of the trail. It was a gorgeous day, even though the forecasts called for clouds and rain!
Some of the track was in woods, but there were lots of bits where we could either see parts of the QC sound or the other side, the Kenepuru Sound, as we were up on the ridge line. This picture is looking down into Kenepuru Sound. (Not true to color, obviously, I had fun playing with the saturation and colors on picassa.)
It also turns out that there are super cute cartoon mushrooms on the trail! Ok, so they're not actual cartoons, but they look like they belong in Alice in Wonderland. I may have taken lots of pictures of them. This is my favorite.
Here's Josh's fav 'shroom.
More great views.
Lunch with a view! Lydia make a mean avocado, cheese, sprout sammy. SUCH a great lunch.
So we only had about 3 hours worth of hiking on the track, which is in fabulous shape, mainly flat, and about 3-4 feet wide in most places...not what we've used to for tramping tracks. Anyway, then we have to turn and go another almost two hours off the track to get to our hotel. It was a fabulous little (ok, maybe not so little) place called the Bay of Many Coves Resort. Yes, resort. We had a hot tub, and big fluffy towels, and REALLY yummy smelling soaps and things. It was a brand called evolu...and I may have to find some to have at home.
After a great soak in the hot tub, we made some yummy sort of curry for dinner, and I also ordered dessert visa room service...coconut pannecotta with ginger granita. Crazy good. Of course, I did eat it before dinner...
Good dinner!
Josh enjoying his morning coffee on the balcony.
After a nice breakfast and packing up all of our stuff, we got ready to leave. The lovely folks at the resort brought us by boat to a different spot that only took us 45 minutes (going up and up and up) to get to the trail instead of almost 2 hours the other way!
More sound pictures, this is of the QC side.
Rata flowers (Rata's the tree/plant that starts up in another tree, and sends it's roots down--you can see in the background the tree that has all the lumpy bumpy bits on the trunk--all the roots growing down!)
Hey guys! Wait for me!
A stop for lunch with views of the ferry, sailboat races, and the Kaikoura mountains (snowcapped) in the distance!
Mmmmm....tasty avocado sammies (thanks again to Lydia for lunch)!!!
And yes, my hair is very long. Don't worry, I just FINALLY got my haircut today. Feels so good! (It's been over 5 months since I got a hair cut, pretty good for short hair...)
The view from our lunch spot, the Black Rock Shelter.
This is the pepper plant...apparently it has some good numbing qualities if you chew on it. Good things to know if you're stuck in the bush...
The end of our tramping, Torea Bay.
On the boat ride back to Picton.
So the plan initially was to kayak around the sounds on Monday morning, but unfortunately it rained. Big time. So instead we rented a car ($50!!) and went Marlborough wine tasting. Yay!
We had a tour of the Montana winery, which is distributed in the states but under the Brancott brand. It was very interesting to see the difference of the very tiny winery (Murdoch) that we toured in Martinborough compared to Montana, which is the largest winery in NZ.
And then we got to take a little plane back to NZ--look, it's the pilot! With all his instruments!
Going over all those grapevines.
Look at all those cool instuments! Don't you just want to go push buttons and things? Good thing we had seatbelts on.
The runway of Wellington.
And Kapiti Island from the car on the way home. Good lookin' island. Back to Hawera we went!
And Kari took care to send a shirt for tramping. She even sewed on the tramp part. She's a maniac with the sewing machine.
Kari, Al, and E--thanks again from very happy tramps. :)
So after staying out late (yeah, we were out till like midnight! That's crazy! Ohh, we're party animals! Please note the sarcasm.) we planned on being up and out of the house to do a nice hike up on Taranaki (we're trying to hike all over that mountain). However, we woke up to lots and lots of rain. Not just a little, but enough to make our ceiling leak. Sad.
Pretty hills on the way north.
Then some kid was waving is arms on the side of the road, and we had no idea why till we turned the corner.... COWS! yay.
Sheep on a hill, sheep on a hill...why do they all run away from me? Sad.
This dude was checking out Josh.
Here's Mt Damper falls--74 m high!
There was a bit that would come off to the right, where the force/wind from the water hitting the bottom blew away that bit of water, not letting even hit the bottom!
Josh in deep contemplation. Oommm....waterfall......ooommmm....
Then we hiked a bit on a trail that goes from Mt Damper to another set of falls about 7 hours away. We just walked about for an hour or so. Here's Josh using the very helpful little step to jump over the fence.
Ohh, piney forest.
Looks kinda like fairy land.
Ferns are taller than Josh!
Yes, more mushrooms. I'm sorry, I'm on a quest for the perfect mushroom picture to blow up and hang on the wall. Aren't these two just super cute?
And this one had a nice ray of sunshine warming it up.
This is the nice farmland that you go through to get to Mt Damper and the hiking bit. Pretty land! I wonder how many times I've used the word pretty in this blog. A lot, I bet.
Taranaki and the Pouakai Range on the way home.
Josh and Lydia having breakfast at the harbor before we took the boat. The plan was to take the boat to Endeavour Inlet to where we jump on the track...the QC track is advertised as an all season track, but Josh had a heck of a time getting info and figuring out how we could just do a portion of it, 'cause so many places shut down over the winter. So finally, after talking to a million people we finally got an itinerary (well, Josh finally got us an itinerary). This including staying in the only 5 star resort in the sounds! We're such a flash bunch.
Picton harbor
On the boat!
Stopped at Ship's Cove, which is the first stop of the QC. Here are cute little oyster catchers (at least I think that's what Lydia told me these are called).
Blue cod getting fed--it was super funny. They were practically jumping out of the water and taking big ole bites of the bread slices.
The boat also serves as a mail boat, so we got to deliver some packages while enjoying the scenery! 
We got dropped off and hiked up a road to the start of the trail. It was a gorgeous day, even though the forecasts called for clouds and rain!
Some of the track was in woods, but there were lots of bits where we could either see parts of the QC sound or the other side, the Kenepuru Sound, as we were up on the ridge line. This picture is looking down into Kenepuru Sound. (Not true to color, obviously, I had fun playing with the saturation and colors on picassa.)
It also turns out that there are super cute cartoon mushrooms on the trail! Ok, so they're not actual cartoons, but they look like they belong in Alice in Wonderland. I may have taken lots of pictures of them. This is my favorite.
Here's Josh's fav 'shroom.
More great views.
Lunch with a view! Lydia make a mean avocado, cheese, sprout sammy. SUCH a great lunch.
So we only had about 3 hours worth of hiking on the track, which is in fabulous shape, mainly flat, and about 3-4 feet wide in most places...not what we've used to for tramping tracks. Anyway, then we have to turn and go another almost two hours off the track to get to our hotel. It was a fabulous little (ok, maybe not so little) place called the Bay of Many Coves Resort. Yes, resort. We had a hot tub, and big fluffy towels, and REALLY yummy smelling soaps and things. It was a brand called evolu...and I may have to find some to have at home.
After a great soak in the hot tub, we made some yummy sort of curry for dinner, and I also ordered dessert visa room service...coconut pannecotta with ginger granita. Crazy good. Of course, I did eat it before dinner...
Good dinner!
Josh enjoying his morning coffee on the balcony.
After a nice breakfast and packing up all of our stuff, we got ready to leave. The lovely folks at the resort brought us by boat to a different spot that only took us 45 minutes (going up and up and up) to get to the trail instead of almost 2 hours the other way!
More sound pictures, this is of the QC side.
Rata flowers (Rata's the tree/plant that starts up in another tree, and sends it's roots down--you can see in the background the tree that has all the lumpy bumpy bits on the trunk--all the roots growing down!)
Hey guys! Wait for me!
A stop for lunch with views of the ferry, sailboat races, and the Kaikoura mountains (snowcapped) in the distance!
Mmmmm....tasty avocado sammies (thanks again to Lydia for lunch)!!!
The view from our lunch spot, the Black Rock Shelter.
This is the pepper plant...apparently it has some good numbing qualities if you chew on it. Good things to know if you're stuck in the bush...
The end of our tramping, Torea Bay.
On the boat ride back to Picton.
So the plan initially was to kayak around the sounds on Monday morning, but unfortunately it rained. Big time. So instead we rented a car ($50!!) and went Marlborough wine tasting. Yay!
We had a tour of the Montana winery, which is distributed in the states but under the Brancott brand. It was very interesting to see the difference of the very tiny winery (Murdoch) that we toured in Martinborough compared to Montana, which is the largest winery in NZ.
And then we got to take a little plane back to NZ--look, it's the pilot! With all his instruments!
Going over all those grapevines.
Look at all those cool instuments! Don't you just want to go push buttons and things? Good thing we had seatbelts on.
The runway of Wellington.
And Kapiti Island from the car on the way home. Good lookin' island. Back to Hawera we went!
