A Dangerous Business

Date: 8th January 2024

Start: Schoolhouse Bay Campsite (km 1721.1)

End: Bay of Many Coves Campsite (km 1751.5)

Distance Travelled: 30.4 km

Total Distance Completed: 1591.4 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: Be Thou My Vision

Things Stolen by Weka Today: a bag of hikers wool (retrieved from the bushes) and attempted theft of my shoes

A cool morning welcomed us into the new day. Turns out a big hot ball of gas millions of kilometres away can be stopped by a simple mountain. The one thing with cool mornings is everyone moves slower. We didn’t get away until 9am, our first stint lasting all of about 15 minutes, popping down to Resolution Bay for a coffee and snacks. Apart from the DOC campsites, there are several private lodges along the track offering more upmarket accommodation for those with the budget for it. Resolution Bay is one such place and I can see why it would be a popular spot to spend a night.

The track continued to be as good as it was yesterday, climbing gradually up to Tawa Saddle, still going slower than I hoped thanks to our overfilled packs. No matter, although we had 30 km still to walk I wasn’t worried about arriving late, provided the track stayed in its current condition.

From Tawa Saddle we got views over all of Endeavour Inlet and much of Queen Charlotte Sound, both of which appearing a gorgeous deep blue. A few day hikers were also out on trail, easily identified by the lack of any massive packs on their backs and fresh looking faces. One thing that was beginning to worry me slightly was the time and how much distance we had covered. Despite the low elevations and easy track, we still had to climb a combined 1200 m. I tried my best to put all that aside as we descended towards the inlet where it became oddly busy. The trail seemed to bisect a small village, a row of holiday homes on our right all with their own private tracks down to the beach on our left.

Towards the far end of the inlet is Furneaux Lodge, another one of these private resorts for the more boujee traveller. One of the comments in Far Out about this place is that it’s a nice place to relax and have a glass of rosé. So I did. It was yet another rest break after not much walking, but I figured if Matt and Melly weren’t worried, then neither should I.

When we left and meandered around the end of the inlet, the trees that had sheltered us so far began to shrink and separate. The weather felt decidedly Australian; in other words, hot. And that’s me saying it’s hot, my sympathies going out to our resident German. Still, I’ll take a hot day over a wet one any day of the week.

Of course, excessive heat also means needing to take more breaks in the shade to prevent heat stroke, dehydration, and other heat-related health issues. The air temperature was only in the mid-20s, but when you’re walking in those temperatures for several hours at a time, your body’s ability to regulate its temperature will start to struggle. For normal life I prefer a higher than average temperature range, but on trail the optimal for me is around the 20 degree mark, so I can start cool and warm up as I get moving.

Our walk around Endeavour Inlet came to an end at Camp Bay. From there the Queen Charlotte Track heads up and follows a ridge more or less all the way to its southern end at Anakiwa. At this point I jumped ahead of Team Camera. Throughout these first couple of days I noticed that I was feeling much faster on the climbs tha they were, never truly using that pace as I wanted to stick together as a group. On this climb, something changed, perhaps a bit of impatience setting in a long with a few nerves about reaching camp late this evening. Sure enough, they were soon out of sight, leaving just me to finish the climb up onto the ridge, looking down upon Kenepuru Sound.

Following the ridge, I spent most of the time in the cover of trees with the occasional gap to let in glimpse of either sound as a sort of reminder as to why I’m out here doing Te Araroa: spectacular views alongside awesome people. I was lacking the latter, so at a picnic bench I stopped for a snack break and let the others catch up. I have to say, I’m loving the lightness of these trail runners, they’re definitely helping to contribute to helping me get up mountains quickly. Out in the sounds were countless small white wakes of boats going to and fro, along with a nice big wake from a cruise ship heading back out into the ocean. One has to wander how long it took to turn that bad boy around at Picton.

Back as a three and with time pressures now eliminated, I slowed back down to their climbing pace, passing by pine and native forests. We started the final climb and before you know it, the camp shelter hoved into view, many hikers greeting us upon our arrival including Jamie.

Because it was 7:15pm, I didn’t dawdle with the tent set-up, coming back to the shelter to eat dinner. When I returned to go to bed, an unwelcome surprise met me. My shoes were now outside my tent and my hikers wool was missing. Those dang weka. Thankfully the wool hadn’t been carried far but from then on I did chuck it into my tent proper rather than leaving it in my pack. I felt pretty tired when I retired for the night but there was to be no rest. Another big day tomorrow, then I’m counting down the days until the Richmond Ranges.

These good tracks won’t last forever.