A Dangerous Business

Date: 9th January 2024

Start: Bay of Many Coves Campsite (km 1751.5)

End: Davies Bay Campsite (km 1782.8)

Distance Travelled: 31.3 km

Total Distance Completed: 1622.7 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: Lost? by Kings Kaleidoscope

Things Stolen by Weka Today: nothing, they left me alone today

By the time you read this I will have completed the Richmond Ranges. Although there were spots along the trail where I could get signal and upload these posts, I chose not to so that I could conserve power for the journey to St Arnaud. If I’m organised enough I’ll get a couple posts up today and tomorrow. That’ll be the pattern over the next few weeks as I pass through Nelson Lakes and then Arthur’s Pass national parks, spamming a bunch of posts when I reach town, followed by long periods of nothing. Rest assured that I’m still in contact with my family so they know I’m safe.

Update: I figured I could get one post out. I’ve made it to Starveall Hut, pretty brutal climb but happy with how I’m going.

Anyway, back to the Queen Charlotte, where another long day lay ahead of us. Similar distances both horizontally and vertically. Not wanting to arrive at camp after 7pm again, we agreed to leave before 9am today. We did just that… we left at 8:30. Straightaway the climbing began, again questioning how people bike this track considering the difficulties I had on the much easier climbs on the Timber Trail. Granted I’m far from the gold standard for mountain bikers.

View-wise, we were now looking at the southern reaches of the sound, so we could now see the interisland ferries coming and going from Picton.

At the tip of the first climb we caught up with Jamie who joined us for the rest of today. More surprising was the emergence of Bevan and Leo. I don’t know how they’d ended up behind us (the trail be like that sometimes), but here they were again, zooming ahead. The ridge wasn’t that exposed although I almost wished it was,m so we could get more of the wind that was rolling through. The Marlborough Sounds/Nelson area is one of the sunniest in the country and I could’ve really done with a bit more shade or breeze to keep me cool. I got the shade once I descended off the ridge, entering a lovely, cool forest.

It really was the polar opposite from the ridge walk in the Tararuas; gently sloped, even surface, no scrambling. One downside was that the views are getting a bit samey. This was the third day I’d been looking at the blue sounds and green hills bordering them. Still very pretty but I was craving some variation, something that I got a lot of in the Tararuas.

Throughout the time I had been thinking this, the trail had been winding its way down to Torea Saddle and the intersection to the Cowshed Bay campsite. A small Great War monument had been built where the track meets the road to the bay, making for a nice lunch spot. I started getting a bit restless after half an hour, but when I looked at the others they were all having a nap. I don’t blame them, the heat was really draining.

From there, nothing much more happened. The focus was very much on getting the kilometres in. I flipped between listening to The Two Towers and various Kings Kaleidoscope albums to help the hours go by faster. Typically I’d only reserve using my earphones on road sections as I like to remain attentive whilst in the bush (particularly for birdlife), but today I just wanted to power through it, still stopping briefly at each lookout.

Nearing our finishing point for the day, bush began to turn into farmland, noting the fences now bordering the track, the lower density of native forest, and horses grazing in fields nearby.

The final descent of the day tookus right down to Davies Bay. The waypoint on Far Out said the campsite was up a small hill, but as it turns out it is possible to camp right on the beach. So we did.

Another long day was now in the books and I knew that the end of nice, easy walking was also coming to a close. In a handful of days I would be in the bowels of Mt Richmond Forest Park doing some proper tramping. Low speeds on steep, rough tracks. With that said, I’m glad I’ll be doing it with this bunch of people. I was afraid when I began the trail that I wouldn’t have the time to get to know any of my fellow hikers all that well. Thankfully I’ve had the great blessing of becoming good friends with several great people. I expect it won’t last the entire way down the island, but whilst it does I’ll make the most of it.