Day 85: Picton to Schoolhouse Bay Campsite (1700-1705)

Wednesday, February 22

Today Sara and I began hiking the South Island! I spent the morning in Picton getting my blog up to date. Around noon we dropped our packs off at Beachcomber's and went to get some ice cream. I kept uploading blogs while we walked.

Picton is a nice beach town and it seems to be populated by tourists. It was nice and easy to wander around. At 1 we went back to beachcomber, our ride to the start of the Queen Charlotte Track.

Everyone there was so kind and the boat ride was great. It was filled with tourists on a day trip, so there was a running commentary with interesting information the whole time. Soon after leaving Picton we saw jellyfish and dolphins. The dolphins were amazing. They loved chasing the boat's wake so they stayed with us for awhile.

Since we were on the afternoon ride, they also had some mail runs to make and dropped off a family that lives in one of the last farms in the area.

For the entire ride, I couldn't believe how blue the water was. The trip was beautiful.

When we got to Ships Cove, where the TA starts on the South Island, the captain warned us about wekas. They're flightless birds that like to steal things. New Zealand seems to have an abundance of flightless birds.

Sara and I wandered around Ships Cove. There's a Memorial there to the Maori and Captain Cook. As well as nice picnic tables and flushing toilets. Once all the day trippers got back on the boat, we read a few more informational signs and hit the trail around 4. We only planned to walk 5 kilometers to Schoolhouse Bay Campsite. A good way to break ourselves back into hiking after the long rest in Wellington.

It hike was extremely hot and humid. I was drenched in sweat, but the trail was really nice and there was a beautiful lookout at the top of the uphill section that made it all worth it. After getting to the high point it was a quick 30 minute hike down to Schoolhouse Bay Campsite. We got there around 5 and it was wonderful. The only other people there was a nice German couple and their infant. They had hiked south to north and were getting a water taxi at Ships Cove tomorrow.

Sara and I set up our tents and saw a weka wandering around. I threw a stick at it to try to scare it from coming back. Then we went for a swim in the crystal blue bay. The water was so clear. I was in water up to my chest and could see the dirt between my toes.

After our swim we made our dinner at a picnic table by the water and talked with the German couple. They were both media engineers, but one had recently become what sounded like a career technical or apprenticeship-type teacher for young adults. It was a really nice dinner and then their 9-month-old daughter was ready for bed. Sara and I went to our tents to get ready for bed and filtered some water.

Even though we only hiked 5 kilometers today, I was pretty tired, so I went into my tent around 8 pm.