Picton -- Queen Charlote's Sound

So we arrived at Picton a mere 30 minutes after we left Blenheim, and again, New Zealand surprises. I expected Picton to be like the ferry terminal on Lombok, simply because it is the ferry terminus connecting the South and North Islands... industrial, not very nice, an inexpensive place. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Picton is in an idyllic setting, a quaint picture perfect little tourist town nestled along the steep green hills of New Zealand abutting the crystal clear green and blue waters of Queen Charlotte's Sound. The place is perhaps the size of Crested Butte, and obviouisly chosen as the ferry terminus for its protected, if small, harbor. And the wealth associated with the area is evident with the many fine, and some quite large yachts in the small slip area. There was also a very fancy small floatplane with a single engine above a Star Trek starship-like sleek body.

Once here, we scouted out the place. We were too late to check with the local DOC/info office to see about hiking opportunities, but again the friendliness of the local populace showed itself as a New Zealander suggested a ride on the mail boat around the Sound to get a nice tour of its natural features. We checked in with one of the local boat charters concerning this and also were informed as to the possibility of taking a boat to do the far section of the four day Queen Charlotte Sound Track, with a same afternoon pick-up. We decided to do that the next day and went in search of a place to spend the night in our little camper van.

We had such luck finding a free spot in the previous spot Kaikoura, that we tried an Irish pub to see if the locals could tell us of a good spot to go. (There are not many places to park the van for free as tourists have been abusing the New Zealand landscape for some years, and signage is quite clear where it is not permitted to simply park and sleep on the side of the road.) They told us there were very few (the charter people had said their are none, with a bit of a nose in the air attitude), and suggested one about 8 KM outside of town that had a great view of the Sound, "Don't go to the bottom carpark, but you can park on the upper one."

We went out of town along a winding road, and came to the obvious point they had described. Sure enought the off- the highway (if you can call it a highway, more like a paved country road) spot had a lovely picknick table and the "No Campervan Parking or Camping" sign. The upper spot was simply a pull-off on the road. We considered it for a while as we watched a glorious sunset, but ruled it out as completely inappropriate. There were several very fine houses whose driveway was basically the road down to the nice lower spot, and one just across the road that overlooked this little pull-out.

We decided to bite the bullet and pay the fee to spend the night in the Town's modest campervan and camping park. It turned out to be a good move and we stayed here for two nights, as we had access to showers, laundry, and a lounge/kitchen area with refrigerator -- think the CB hostel room pared down a bit, and you've got it. This way we could spend the next day on our boat ride/15 KM day hike of the track, come home to a shower and nice spacious place to enjoy our dinner. And it did turn out that lovely.

The first morning we awoke to a gorgeous crystal clear sunny day, had our breakfast, packed our day packs for the hike, and walked the short distance to the ferry boat terminal/waterfront of the Town and got on our very nice powered catamaran touring boat/mail boat and wisked off into the incredibly beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound to our wonderous day hike. As we waited to depart, I asked one of the charter crew if they knew if the weather would hold for the day. He informed me that it is supposed to be nice all this weekend, but that it was going to turn again on Monday, and added in the charming NZ way, "you cracked it."

I will tell you about the truly awesome hike next post.

Until then, Newo-out