Day 70: Bay Walk

December 19, 2019

Kilometers: 1700.7-1730.1

Schoolhouse Bay Campsite to Bay of Many Coves Campsite 

We all sat down at the table for breakfast at 6:30. I jokingly yelled “Ethan, come on, get up and get out of your tent”. Guess I’ll have to break that habit. We were fast out of camp today, beginning our hike at 7:10. 

We started with a climb off the sound and up onto a ridge. With the sun still rising in the sky we had some nice lighting for the views of the sound. The five of us walked pretty closely together throughout the morning. 

The Queen Charlotte Track is one of New Zealand’s “Great Walks”. There are ten great walks in New Zealand and these tracks are supposed to be the most spectacular. They are better maintained than many other trails. Therefore, the QCT is a wide trail that is cleared of all fallen trees. It is a super easy walk, even during the climbs, and is definitely a good way to warm up for the Richmond Ranges in a few days. 

The trail rose and fell between ridges and the sound the whole morning. At 11 we stopped for lunch at a super beautiful overlook. The water was a nice turquoise color. 

After lunch the trail left the shore and sent us up onto a ridge. It was a bit of climb to get up there after not hiking for a few days.

At about 3pm we got to the campsite. We thought about pushing another 10km to the next campsite as it was still early in the afternoon. However, we decided to stay and call it early. The campsite had a great view overlooking the sound.

After setting up our tents and my liter shower we all played cards. Charlie and Peter taught us a completely new game and they finished first and second. Huh, who woulda thunk. The campsite was cold and super windy. We used sleeping bags as blankets while playing.

We ate dinner and I had a freeze dried packet of lamb fettuccine. All I have to say is it was definitely freeze dried food. At least there was no dishes to clean. 

We got into our tents and looked up the weather forecast. Apparently there’s gonna be gale force winds in our area up to 120kph and strong rain tonight. Can’t wait for my lightweight tent to collapse at 2am while it’s pouring. Gonna be some quality fun.