Walking on Sunshine

Sunday December 16th - Sunday December 23rd

And finally we arrive in New Zealand. The weather's good when we land and it feels great to be back in our favourite country. This first week has involved either water or walking. Within 3 hours of being picked up from Christchurch airport by an old uni mate Dave we were all, including his soon to be wife Tara, out on the water in kayaks. The aim was to paddle across a relatively short stretch of water to Quail Island for a spot of lunch. The plan though didn't take into account my ineptitude a) on water and b) in a kayak. So, after reaching halfway and already having capsized twice, we headed back to the safety of shore and had a beachside picnic. All very pleasant and the others were very good about my uselessness (well to my face they were!)

The second water experience was a little more full-on although not quite as expected. We made our way west to Murchison where we would head off on a whitewater rafting trip. We met up with our friend Jamie and his new girlfriend Lizzie and over a beer the night before wondered whether the rain that was falling would cause problems for the next day. The rafting was going to be along the grade 5 rated (5 being the most likely to cause you to swim) Karamea River. We drove (well were driven) the 3 hours to our helicopter rendezvous (oh this was a heli-rafting trip by the way!) through torrential rain and were greeted with the bad news that the river had risen too much and was flowing way too quickly (up from 25 cubic m/sec to 500 cubic m/sec) for us to be able to raft it safely. Sadly the 5-minute joyride in the helicopter and raft down a tamer Buller River didn't make up for the disappointment but a 40% refund and a good meal in the evening certainly helped.

The second half of the week has been taken up by walking, and quite a lot. We've just finished the 71km Queen Charlotte Track after 3 days of walking. The bonus with this walk was the water taxi that dropped us at the start also transferred our big rucksacks between campsites each day so we 'only' had to walk with our smaller rucksacks.

So it was that we arrived at Ship Cove over 200 years since Captain Cook had made the same journey and raised the British flag. Admittedly he had slightly less Gore-Tex and a little more rum than we did but the similarities in the journey were eerie! The first day was to be a 27.5km slog to Camp Bay, our campsite for the night. The weather was a little cloudy but still warm and the forecast was for it to improve. We'd actually changed our plans from doing it as a 4-day walk to try and get the good weather. We made great progress and passed by Resolution Bay and Endeavour Inlet all the while getting great views of the Marlborough Sounds. All along the route there are lodges and resorts for the more discerning walker and we did wonder at one point why we weren't in one of those. Since the track is well used there are opportunities for small traders to make some pocket money and we took advantage of one of those that was selling homemade honey. Anything to try and improve the porridge in the morning. We set up camp that night at the appropriately named Camp Bay.

Day 2 of the walk was described as the most arduous of the track and they weren't kidding. We started climbing as soon as we set out but once up on the ridgeline we got spectacular views of the Sounds. From one lookout we took the video clip (which will appear below when we find a quick enough internet connection) which hopefully does some justice to what we saw. Although the day's distance covered was less at 24.5km the uphill sections meant that by the time we descended from Torea Saddle to our overnight stop at Cowshed Bay we were shattered. Rach took advantage of our beachfront site and cleansed off a couple of days worth of sunscreen while I cooled off some throbbing feet.

The walk so far had taken us through some fairly dense green forest with beech trees and ferns before it headed onto the ridge and heathland. On one side you get views of blue waters and steep tree covered hills and on the other you could be looking at the Lake District, albeit on a rare day when it's sunny, with rolling green countryside leading down to lakes. Our third and final day took us the final distance to our water taxi rendezvous at Anakiwa. There was no mention of the early morning slog uphill in the description but that's what we had and it was all we could do to stagger our way down the final descents reaching the end aching all over but really pleased with ourselves and having seen some spectacular scenery.

We now head back towards Blenheim and our Christmas accommodation in Straw Lodge.

Merry Christmas everyone from Jon and Rachel.

The week's 24/7s

Monday: Heading for the west where it rains

Tuesday: Rain falls, river rises. Cancelled, no surprises

Wednesday: Heading north where it's also now raining

Thursday: When we try we relax really well

Friday: Rehydrated food tastes great after long walk

Saturday: In this weather the Sounds look fantastic

Sunday: Gravity's no friend of pain. Cake is!