A Dangerous Business

Date: 7th January 2024

Start: Ship Cove (km 1715.4)

End: Schoolhouse Bay Campsite (km 1721.1)

Distance Travelled: 5.6 km

Total Distance Completed: 1561 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears

Snacks Stolen by Weka: my cashews (I got them back)

ding ding ding we have a new shortest day record, one that took 14 hours to complete between waking up and arriving! That sounds like a really tough track, doesn’t it? Not exactly.

Today marked the start of the South Island, however we were finding it a bit difficult to walk on it because we were still on the North Island. With no bridge or tunnel between the two, we had two options: a flight to Picton (expensive) or a ferry to, well, Picton (not expensive). We obviously opted for the latter which gave us two depature options: 6:15 or 8:30am. Both ferries would get us to Picton in time for our water taxi to Ship Cove, but the latter wouldn’t give us much leeway if the ferry was delayed, something that has become sadly commonplace in recent months (seriously NZ government, fund the new ferries). As such we went with the early morning depature, which meant waking up at 3:30am.

A short but pricey Uber ride to the terminal later, our bags were checked in and now we had to play the waiting game usually reserved for airport terminals. Thankfully this game didn’t last too long, boarding the Aratere around 5:15. We ran into Jamie whilst playing this game, the four of us heading forward to the bow, reserving a table near the cafe. To my surprise we got underway 20 minutes early, the sun just beginning to show its face on the horizon.

I’d already had my first coffee of the day in the ferry terminal, but whilst we were in the calm seas on Wellington Harbour I figured it’d be good to get brekkie now before entering the strait, grabbing more wake up juice and a plate of waffles, berries, and cream. Thankfully, the strait was very calm today, only the smallest of swells crashing against the hull. We settled in for the ride, making good use of the time by writing up the last couple of blog posts.

At their nearest points, the two islands aren’t actually that far away so there was never a time when either of them was out of sight. The voyage passed by quickly, with Aratere soon entering the Marlborough Sounds.

The waters calmed down even further as we made the traverse towards Picton, passing the Kaiarahi on the way. After 3 hours we docked in Picton, made our way down the gangway to the terminal, picked up our bags and reunited with Sean, his van, and our boxes. Mine were already done, only needing addresses, but the others still had some sorting to do. Whilst they got on with that, I went into town to get my supplies for the Queen Charlotte Track, plus a few extra items for the Richmond’s.

Once packed and boxes sealed, we paused for a brief lunch before heading to the water taxi company for our journey to Ship Cove. We’d be joining one of their regular sightseeing cruises through the sounds so there was a chance we might see some interesting wildlife.

The boat slipped away from Picton and it didn’t take long before we slowed down to see a group of shags on the rocks and shearwaters bobbing up and down on the water. But the best was yet to come. An hour into the journey, we saw dolphins.

They happened to be a pod of Hector’s dolphins, the smallest species of dolphin at only 1.2 km length and weighing only 40 kg. There’s only 35 or so of these dolphins in Queen Charlotte Sound and about 20 of them were flocking around our boat. Yes, it made me feel very lucky to have seen them and yes I did nearly cry. This was a very different type of trail magic, one that I will not soon forget.

The main tour group were dropped off on a predator free island whilst the three of us plus Kate, a Nelson local hoping to walk home from here, left the vessel at Ship Cove, the northern terminus of the Queen Charlotte Track. Captain Cook sheltered many times in this cove on his voyages to and from New Zealand, presumably that’s how the cove got its name.

Technically the track is a combined hiking and cycling trail so I was expecting it to be pretty easy walking. It wasn’t as good as I was expecting, but still solid enough that we could make good time climbing up from the cove.

I say good time, but our trio was carrying way too much food for the 3 day crossing of the trail. Even the small climb up to Tawa Saddle took a while as we strugglined under the heavy loads. Alone, I could’ve definitely gone quicker but I chose to stick with the group. This had an unexpected benefit as we got to the top of the saddle: safety in numbers when we got surrounded by a number of weka.

My excitement at seeing them rapidly changed to feelings of wariness, keeping one eye on my snack bags at all times. Chances are they’ll be more of them at camp tonight, all craving whatever they can get their beaks on.

At least today’s climbing was done, a gentle descent leading us to Schoolhouse Bay.

It soon hoved into view, a number of yachts already moored there as were several hikers just doing the track and a relaxed looking Jamie.

After my tent was set up and I was busying myself with preparing dinner, I caught a glimpse of a weka running into the buses with a small brown bag in the mouth. I laughed at first, but my second thought was remembering that I had three small brown bags full of snacks in the side pocket of my pack. Yep, he’d stolen my bag of cashews. Thankfully he hadn’t taken them far and I was able to retrieve them. Ok, lesson learnt, bring snacks with you to dinner. Beyond those shenanigans the evening was peaceful, the calm waters of the cove lapping at the shore, the sun sinking below the mountains in front of us. I’m pretty confident today’s shortest distance record isn’t going to be beaten anytime soon. But you never know what this trail will throw at you. Hopefully nothing too ridiculous. Just the usual level of ridiculousness.