Robinson Crusoe says "Hello" - Queen Charlotte Track
Attention, Attention, peng-peng and schnatta-ratta-tong. Reason for that is our new home, because we lost our old one. So if anybody find a 2 person tent in the Tararua Range, you can keep it. We booked the same afternoon the ferry to Picton. Without any circumstances, like free-food for the fishes, we arrived Picton within 3 hours. The town by itself is mainly for tourists. Hostels, Hotels, motels and camps you could find here as many as you want. We also met Huw (TA Hiker) in the hostel again, but we picked the campsite where we set up the first time our tent with lots of enthusiasm. It is the Big Agnes Flycreek UL2. First impression: quite tight for 2 people, it performed very well in the wind and we got no condensation in the morning. Awesome. We will keep you up with any new details.
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The trip on water wasn’t over. We had to take another boat to the Ship Cove. Beachcomber Cruiser is the right decision for Te Araroa hikers. If you book directly it will cost you just 50 dollar instead 65 dollar at the Visitor Center. Also you have to pick the 1:30 p.m. journey. It will double your time up to 2 hours because the boat is at that time also a post ship for the people who are living in the nowhere. Finally we arrived at the pier. Together with all the other tourist we got out of the boat. We were the only one who will stay here. Wave and smile! But suddenly, we felt like Robinson Crusoe on a remote island. Nobody was here, except 2 Wekas what they regretted on second later, because Eule (Owl) is a nerd in birds. We walked for a while along the beach to find some footprints from James Cook and finally we started hiking.
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This were the first steps on the Southern Island and it was absolutely amazing. A trail where we could walk and look in the same time. Mostly you had to decide between walking or looking around you. Have you done both you would stumble a lot. The first day we got a few very nice view over the Queen Charlotte Sound. Accompanied by the deep blue water, little beaches and mountains as far as you can see we enjoyed the day very much. Not enjoyable were the million crickets which were sometimes so loud that we had to cover our ears. Like in a horror movie, the noise suddenly was gone. Just Jason was missing who would jump out of the bush.
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We stayed overnight at a house from an older lady and in a DoC camp (Department of Conservation). But the night at the DoC camp wasn’t that relaxing. We got company at this evening and they danced the whole night on the table. Possums. They were introduced from Australia and they are a big problem here. It’s not just that they like your backpack, they are also responsible that many kinds of birds are gone. So New Zealand is trying to get rid of them. They set up traps every 10 meters on that track.
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A lack of sleep, because of our friends the possums caused a late start. We didn’t mind, cause our trail continued on the ridge. It is all private land and exactly here you will need the Q.C.T.L.C. permission which you can get for 18 bucks. But its worthwhile. On the righthand side the Kenepuru Sound, on the lefthand side the Charlotte Sound and also Berlin is not that far away.
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Close to Anakiwa we met Tom, who was from the UK. He spend most of his time to ride a bike in the mountains and after good conversation it turned out that he is going to Nelson. He asked us if we need a ride and we said yes. We hurried up cause there were still 12 km to our goal. So we took our legs into our hands (German phrase) and after 2 hours we arrived there.
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In Nelson we tried to get place to sleep. But all the hostels were fully booked. We asked Tom if he could give us a ride to the beach. Fortunately, we got lost in the city and what is that. Another hostel, another try. After short talk with the grumpy man I ran back to the car and told my friends the good message. We will stay here for a few days and prepare us for the biggest trip on the Southern Island. The Richmond Range will take us about 9 days which also means to carry food for the same time. OMG. Everything what we don’t need we will send forward and also our food looks not very tasty.
1 comments
Hey Männer,
ReplyDeletecool das ihr die Überfahrt ohne Größere Zwischenfälle überstanden habt (Seekrank wurde doch keiner oder irgendwelche Seeungeheuer gesichtet???) und schön das das mit dem neuen Schneckenhaus doch noch so zeitnah funktioniert hat, viel Spaß beim Schleppen Transportereule.
Ich hatte da etwas weniger Glück mit meinem Gepäck, nach einigen Turbolenzen in der Luft vor Sydney und einem 500m Sprint mit Schwindelgefühl durch den Check In Bereich des Flughafens um meinen Flieger nach Dubai noch zu bekommen, wurde mein heißgeliebter Rucksack in Dubai von der Fluggesellschaft einfach zurückgelassen. Keine Sorge, ich habe es gestern per Kurier zurückbekommen und fein durchsucht natürlich auch noch. Den Beamten muss wohl der süße Duft des Bieres, was sich in meinem Rucksack ergossen hatte aufgefallen sein. Naja alles halb so wild, da hatte wir schon härteres durchgemacht. Ansonsten fühlt sich Good Old Deuschland von Außen verdammt kalt an, aber die Geburtstagsparty von Benni war schon wieder schweißtreibend, es wurde getanzt bis die Wandersohlen nach verbranntem Gummi rochen und alles an alkoholischen Getränken vernichtet was einem angeboten wurde. Das Küken von Katja und Frank ist auch zuckersüß und macht schon ordentlich Rabatz, viele liebe Grüße von den Beiden. Damit mir hier die Decke nicht auf den Kopf fällt und sich das Laminat nicht durchlatscht, geht’s morgen ins Elbsandsteingebirge zum Wandern und Übernachten, mal sehen wie Blau ich auch ohne Alkohol werden kann???
Ansonsten Männer wünsch euch 5kg weniger Gepäck zum Schleppen und immer schön Laufen, Laufen den ganzen Tag nur Laufen ,einen festen Tritt und gutes Wetter.
Bis Demnächst, ihr Rabauken, euer Torte.