Queen Charlotte Track

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 Day 42: Endeavour Inlet to Black Rock Campsite (29km)

Our first day tramping the South Island section of the Te Araroa! Very exciting. 


                     

                                Sunset last night. 


                 

              Mischievous thieves!! 



It is a well formed track with amazing views of the Marlborough Sounds. 





         

               Our morning tea stop  


We had planned to walk 19km to the Bay of Many Coves Campsite but we were making good time and both felt good so we carried on to the next campsite instead.  





The view from our “dining room” (aka the camp shelter) was stunning.  What a spot! And there do not seem to be too many sandflies here! Result!! 


            

            View from our campsite shelter


A good day. 

Day 43: Black Rock Campsite to Anakiwa (26km)

We woke to having the campsite to ourselves (despite having gone to bed with camping companions). Last night the father and daughter (18 years old) whom we were sharing the campsite with left rather unexpectedly. The daughter fainted at around 9pm and hit her head quite hard on the deck. Whilst conscious, she was not in a good way and her father called 111. A helicopter came to take her to hospital.  Unfortunately there was not room for her father in the helicopter but about ten minutes after she had left, a four wheel drive vehicle appeared out of nowhere (turns out there was a road behind our campsite) and took the father out. Incredibly service from the emergency services, rescue helicopter team and whoever drove the four wheeler up to take the father out. 

I have called the local hospitals to see if she is OK but sadly we can’t find her. We both think she will be OK but it has really highlighted to us how easily things can go wrong when you are out there in the bush.  Fortunately he had a phone signal and a road close by. That will not be the case for us as we head further south.  It is a good job we now both have separate PLBs.  

Anyway, on to a more cheerful topic…. today’s walk.  We were awake just before 6am and both laughed as at 6am on the dot we went from silence to the loudest chorus of cicadas I have ever heard! It is like they were programmed to all start “singing” at 6am.  

It is a good job they did as we got up to see the most amazing sunrise.





After breakfast we packed up and got on our way. The trail was more challenging and more interesting today.  Lots of amazing views.  And some big hills (which I have to be honest, after yesterday, surprised me a bit!) 







6.5 hours later we walked out of the Queen Charlotte track at Anakiwa. We grabbed a couple of ice creams from the mobile “cafe” at the boat ramp and chatted to some of the other walkers. We then headed to our local accommodation for the night. Our evening was dominated by looking at the weather forecast and making decisions about what to do about the weather warning heading our way. 

The QCT is beautiful and this was a tough but good day. 

Roger’s notes: 









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