On Saturday we start our tour of the South Island by hitting the renowned Queen Charlotte Track. This was a 15KM hike in the Marlborough Sounds area at the Northern tip of the South Island. By the way, we learn that the locals call the south island the “mainland”… another slap at the more populous north island.
The Marlborough Sounds area is like the San Juan Islands on steroids. Huge area of sounds, inlets and bays. While the land is mostly peninsulas… it twists and curves to form a gorgeous setting dotted with isolated homes accessible only by boat.
Brian on Queen Charlotte Track
We catch a 9:30 am water taxi to Ship Cove to start our hike. The track is very well maintained and is mostly in a lush tropical forest. We found many silver fern trees and learn to tell them apart from other ferns. We have beautiful views out to the sound. Once again the New Zealand landscape continues to delight!
Fern Tree... my favorite tree in NZ
We have a great picnic lunch at School House Bay and then Brian starts skipping rocks in the water. He goes on to give us a world class display of stone skipping. His rocks were skipping more than 15 times and possibly even more than 20 times. It wasn’t just the water in the bay, because Karen and I also tried our hand without much luck.
Brian skipping rocks in School House Bay
Originally we thought the 4:30 boat pickup at Endeavor Inlet would be no problem, but we arrived at 4:15. On the return boat ride we made many mail stops… the houses only get mail 2 times a week. We arrive back in Picton at 6:30pm. The day started out sunny, but now the sky is stormy but no rain yet. Another successful outing in NZ’s beautiful natural setting.