New Zealand – 22nd Nov 2008 - Day 30

The weather was not so good this morning, cloudy, windy but dry. After breakfast we checked out of the Lodge and started the hour long trek back to the Queen Charlotte Track. Once back on the track, the steepness began and continued until after the next bay, Mistletoe. Not too long after here, the track became easier and we began to cruise back to the start. We met a lot more people today including some Germans, Aussies, English and a few from the Netherlands.

On the way back, we stopped at Davis bay, where a whole family of ducks took to us. They sat with us for about 20 minutes. We also got bitten by the dreaded sand flies!


We finished the walk at 14:10 having started at 09:00. Not bad. We were too early for our water taxi back to Picton, so we sat in a small hut with a few other hikes and chatted. Much to our surprise, a water taxi arrived a whole hour early so we were able to jump on and get back to Picton early.

Once back, we checked into the Motel, purchased salad stuff for dinner and then soaked in the huge whirlpool hot tub. Wow, it really helped to soak away our walking aches.



The weather was expected to turn nasty late afternoon, so we washed a few clothes, had a very healthy chicken salad and then watched some TV. If anyone reading this want to do some serious hiking in NZ, you must do the Queen Charlotte. It is challenging but well worth it.