Hitting the trail with Queen Charlotte

Day 2-3: the walk begins

Early start with a 7.30 am pickup, briefing and a ferry ride from Picton to Motuara Island where there are some unique species of birds and penguins. They have a series of breeding boxes along the track and you can see if there’s anything inside. There was a blue penguin in this box ( you can all see that, can’t you?) 

Great view from the top of the island. And here’s a picture of the island from across the water.

We then reboarded the ferry to take a 5 minute ride to Ship Cove, important for its historical significance.

This bit is for Jim given his interest in captain cook…..

Captain James Cook first arrived in Ship Cove/Meretoto in January 1770 on his South Pacific voyage and found secure anchorage, plentiful food, water and supplies to fix his ships and local Māori willing to trade goods. He was the first known European to step ashore in Queen Charlotte Sound on the Endeavour. He made this his South Pacific base for the next 7 years. Cook spent some 328 days exploring the NZ coastline during his 3 voyages.He returned to Ship Cove on 5 separate occasions.

Ship Cove is also regarded as one of the most important meeting places between the Māoris and Europeans.

Special memorial to Cook was erected in 1913 at a ceremony attended by nearly 2000 people.

Cook’s anchorage at Ship Cove/Meretoto is now the start of the Queen Charlotte Track.

Some pictures from along the track

Couldn’t help but take a pic of these pretty but toxic mushrooms, and the local kiwi chicken called a wakka

First day was 17 kms and we ended up at a lovely resort called Furneaux Lodge. No rain all day but it did rain most of the night!

Second day was a relatively short 12 kms and we ended up at Punta Cove, with another great view from my room.

The next paras are written by AI!!!

History of the track

A section of what would one day become part of the 73km Queen Charlotte Track began as a series of unconnected bridle paths built by European pioneers settling in the area. While most were used for moving goods and animals, the tracks north of Kenepuru were also used for keeping an eye on the coast during WW2. A number of WW2 concrete gun emplacements remain dotted around the Sounds today.

The first part of the bridle track ran between Resolution Bay and Meretoto/ Ship Cove, and the second led to Kenepuru Saddle. The latter section was opened as a walking track in 1967, but the two ends did not meet to join on the Kenepuru Ridge.

The Queen Charlotte Walkway has been in development as a public walkway since the early 1980s, when it was initiated by the Lands and Survey Department in conjuction with landowners, the Department of Conservation and Marlborough’s tourist board. After initial work by local landowners to create a walkable track from 1981–1983, a rough walking track was opened for the public to use in early 1983.

By 1985, Government funding had ceased and maintenance of sections of track was left to local landowners, but when the Department of Conservation was formed in 1987, it became responsible for the track’s maintenance. In November 1991, the Queen Charlotte Track as we now know it was connected and named the Queen Charlotte Walkway.

Several sections of the track still pass through private farmland today, thanks to the goodwill of the owners. In 2010, the Queen Charlotte Track Land Cooperative was formally established and a fee implemented for track users to cross private land between Punga Cove and Anakiwa.

So far, so good….boots holding up well, couldn’t do it without walking poles!