Gale Force Winds in Picton!

We've heard that there has been some weather in the Pacific Northwest (lots! of wind) which ended up as 1/2 foot of snow in VT. Well, here in Picton, it is incredibly windy! There was a huge, fairly sturdy looking silvery Christmas Tree at the end of the shopping district street yesterday. This morning, it's in a mound on the ground of the park behind it! LOTS OF WIND! Picton is a port on the northeastern tip of the South Island. It is near the Queen Charlotte Sound and many other inlets that are surrounded by forested hills. The port serves as the main gateway into and out of the South Island. The Interislander runs a few times a day to Wellington and back again.

We arrived yesterday from the Abel Tasman National Park and our Great Walk over there. The walk wound up the coastline along gorgeous beaches and along rather flat terrain. A few climbs close to the shore offered peeks at deserted, yellow sandy beaches. The land was rather dry and the forested area looked much different than our time on the Routeburn. Much less lush. The areas around Abel Tasman were once heavily logged and so it's kind of a mixed bag of flora and fauna. It was a fairly easy walk except that the first day out we walked 21kms. We were a bit exhausted and glad to get to Bark Bay Campground. We actually met a couple who were kayaking around the Park from Portland, OR - small world. We were happy to chill out and eat some dinner and get to bed early. Around 1 o'clock in the morning, we were awakened to the sound of something rifling through my backpack which was outside the tent next to the picnic table. Peter sprang into action to identify the intruder. With the help of my headlamp and some scary noises that sounded like hissing, Peter saved our food from becoming snacks for the Possum Family of Bark Bay. We relocated our packs into the fly of the tent and carefully laid the cooking pan/lid on top of the packs so as to frighten the possums should they try to reconnect with our cuisine! Not long after we tried to settle back to sleep, our cooking pans were knocked off the packs. This action called for more hissing by Peter and thankfully, that was all the hospitality we were offered from the Possum Family.

The next morning, we headed out tired but resolved to keep on the track. On our hike to Awora Campground, we followed along more track surrounded by varied vegetation and lots of quick peeks at the ocean and shoreline. We had to make two water crossings that depended on the tidal schedule, so, I think that we were huffing along at a good pace. We crossed Onetahuni (sp?) Beach with no problem and were met by about 30 people being dropped off for a kayak trip by the various Water Taxi operations. We carried on and took the shore route along to Aworoa Crossing. There was a private Lodge and Cafe along the route as well as a number of private homes. We arrived at a vast desert that was the route to the campground. It was like it was a desert. We watched the tide come swiftly in later in the afternoon. It came in so quickly and covered a lot of land. We couldn't see the true ocean from the campground, but the inlet was enormous. Thankfully, we passed an uneventful evening of restful sleep and we were even able to forgo the fly to cover the screened roof of the tent so we could stargaze a bit.

Due to the tidal schedule, we had to wait until 11am to continue on the track. As we were leaving, about 20 middle school level students were making their way across to Aworoa. This track was quite well traveled! We made it to the beach at Totaranui by 1:00pm. We were planning to continue walking to the end and hike back to this spot to be picked up the next day. But, we'd had enough and we called the Water Taxi company. We arranged with them to pick us up a day early and we were glad to be back in the van. The ride back to the car park at the start of the trail was cool because we had to stop along the way to pick up other clients. That way, we could see the way we walked from a different perspective. I think that we were pleased with the walk, but, not as "wowed" as we were by our walks near Mt. Aspiriring and the Routeburn.

As I mentioned, we're in Picton now. It is very windy. Extremely windy. We've booked an overnight kayak trip in the Queen Charlotte Sound for tomorrow and Saturday. I'm super psyched to go, but, I think we'll have to skip it if the wind continues like this. It'd be like we were on a kayak treadmill paddling in place!

We hope all is well with all of you. We are coming home in one week! Time sure flies when you're having a blast. We're sad to go, but, we're excited to see you all!

All our best!

Love,
K & P