Queen Charlotte Track: Ship Cove to Big Bay

Distance Covered: 21 km

The adventure begins again! But now with a slower, relaxed pace. There’s no need to push the kilometers and no need to be anywhere by a certain date. 

We started the journey by shopping and then catching the ferry across the strait yesterday. The strait journey is pretty cool since it’s a 3.5 hour cruise and you go past various islands. Plus, there’s a free magician on board so that’s fun.

We stayed last night at a camping park in Picton. It was $20 a person so you could put your tent between someone else’s tent and several cars. This quasi-camping in a city is something we won’t miss about the trail!

This morning we caught the 8 AM shuttle ferry to Ship Cove. It took about an hour to make our way north along the range and islands. We made a stopover at Moutoura Island, which is where Captain Cook raised the English flag, claiming New Zealand for the British Empire. (Just the pesky matter of all the locals who didn’t agree.) Now it’s a bird sanctuary. Also, a cicada sanctuary judging by the intense buzzing.

At Ship Cove, (the official starting point of the Te Araroa on the south island) we saw some Wekas. These are flightless birds and kind of like a duck combined with a chicken. The ferry captain said they were fairly rare so seeing a couple here was a treat. We heard from a friend, though, that they are basically aggressive rats. One tore a hole in her tent and ran away with food, for instance. They were cool for a few minutes, but the way they were clearly sizing us and our stuff up for weaknesses was apparent early on.

Captain Cook kept his ship in this cove on a number of voyages. We read about this while we ate a late breakfast and checked out the markers. Then we filled water bottles and started up the trail.

And it was up! Emily and I were feeling rusty taking on the big hill. Our friend, Rick, was also getting a feel for how the trail can ask you to climb up and away without switchbacks. Within a few minutes, he kind of faded back while we pushed on. We were feeling not so much tired, but achy. Our joints were stiff and getting them going again was surprisingly slow going.

But at the top, the trail leveled off to a lookout and we were told that there were no more steep uphill climbs like that for the rest of the trail. Emily and I are hesitant to buy in to people making estimates, so we’ll see. In the meantime, we think the views are very nice and so climbing is a fair trade.

The rest of the day had us meandering around the sound, up a little, down a little, in the trees and then to a clearing with a view. Three Te Araroa hikers who had finished this section had said that the trail was just “okay”. But Emily and I don’t understand! At least for this first day, it’s been one of the best trails for us.

The trail then slowly descended back to sea level to follow the coastline towards Endeavor inlet. Here, many years ago, people gave antimony mining a go. It didn’t work out so well for them, but the upside is that they leveled and cleared a lot of land that people have been able to convert to private houses and resorts. I had expected a number of cafes and such. However, these were not around. So we kept walking around the shoreline until the real estate was behind us.

And, by the way, the track today was excellent. Wide, well graded, bridges over streams and gullies, and only the merest sight of mud. And no downed trees. It’s the kind of track you can just cruise on if you’re in the mood to do big kilometers.

We ended up in the Big Bay area, sheltered from the rising winds by trees. In a grassy offshoot path, we made dinner and considered our options. We had come quite a way for the first day. On the other hand, we were five km or so from the next campsite. After contemplating thoughts like these, we opted to stealth camp where we were. The path didn’t seem well used and there was just enough room for our two tents.

Tomorrow, we continue on. There’s one big climb, maybe two, and then we follow the ridge for the rest of the day. I enjoy ridge line walking when you can see out from the trees. Maybe we won’t be able to see out and that will explain why the other hikers weren’t keen on the track.