What better way to spend the night before international travel than puking your guts out? Fortunately it seemed to be a one night bug and I did not get ill on the flight, but it was about six days before my appetite returned. That included riding the entire Queen Charlotte Track on minimal calories, but the scenery was so beautiful it was worth it.
I started with a ferry across Cook Straight, which was a beautiful way to arrive in the lovely seaside town of Picton where a met up with Scott and Eszter. Ah the smells of spring flowers, the sounds of New Zealand birds, and long days of sunshine! Then it was another ferry to the start of the Queen Charlotte Track.
It was great to finally be living on the bike again, and to be sharing the beginning of my trip with friends. Eszter and Scott are experts at finding the off piste tracks, minimizing highway time much as possible. After a good soaking on day two of the QCT we were treated to a week of sunshine! We made our way across the “Top of the South”, landing briefly in the towns of Nelson (beautiful and trendy, but not over the top so) and Takaka (lovely hippy outpost in the Golden Bay) between trails and dirt roads. Both towns were rich in local flavor and vegetarian food! More importantly, when we got to Nelson I was hungry for the first time all week, gobbling down a tasty tofu burger and asking for fries after! The rather urban Great Taste Trail took us out of Nelson and we carried on to Motueka for the night. We had to climb the paved and a bit notorious Takaka Hill, but then the fun started as we veered off to dirt; riding over Canaan Downs and descending the Rameka track into Takaka was a five star experience. As was staying two nights with a generous bikepacking acquaintance in the hills above Takaka. We were well fed, did laundry, and were treated to the quirky local film festival! It was great to get the local flavor and knowledge.
From Takaka we did a big 80km day that ended with a 1000 meter climb on the Heaphy Track where we were treated to the nighttime calls of a Kiwi bird, but were not lucky enough to see one. The Heaphy Track is an absolute gem: from the forest, then through high plateaus of tussock fields, and then to the Tasman Sea! The riding was excellent, especially the huge descent to our final night on the trail– camping at the Heaphy Hut. This was simultaneously the most beautiful and awful campsite ever! The photos below show the beauty:
The awful was the sandflies and wekas. I’m certain they were in cahoots with each other. These were expert level wekas; able to grab your food if your attention was diverted for even a moment and the thick clouds of biting sandflies were excellent at diverting your attention! It was such a battle camping there, as soon as the breeze died down in the early evening we were confined to our tents. My legs are covered in bites! Meanwhile, despite my best efforts it wasn’t until bedtime that I realized a weka had made off with my entire bag of toiletries — toothbrush, paste, floss, comb, allergy pills etc… All gone! It also tore the top off of one of my bags, destroying the closing mechanism. Despite the beauty I would not camp there again, but I would stay in the hut ($20 upgrade from the $14NZD camping). I’m thankful the exchange rate is so favorable right now because prices on most things, especially food, are quite high here.
After the Heaphy Track we landed in Karamea, a beautiful far northwest coast outpost.
At this point Scott and Eszter headed off to complete the three week loop they had planned, returning to their car, and I took a much needed short day to rest a bit. The following day I hoped to use my hut pass for the first time by taking a little detour before heading down the coast. As I pedaled along the dirt road my bike was making some noise I could not pin point, but figured it would reveal itself eventually; which it did when my left crank started to fall off! I tightened the bolts, continued on, and in five minutes it was lose again. This time I did a more thorough job of setting it back in firmly and cranking it down. Creaking but working. Still, I lost my nerve to continue into the bush and figured I should head down the paved road toward civilization where I could at least hitch a ride if my bike continued to fall apart. I made it another 30 km to a beautiful coastal campground where I sit typing this. It’s so peaceful here that I decided to stay an extra night even though I’m low on food, but fortunately they do have some limited food options at the cafe. For $12 a night versus the $30 to $40 a night Westport is going to cost me it seems well worth it. Also there is only one more day of nice weather forecast and then a week of rain! So I figure I will need to set up “camp” in Westport for plenty long. The direction I want to carry on from there involves a river crossing that can’t be safely completed after too much rain.
Time will tell what happens next!