Marlborough Sounds

May 22 - 29

Nelson
May 28-30, 2001

We drove from Punakaiki to the "hippie" town of Nelson. The snow covered mountains made for some beautiful scenery...Lon insisted on taking a self photo. Nelson has many wineries surrounding it. We took a full day winery and craft tour. The wine part of the tour wasn't so great, but we did find some unusual beverages...like the Kiwi Champagne. Yes, it's sparkling wine made from kiwi fruit...and like sucker-tourists, we bought some! The most interesting of the crafts (we thought) was the glass blowing. I thought I had taken photos of the glass blowing, but I guess that Kiwi Champagne must have made me imagine things.

The real reason we stayed in Nelson as long as we did was because we were able to stay in an apartment for cheap. I really enjoyed having an entire kitchen to MYSELF!! Mine, mine, all mine!!

If you're ever in Nelson, check out the very cool and very chic - Lambretta's Cafe. They have Lambretta scooters hanging all over the cafe...and the food was very good.

Picton and the Queen Charlotte Track
May 31 - Jun 5, 2001

We were running low on time, since we had booked the ferry crossing to the North Island for June 6th...so we decided to skip Abel Tasman and do the Queen Charlotte Track. The Queen Charlotte Track is 67 km and takes approximately 4 days to complete. We decided to take more time - 4 nights and 5 days. The nice thing about this track is that at the end of each day, you can stay in a backpacker lodge or hotel - instead of a hut (yippee, we can shower!). Also, included in the water taxi fare, they will transport your backpacks for you each day. So you can pack as much as you want and not have to carry it!! More room for the essentials, like wine!

To get to the start of the track, you have to take a water taxi. The first day was an easy hike from Ship's Cove to Resolution Bay. It was only a 1.5 hour hike, but it was mostly uphill and through bush. We started late in the day, so it was good we were going a short distance. We stayed at the Resolution Bay Cabins. We were greeted by an older, bull-dog faced woman and her son (The Gimp)...they could have been in a Cohen Brothers movie. We stayed in a quaint cabin (no electricity). However, it did have a gas stove. We had a romantic, candlelit dinner...complete with a pony grazing outside our cabin window.

The next day was another short hike to Endeavor Bay. The hike was mostly through bush. We got to see a lot of ferns, manuka trees, tui birds, and weka birds. We stayed at Endeavor Lodge. If you do this hike, we recommend you stay at Furneaux Lodge.

The third day of the hike, we had beautiful views of the sound. We had a very pleasant surprise when we reached our destination - Punga Cove Resort. WOW! This place was gorgeous! The restaurant overlooked the bay...and as if the views weren't enough, they had a brilliant chef! This was definitely the way to reward yourself after a hike!

The fourth day of the hike was the hardest. It was listed as a 7 hour hike. We walked along the ridge of the mountain with spectacular views of both sounds - the Pelorus Sound and the Queen Charlotte Sound. Lon and I walked separately so that we could go at our own pace. It seemed like a good idea at the time...I walk a lot faster and wanted more excersize. You would think that this walk would be easier without backpacks???!!! I walked for hours and would not come across any signs... am I going in the right direction? ...where the hell am I? The only people I came across were some hunters (with radio-wired dogs...they meant business). I kept thinking it was later than it was and that I might not make it to the lodge before dark... they might have to send a search party for me...how embarassing...it would be in all the newspapers around here how another clueless American got lost. With all that going through my mind, I ended up finishing the hike in 5 hours (a very fast time)! I was able to sit back and enjoy a local brew in the Portage Hotel Bar until Lon showed up 1.5 hours later.

The last day of the hike was another long hike coming down off the ridge and back into the bush. We made it to the end of the trail (after 6 hours of hiking). We were driven back to Picton...where we stayed at the very comfortable Villa Backpacker Lodge. Guess who ended up staying there that night too?? - Emma and Cesar (from the Kepler Trail).

region	lodging	$US / night	notes
Marlborough	The Palace	$20.05	we got lucky with an apartment to ourselves
	The Villa	$18.86	friendly place, centrally located
	Resolution Bay	$16.39	Very rustic, but charming
	Endeavour Lodge	$16.39	Very cold, bunk beds
	Punga Cove Resort	$28.7	Ahhhh...
	Portage Shop	$18.45	Comfortable