After we came back from our Abel Tasman trip we planned five more days at the north coast in order to visit some beaches (Kaiteriteri,…), take a boat trip along the Pelorus Sound and do parts of the Queen Charlotte Track before we take the ferry to Wellington. Additionally we wanted to try to sell our car in order to save the money for the ferry and start hitchhiking again on the North Island.
You think that was a big program? Well, nothing of that actually worked out as the autumn finally came over us. When we came back from Abel Tasman the weather was supposed to be rainy for two days. During the week it changed to five ones, why we couldn’t go to the beaches nor the Pelorus Sound. Although we had people who were interested in the car nobody wanted to buy it. Well, if we learned one thing during the travel, then that’s not worth to complain as you can’t do anything about that. That’s why we used the rainy days with some organisational things, writing our blog and a lot of relaxing beside the daily work with Sue. Kerstin became a fan of the Thermomix which is able to do EVERYTHING (except of baking). Beside cooking and baking Kerstin was asked to continue cleaning the house. Tobi finished the video and build a website for Sue’s B&B. We were also invited for a delicious Pizza dinner by two very nice friends of Sue!
As there were no signs that the weather would improve we decided to make the most of two better days. There was at least no rain the following weekend (Saturday) and even sunny (Sunday), why we said good bye to Sue and the Filipinos and drove along the coastal route to Picton and catch the ferry on Sunday. Of course we tried one of the delicious Maori bred at the local Saturday market before we actually drove away!
The quite famous Marlborough Sounds actually consist of three different Sounds. The well-known Queen-Charlotte Sound and the Pelorus and Kenepuru Sounds. As the name implies, the Queen-Charlotte track leads along the sound with the same name. This 3-5 day hiking track is no Great Walk but belongs to the Cape-Reinga to Bluff Walk (so walking from the most northern to the most southern point of NZ :-O ), so it’s definitely an interesting walk. Again we did parts of it and it’s probably the one with the most beautiful landscape we’ve seen so far as it leads over rich green hills along the beautiful coast of the sounds. It’s probably a very good alternative to the Milford Track which is along the Milford Sound but due to its prominence it’s booked out a year in advance. Just have a look on some of the picture, the landscape is typical for New Zealand just stunning.
Once again, we stayed the night in the car on a car park in order to have a look on the Queen-Charlotte Sounds from the opposite side of the walking track the next morning. Then we jumped on the ferry and left the South Island. The ferry is definitely a better choice than taking a plane, as its route follows the Queen Charlotte Sound. So basically one gets a ferry, but also a scenic cruise in one packet. Of course it’s something different than going on a little boat or even a kayak, but we think it’s definitely a good offer for the money. That’s why we enjoyed the 1 ½ hours the ferry needs to leave the sound and the 2 hours cruise through the Cook Strait between the two islands of New Zealand. This strait is well-known for some bad boat accidents, the last one in 1997! We had, however, perfect weather and not any problems. Later we heard that some ferries had to be cancelled the following days because it was too windy, so we finally were lucky with the weather.
We already organized an accommodation for Wellington when we were still in Nelson. Maybe you remember that we mentioned one lift we got while hitchhiking in Twizel who offered us to stay with him in Wellington. So we asked Karl (that was his name actually) if the dates were fine for him but unfortunately he wasn’t at home for this time, but anyway offered us to stay with his wife Claire. We were pretty excited as we didn’t experience this kind of accommodation until then but what waited for us is part of the next post.