Saturday 31 January 2009
Packing
Just a quick one to say I'm still here, just very busy with rowing (two weeks until Nationals, eeek) and packing my life up. The latter is always hard work. Will blog regularly while travelling though, I hope!
Friday 2 January 2009
Happy New Year!
I am not going anywhere for the next few days. I feel like I've been away ages, though in fact I've been home for two nights during the past ten days. Queen Charlotte Track, then training camp, then Sydney for New Year. The latter was a good decision; it was great to see my friend who lives there and the fireworks and atmosphere lived up to reputation. I do like a good fireworks display and it was magnificent. Hope everyone had a great night and are looking forward to a lovely 2009. I expect it'll go by as quickly as 2008 did.
Anyway, pictures and commentary from the walk!
To get to the Queen Charlotte Track you have to take a water taxi from Picton out to Ship Cove, in the outer Marlborough Sounds. Ship Cove has huge historical significance as it was where Captain Cook anchored, reprovisioned and repaired the Endeavour and his later ships during his voyages to New Zealand. I don't think it's changed much from 1770, when Cook first landed. There are some carvings and a memorial, mixing Maori and European in acknowledgement of the importance of the site. I felt oddly choked up standing on the beach, imagining what Cook must have thought as he sent his men to refill water casks from the stream that still runs down to the sea.
I lingered a little and then set off, on the first day of the 71km track. It goes straight up and you get good views almost from the start. At the first proper viewpoint I met a couple of baby weka and their aggressive mum (she tried to bite my ankle, though I wasn't really anywhere near the young bird). Weka are reasonably rare, flightless, native birds but they flourish on the track.
Days one and two were quite easy, both short and I was at my destinations by 2pm. I stayed in the backpacker sections of the resorts en route - basically very nice hotels that are a collection of luxury cabins by the shoreline. The QC isn't true wilderness like some tracks, but you're away from cars entirely until the last day when you cross the road from Picton once. The bonus is you don't have to carry food as there are restaurants to eat in as well as hot showers and comfortable beds. :)
Here's Punga Cove, day two:
Unfortunately Christmas Eve was wet. Very wet. It rained all day and I missed all the best views as it was the highest part of the walk.
My waterproof jacket wasn't, my boots got soaked too, and quite honestly I was rather cold when I reached Portage Bay that night. I felt sorry for the couple encountered in the day's second shelter, who were camping. But a hot shower and pizza for dinner did wonders and Christmas Day dawned sunny and calm. The track kept crossing between views of Queen Charlotte Sound and Kenepuru Sound - the latter deep and green and still.
But by this point I had very bad blisters. I don't know if my boots fit more badly than I thought - I tend to get minor blisters on my heels on day walks, but I always assumed it was because I've got quite soft skin on my feet. Apparently not. I need to investigate better socks/boots/cushioning before going travelling next month; I'm doing the Routeburn Track and I can't go through those blisters again. The last 11km (there were markers every 5km, counting down from 71km, right along the track) hurt a lot and I mainly plodded. Pretty views though. I was extremely happy to see the 1km marker and happier to see my lovely backpackers at road's end. There was a wonderful shower and a soft bed awaiting me and I mainly lay and ached for a while, before being social with the other guests after dinner. Oh, and they had a twelve-week old kitten (and a tolerant Old English sheepdog):
The next day I flew home to Wellington. The blisters are healing okay now, thank heavens, as are the blisters on my hands from rowing!!
To finish: blurry picture of Sydney fireworks. Couldn't get the camera to work right:
And Bondi Beach on New Year's Day. A popular destination.
Anyway, pictures and commentary from the walk!
To get to the Queen Charlotte Track you have to take a water taxi from Picton out to Ship Cove, in the outer Marlborough Sounds. Ship Cove has huge historical significance as it was where Captain Cook anchored, reprovisioned and repaired the Endeavour and his later ships during his voyages to New Zealand. I don't think it's changed much from 1770, when Cook first landed. There are some carvings and a memorial, mixing Maori and European in acknowledgement of the importance of the site. I felt oddly choked up standing on the beach, imagining what Cook must have thought as he sent his men to refill water casks from the stream that still runs down to the sea.
I lingered a little and then set off, on the first day of the 71km track. It goes straight up and you get good views almost from the start. At the first proper viewpoint I met a couple of baby weka and their aggressive mum (she tried to bite my ankle, though I wasn't really anywhere near the young bird). Weka are reasonably rare, flightless, native birds but they flourish on the track.
Days one and two were quite easy, both short and I was at my destinations by 2pm. I stayed in the backpacker sections of the resorts en route - basically very nice hotels that are a collection of luxury cabins by the shoreline. The QC isn't true wilderness like some tracks, but you're away from cars entirely until the last day when you cross the road from Picton once. The bonus is you don't have to carry food as there are restaurants to eat in as well as hot showers and comfortable beds. :)
Here's Punga Cove, day two:
Unfortunately Christmas Eve was wet. Very wet. It rained all day and I missed all the best views as it was the highest part of the walk.
My waterproof jacket wasn't, my boots got soaked too, and quite honestly I was rather cold when I reached Portage Bay that night. I felt sorry for the couple encountered in the day's second shelter, who were camping. But a hot shower and pizza for dinner did wonders and Christmas Day dawned sunny and calm. The track kept crossing between views of Queen Charlotte Sound and Kenepuru Sound - the latter deep and green and still.
But by this point I had very bad blisters. I don't know if my boots fit more badly than I thought - I tend to get minor blisters on my heels on day walks, but I always assumed it was because I've got quite soft skin on my feet. Apparently not. I need to investigate better socks/boots/cushioning before going travelling next month; I'm doing the Routeburn Track and I can't go through those blisters again. The last 11km (there were markers every 5km, counting down from 71km, right along the track) hurt a lot and I mainly plodded. Pretty views though. I was extremely happy to see the 1km marker and happier to see my lovely backpackers at road's end. There was a wonderful shower and a soft bed awaiting me and I mainly lay and ached for a while, before being social with the other guests after dinner. Oh, and they had a twelve-week old kitten (and a tolerant Old English sheepdog):
The next day I flew home to Wellington. The blisters are healing okay now, thank heavens, as are the blisters on my hands from rowing!!
To finish: blurry picture of Sydney fireworks. Couldn't get the camera to work right:
And Bondi Beach on New Year's Day. A popular destination.
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