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Queen Charlotte Track

Last February (2004) I took some time off work and headed for the top of the South Island. I had a minor disability, in that my back had been jolly painful for a couple of months, and was only just beginning to improve. I had trained for the trip by walking up Mount Victoria several days every week, with a pack on my back weighted with gravel. So it was disconcerting to say the least to be so afflicted. However I was delighted to find when I got to Picton on the overnight ferry, that the boat company that would take trampers out to Ship Cove, where the Queen Charlotte Walkway commenced, would take one's pack from campsite to campsite for you, as long as you let them know each day where you were going, of course. I managed to buy a small day pack in Picton in time for the mornings trip down the Queen Charlotte Sound. The walkway starts in Ship Cove where Captain Cook called in on several occasions to repair the boat and have some respite from his voyages. It was his favourite spot in the South Pacific. The walkway then makes its way up onto the ridges above Queen Charlotte Sound, and most of it's sixty-odd kilometres the view from the ridges over Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sound are magnificent. I have added a new panorama of Kenepuru Sound. The track ends at Anakiwa where the Outward Bound shool is situated.

The weather was changeable certainly, the first night a tremendous storm hit us in our camp, fortunately we were sheltered in an old orchard, but the wind sounded like a thousand express trains as it roared down from the surrounding hills. The same storm hit Wellington and the lower North Island during the next few days, causing widespread and destructive flooding not seen since the settlement of these parts. But there were fine interludes between the advancing fronts, and as it mostly rained through the night, I was lucky to enjoy some nice weather too. What is unusual about this track are the lodges along the route, most tramps in New Zealand are in much wilder country, and it was pleasant to be able to enjoy some hospitality at the local bar or lodge at the end of a busy day's walking. For further information on the Queen Charlotte Track, click this link here.


The Abel Tasman Track





This is one of most popular tramps in New Zealand, and justifiably, for it is accessible, it is fairly easy to walk, is not too long, about 50 kilometres, I think, and is stunningly beautiful. The beauty lies in the unspoiled and undeveloped golden sandy beaches back by the sombre green of the New Zealand bush, and decorated with rugged outcrops of the local salt-and-pepper granite. My wife, Tess, and I had spent a week together in Blenheim and Nelson after I had completed the Queen Charlotte Walk, and then Tess dropped my off at the beginning of the track. I had to carry my own pack, but my back was much better, or at least until the third day when I dove into the sea for a swim, and twang, that dastardly back went again. However I found once I got moving again, the problem did abate, it was just getting up in the morning out of my cramped accommodation that took a while. There were more people on the walk, and the huts were fully booked, but it could hardly be called crowded. I did the walk in three days, but next time I will linger and take a day or two longer. For more information on the Abel Tasman Track, start by clicking here

To see my photographs of both tracks, click here.

I hope enjoy looking at my photographs. I have now re-arranged the pictures so they are in chronological order. I will shortly be posting my diary, with some sketches, of these two trips, so if you read this you can see where the photographs fit my descriptions. Why not come and explore this beautiful part of the world yourself? New Zealander's are very proud of the scenic beauty of so much of their country and they love to share this with all the visitors who come here.