Queen Charlotte Track: Black Water to Davies Camp

Distance Covered: 22 km

Sleep last night was a little rough with the wekas running around pulling at the tent, running under the fly, and squawking. They must have got something from someone too as they were loudly fighting over a plastic bag in the trees not too far from us. These birds are supposed to be endangered and it’s not hard to understand why… if they harassed people this much through the years then more than a few would be taken out just for the convenience of it. But I digress…

We enjoyed a casual morning today. Our ferry time back to Picton is 3:30 PM tomorrow so we have lots of time to cover the last 25 km or so. And, unbelievably for Emily and I, today was forecasted to be another beautiful day. We laughed about how we couldn’t remember the last time we had three good days and then we really thought about it and we really couldn’t remember. It’s been so windy, rainy, and cold so often that it’s been at least a month and possibly 6 weeks. (As mentioned previously, the local residents constantly offer that they can’t remember a summer like this.)

So we dawdled, casually enjoying breakfast before packing up and sauntering down the trail. It was mostly downhill to start as we came off the long ridge from yesterday. And then we went up a couple of hills and another small ridge. And then we reached the saddle and considered options. We could camp in the area roughly 12 km from the end, maybe just stop for food at a nearby resort, or grab water and push on. We opted for the latter option, with Rick and I walking a km to the off-trail campsite to fill up water bottles while Emily stayed to fight off wekas from our bags.

And then it was up and up to the next ridge. The long kms of up and down ridges caught up to Rick and he found that a more moderate pace was more to his liking. This worked well for Emily and I as we got lots of breaks on wonderful benches in the shade with views over the sounds. We’ve never seen so many benches on a trail. Or tables either.

At one of the benches, we talked a while with a German woman. As with all of the other foreign people we meet, her first questions were about Trump. (Basically asking what the US was thinking, but as nicely as possible.) I think we understand more about things now so this led to a good conversation about trends in the rural parts of any country, not just the US. And general thoughts about how to make the world a better place.

We eventually wound along all of the ridges and we ended up at Davies camp, just a couple of km away from the end. We were hoping to meet up with the other hikers from yesterday, but they must have pushed on; they can’t go the same relaxed pace every day if they want to finish before the snow sets in. So instead of friends meeting us, we were greeted by wekas and sand flies. (Sand flies are like gnats except that they bite and leave you itching for a couple of days. The South Island is famous for sometimes having hundreds of them swarming around you.)

Tomorrow we wrap up the track. We will hike the last couple of km and then wait around for a while for the ferry to Picton and then the ferry back to Wellington. We’ll stay there one night before heading up north to do the “world famous” Tongariro Crossing trail.

Before wrapping up the narrative of the Queen Charlotte Track, I wanted to say that it’s been one of our favorite sections in New Zealand, even with the wekas and sand flies. The climbing/descending has been moderated with switch backs and clear trails. There have been plenty of views. And there are lots of rest areas and access to resources with a little effort. So, even if the weather had been bad, we find ourselves scratching our heads wondering why hikers gave this marginal reviews. We give it two enthusiastic thumbs up!