Marlborough Sounds

Marlborough Sounds and the Queen Charlotte Track

Staying in the sounds made me think about how far away we were from home (or everybody else). There are no roads to get to that part of the sounds, there were no shops to go to, just one food outlet in the lodge. Shane, the owner of the lodge has stayed in the sounds all his life. When he talked about the sounds, you know he loves the place. He takes pride in keeping the sounds as unchanged as possible. Sighing at the way the sounds have changed with so many rich men's holiday homes taking up so a good area of the sounds. He has 2 little girls, and everyday, he will ferry them to Picton to go to school and ferry them back again the in the afternoon. Fancy seeing dolphins on your way home from school!

I have never been in anyway more remote. Well, Picton is just a 10 minutes boat ride away, yet where we stayed for 2 nights, did felt really remote. It was a pleasant 2 nights, away from everyone else.

It rained for the 2 days that we were there. Cloudy and not a lot of sunlight. That had contributed to the sense of "remoteness" that I felt. I suppose, when it is sunny, people will be out swimming and kayaking, making the place feel a little more occupied. Not that I mind it so much that is was a little gloomy looking. I liked how the effect the weather had on the place.

View from the lodge

waiting for my ferry to bring me back to Picton

My ride

A lot of people who stay in the sounds have the Queen Charlotte Track in mind. To complete the entire 71km track, it will take about 3 or 4 days. Since we are not very fit and we are not really trampers, we just did a section of it. It took us an hour to walk out from the lodge to get to the track and then, 4 more hours to hike on the track. It was pretty stressful because we started late, and we have booked a water taxi to pick us up on the other side. So much for taking our time with getting up and having breakfast.... I can't imagine doing a few days of hiking. After 5 hours, we were really tired. The next morning, we had sores all over. We had intended to do a shorter walk, but the guy in the lodge advised us to walk a little longer. He said the views are fantastic. We were indeed rewarded with awesome views of the sounds! At times, the hike never seem to end, it felt great that we were able to made it, just with 10 minutes to spare before our boat arrived.

Marlborough Sounds

On the Queen Charlotte Track

At the jetty, finally.

Our shoes were soaked in mud. I just has to wash them. Our pants too!