Every night we'd cook dinner, pop out our lawn chairs, and plug the ipod into the handy jack provided in Skyla. By the end of two weeks of driving we were so sick of everything my ipod had to offer. Anyhow, on to Picton!
Picton is at the top of the south island. Home to the famous Marlborough Sounds, we couldn't wait to get some more exercise in. We'd only ridden 40K the day before, and we knew we needed to get some hiking time. We arrived in Picton, and within 20 minutes we'd hired a water taxi to take us through some of the sounds and to the start of the Queen Charlotte Track. We were told the hike would take us about two hours to get to the spot where the water taxi would pick us up for the ride back. FORESHADOWING. But for the time being we were innocently blissful as we cruised the glassy water. Some of my pet dolphins even chased our boat.
So. The chick at the water taxi joint told us it'd be a relatively light two-hour hike. Awesome. We were still a little tired from the day before but interested in some light exercise and views. The sign above, though. Huhwha? We were confused. The water taxi captain said he was picking us up at Endeavor Inlet, which the sign clearly says is FIVE HOURS away. In our previous four months' worth of experience with Department of Conservation signage around the country, Jesse and I knew that we usually cut those estimates in half. Fitness! So we headed out. Holy crap, the Marlborough Sounds should be in the dictionary under breathtaking.
The trail was very clear and relatively well marked, but wow, steep. Again, chick at the shop had told us about an hour of hard uphill and then easy walking. She was a bitch. Noooooo, she wasn't. But we quickly realized ol' girl had never walked the track herself. We were tired and hot, armed only with snacks and water and a map that seemed very deceptive at times.
OH and let's not forget that in addition to extreme saddle soreness, my darling sunburn from the bike riding was developing nicely. I applied sunscreen approximately seven times per day. Ask my travelling mates. They made fun of me endlessly. Apparently I missed some spots.
About three hours in we had a heart-to-heart with the map, realized the DOC estimate was more accurate than we had hoped, and picked up the pace. We had been given four-and-a-half hours for what we thought was going to be a two-hour hike. The enjoyability of the whole thing began to decline as we imagined missing the water taxi back to Skyla. But fear not, for we finally made it to the dock with a few minutes to spare, got picked up, and played with some more dolphins on the way back.
We hadn't planned to stay overnight in Picton, so even though we had our asses completely kicked by the Queen Charlotte Track, we had to stay on schedule and drive a few hours to the next campsite. But not before stopping for Brent's very first fish and chips experience.
I asked the guy working what kind of fish it was. "Oh, we use whatever's freshest each day. Today I think it's actually shark."
"...I'm eating shark right now?" I ask.
He looks worried. "Uh, yes."
"Freaking awesome," I say.
On we drove.
No comments:
Post a Comment