Day Three - Liana and I tackle a mountain...

And we are off!

Before going to bed the night before Randall and I decided that we would split up for our big middle day. He plans to take the water taxi to Portage and spend the day kayaking with the kids. But Liana and I are on a mission to be able to say we've hike every step of the Queen Charlotte track.

So while everyone else is sleeping Liana and I get up with the dawn and start off. I think we are both a bit nervous for the day to come. 24 kilometers and several peaks over 400 meters. But it is a gloriously sunny day and we will get the steepest climb up out of Punga cove and onto the the Kenepuru saddle before the sun is too hot. And from there we hike up the ridge top above the Bay of Many Coves, the views should be unreal!

Liana and I make good time enjoying a sense of total freedom. Nothing like the wind in your hair and the sun at your back....


By the time we have climbed out of Punga Cove the morning mists have left the water and only linger in a few of the low lying valleys. The air is crisp, but with the hint of the afternoon heat to come. The vegetation today is a bit different from the two days prior. The old growth beech and lush fern forests are slowly replaced with more pine trees and scrubby, heartier plants. It takes us a good three hours to reach the Bay of Many Coves Shelter where we gladly rest our feet and enjoy a snack while taking in the spectacular views.

One of the things that always strikes me when you are out on the trail is the camaraderie that you feel with the other hikers. Maybe it's the naturalness of it, something that hearkens back to days when our distant ancestors were hunter gatherers.

The trail is fairly deserted, especially for the height of summer, but at the rest stop people tend to
naturally congregate and chat. There was a lovely family from Tauranga with four kids doing just as we were. They said the Queen Charlotte was nothing compared to the Annapurna circuit that they had done last year! Also there was a single mum from Sydney with her 13 year old son. And three Swedish people in their late seventies who were trekking full steam ahead! After they passed us on the trail for the second time Liana turns around with wide eyes. When I get old, I want to be like that, she says. Amen to that!

Looking across the Bay of Many Coves to Picton in the distance.

On the downhill!

The day was long, the hills were steep. The scenery was spectacular. By the second half of the trail we were well and truly on top of the ridge and could see all the way back to Picton and watch the inter-islander ferry's cruise by as well as a big cruise ship leaving port about midday. We stopped at the Black Rock Shelter for lunch and had a little siesta with the Weka birds circling and begging for food. We gobbled up every last vestige of our food before heading down off the ridge to the Torea Saddle (70 year old Swedish people gaining ground by the kilometer) and on to Peppers Portage on the Kenepuru Sound where we were greeted by a bunch of happy, sandy kayakers! Nothing like finishing a good days hike to the excited tune of "Mummy!!!!!" It's nice to be missed, even if I was only gone for eight hours.

Meanwhile..... daddy's little kayakers

The resort is fabulous And certainly knows how to treat glampers like us. Hot shower and a million dollar view out of the restaurant! And the dorm room that we stayed in had beds for six - four upstairs and one big one downstairs, just enough room for us. All the benefits of the hotel without the price!

Watching the sunset over the Kenepuru Sound a feeling of blessing and thankfulness for this beautiful world abound.

Goodnight from the Peppers Portage on the Queen Charlotte Track!