HEADING SOUTH

The ferry from Wellington (North Island) to Picton (South Island) was absolutely gigantic. Hundreds of people were on it + it had two kitchens, two floors, a bajillion seats + an amazing view. We've never seen a ferry like it before!

As the South Island came into view we could feel the excitement jumping around inside ourselves + embarrassingly enough, we were a bit jumpy on the outside too...

Picton was a cool little waterfront town geared towards tourists. They had public hands free restrooms that talked to you. I feel like that just about sums it up.

From there we started the Queen Charlotte track + for us it didn't go all that smoothly. We decided to hitch to the southern end of the track in hopes that at the northern end (where we were supposed to start) there would be a boat that we could somehow hitch a ride on back to save some money. Long story short it took an extra day longer than it was supposed to + we spent more money than we would have, but we learned a good lesson. The trail isn't expensive anyway so we need to enjoy it + go slowly.

The track itself was amazing. Aside from me losing my brand new rain fly for my bag on the first day, + running 8 miles to find it and not get it, this section was stunning. Hard packed dirt track that is obviously a popular tramping destination for people from all over the world.

The weather was sunny + perfect, + the lack of extreme elevation change was a warm welcome to the South Island. The Te Araroa seemed like it wanted to show us it's most warm and cozy side as a kind of bait to keep us going forward into what we knew was going to be extremely difficult.

As we wandered over the slight undulations looking down onto the endless bays of the Marlborough Sounds, cicadas buzzed + kilometers went by quickly. If there was one downside to this section it was the fact that the food offered at the various resorts was ridiculously expensive and our food was running low, so $12 fries at the ends of the days kept us going.

At the end of the track we reached ships cove + paid the money for the water taxi back. The ride was on a nice catamaran style power boat with free coffee that you could add sugar or watered down milk to! We just used the sugar. As we made our way back to Picton we learned about how many thousands of dollars we could spend in the Marlborough Sounds area if we were rich + famous. All in all we can say that we had a great time.

Until next time,

Devon