Smug bastards on tour

This post is going to be about 90% photos and bragging, so if you don't like either of those things, you had probably better skip this one.

On Thursday, we got up bright and early to take a cable car from Malcesine to the top of Monte Baldo, almost 1800 metres up. We were already equipped with tickets purchased the previous day and armed with the fruits of my internet research that was full of disgruntled people complaining about waiting in queues for hours to get up and down the mountain.

No such trouble for us (here is part one of the bragging) - we arrived fifteen minutes before the first departure, were about third in line, and had plenty of prime window space on both of the cars. The first one up the mountain is fixed in position, so you need to get a good spot, but the second revolves around, so everyone can get a good view, but you inevitably end up staring at the mountain side for half the trip.

It was a glorious sunny day and the views over the lakes and mountains are just stunning. Luckily enough, the sun in the morning is on the perfect side to shine down on to the lake and since we were on the first car, it was nice and peaceful up there as we strolled along the flat ridge line enjoying our surroundings.

Looking towards the south

I need my dad's bird identification skills here

Channelling the Sound of Music on the mountain top

Cute alpaca friend

Looking at the north end of the lake

Fabulous, right? Here's the bragging part two, louder, braggier and uncut. By the time we were heading back down to the cable car, the trickle of people walking the other way had turned into a steady stream. The cars coming up the mountain were full, whereas we were the only two on both of our trips - which meant that we circumvented that staring at the mountain half the time thing.

View of Malcesine from the funicular. I made a cool timelapse of the trip down but I can't work out how to upload it here :(

When we arrived back at base, we found the fabled queues had indeed built up, going all the way along the corridor, down the stairs and into the lobby, with more people arriving all the time. Boy, was I smug! The best thing I've found about being married (so far) is the opportunity to say "aren't you glad you married such a smart wife?" I'm sure there are other good bits too, but thus far that and the ring are the only bits that have really changed. So if you're planning to visit Monte Baldo, #1 get a smart wife and #2 go first thing in the morning.

We were back down by 10:30 and after that, we stocked up on Italian bread, salami and cheese and spent the afternoon chilling out by the pool at our apartment. Just what the doctor ordered.

Abel seamen

Originally, the plan after the Marlborough Sounds was to stop in Nelson, do something in the Abel Tasman National Park, and then go further around the coast towards Golden Bay. But we realised the need for early starts and full-day excursions on the Queen Charlotte Track and in the Abel Tasman National Park meant that we had to rejig the schedule a bit. We could probably have driven a couple of hours before or afterwards, but we are not too keen on driving in the dark, and it does take it out of you. Okay, it’s hardly working in a coal mine, but at the end of the day we tend to be pretty happy to stay around the camper van and relax. 

No time to visit the vineyards

So the day after the Queen Charlotte Track, we drove to Kaiteriteri, picked because it was one of the pickup points for the Abel Tasman trip we wanted to do. Seeing it on the map, we were expecting there to be basically nothing there. And it wasn’t exactly a bustling metropolis, but it had a really big campsite which was still pretty full, and a lovely beach right across the road. So we had a bit of a swim and a sunbathe that afternoon before the clouds rolled in, and got ready for our trip to Abel Tasman the next morning.

Kaiteriteri Beach

Fresh from the trials of the Queen Charlotte Track, we were keen for a bit of a gentler excursion this time. So we picked a trip that only had about a 1 1/2 hour walk, from Onetahuti Beach to Awaroa Beach, around 5.5 km. Both were beautiful beaches, and the walk between was pretty gentle. There wasn’t so much scenery to see on this walk, but it was a nice, relaxed stroll between two lovely places, so that was okay. Jules put our newly-acquired bird-watching skills to good use when he spotted a fantail. Unfortunately, he told me to come look quickly and I abandoned my usual caution and consequently ended up sitting on the ground in an abrupt fashion. The brand new camera I was holding also took a trip to the ground, luckily sustaining only a few cosmetic scratches on the back.

Onetahuti Beach. I guess all beaches look much the same in a panorama

Estuary on Onetahuti Beach #nofilter

We didn’t have as much time on Awaroa Beach as we would have liked, just time for a swim, to read a little bit and then a dip to get the sand off. Whereas in Matarangi we were endlessly pummelled by the waves of the Pacific, here the sea was super calm and gentle. Not without risk, however. A couple told us that they had been walking along the beach watching a stingray swimming parallel to them - just before it got to where we were swimming, it changed course and swam out to sea. A narrow escape!

Awaroa Beach

The skipper takes some time out. Not the worst job in the world

The boat trip there and back was also much longer than in the Marlborough Sounds, taking over an hour each way, and it called in at several places to pick up and drop off passengers, as well as to see the sights, such as the Split Apple Rock and fur seals on Tonga Island (although only a couple of them were hanging out when we went past. I thought the boat to Onetahuti was a bit rough, but it was nothing compared to the trip back. We started our return trip with what the skipper described as a “hoon in the lagoon”, and hoon we did, circling around the lagoon and then enjoying an extremely bumpy high-speed trip back, skipping over the waves and bumping back down really quite hard. I got a bit wet sitting in the back and also hurt my neck a bit, although that’s quite easily done. 

Split Apple Rock

Waiting in Anchorage Bay

Kayakers off Tonga Island

Spray from our bumpy ride

Boat selfie. Belfie!

With hindsight, we would probably have gone on the 9 am boat, rather than the 10:30, and had longer to spend on the beach in between. Still, the boat was fun, the beaches were beautiful, and it was a nice contrast to the Queen Charlotte Track.

Picture perfect

The day after our arrival in Picton, we were blessed (#blessed!) with the most beautiful weather for our day walking the Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds. The day began with a short 20-minute water taxi ride to Torea Bay, where we were to begin our walk to Mistletoe Bay, just under 8 kilometres away.

Reflections on the water on the boat trip

This sounded like an easy enough walk, but I forgot to take into account the elevation changes, from sea level up to 407 metres on the track itself, back down and up a bit again, and then we were foolhardy enough to add in an extra trek 130 metres up to a peak of 416 metres, because someone had etched "worth it" on the sign.

We went from Torea Bay on the right to the YOU ARE HERE

Raring to go at Torea Bay

This probably sounds like nothing to many of you, and there were definitely times on the walk that I was cursing letting the gym slip over the past months (um, years, to be honest). But it was a challenge for us, and one that had ample instantaneous rewards, in the form of breathtaking views over the Kenepuru and Queen Charlotte Sounds, on both sides of the track, and in the form of personal satisfaction. You know when you see amazing views on postcards and websites and so on, and you eventually realise there's no way they were taken without the aid of some sort of flying machine? Well, trekking up those 416 metres gave us exactly those picture postcard views.

Jules the explorer

I was particularly proud of going up to the "hilltop lookout", just before we would start our descent to Mistletoe Bay. To be honest, if I had known how steep it was and how much I would feel like I was going to die, I might not have done it. But once we started, determination and basically a desire not to have put myself through half the painful ascent for nothing kicked in, and we triumphantly made it all the way to the top.

Unless I'm mistaken, the path we took basically runs up the middle of this land

Our reward was not only beautiful views of the sea and the track we had walked up, but also a close encounter with a family of weka, a flightless native New Zealand bird. I don't think I had ever seen weka before, certainly not in the wild, and we had no idea what they were until we looked them up later. They sort of waddled and sounded like ducks, but with completely different heads. And they were totally not afraid of us - something that we assumed was caused by visiting trampers feeding them, but when we looked it up online, the information said that all weka were generally curious and unafraid.

A weka family

For the last part of the trek, down to Mistletoe Bay itself, we turned off the main Queen Charlotte Track on to the James Vogel track. This in some ways seemed even harder than the hilltop detour. It was what I would think of as a classic bush track - that is, pretty rough and ready. We were having to watch our step over tangled tree roots, clamber down steep slopes holding on to trees or rocks with our hands, and duck under and over branches and fallen trees. It was only an extra 1.5 km or so, but it felt like forever. Especially with the tantalising thought of being so close to somewhere we could just plop down and rest and get a cold drink.

Jules and the evil tree roots

Somewhat less energy left at this stage of the walk

 In the end, we survived and were so pleased we did it. I forgot to turn on Map My Walk until we had already done the bulk of the initial steep ascent from Torea Bay, but with the hilltop detour and the James Vogel track, we did 12.36 km (plus however much the first bit was). Jules's step counter has us at 22,520 steps or over 17 km, although that includes walking to and from the boat as well. With breaks for lunch, photos, and dying, it took us about 6 1/2 hours, plus over an hour at the end waiting for the boat to come get us again. I've had more relaxing days, but this was definitely one of the more rewarding ones!

A walk in the bush

Auckland so far has been hot, humid, and sometimes rainy. Not quite the dose of New Zealand sunshine we were looking forward to, but it seems to be clearing up now. We ventured out between rain showers to do a short walk in the "bush" (forest) in the Waitakere Ranges, not far from where my parents live.

Being away for so long is helping me see my native country with new eyes, and having gotten used to European forests, the New Zealand bush suddenly looks quite exotic. New Zealand's long geographical isolation means many of its native species are not found elsewhere in the world (and accounts for the many flightless native birds and the lack of native mammals). The profusion of ferns and palm trees in particular makes the New Zealand bush quite visually distinct from forests elsewhere in the world.

Blue skies appeared towards the end of our walk

A giant kauri, about a thousand years old

One reason people may be more familiar with the look of the New Zealand bush these days is, of course, the Lord of the Rings movies (and The Hobbit I suppose, I haven't seen it). My mum remarked that, after seeing the films, she half expected to stumble across hobbits in the woods near their house. I thought particularly of the hobbits hiding from the Nazgul near the beginning of the first film.

Source

When presented with some gnarled tree roots, however, I chose to channel my inner Gollum.

We finished off the day by going to a nearby RSA (this is I think like the Veterans' Association, assuming the Veterans Association runs pubs where veterans and general old people hang out) for a pub quiz. This was as much a way to stay awake until bed time as anything, since I'd been up for a few hours in the night and then woke up at 6 in the morning, yay. But we ended up taking out first place! Granted, not against the stiffest of competition, but since in Brussels we are always determinedly middle of the pack in our local pub quiz, it was a nice change!

I sadly won't be around to profit from the unbelievable prize