Walks near the Marlborough Sounds
Trip Start
Aug 14, 2008
1
3
20
Trip End
Sep 25, 2008
Picton,
South Island,
New Zealand
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
On the way to Picton we drove through the rolling, green, vast hills of Marlborough - NZ's primary wine making region with acres of vineyards surrounding the road and passed through the town of Blenheim. At Picton I said goodbye to Liz, and everyone else on the bus, as they were catching the ferry to the North Island and checked into The Villa - a delightful cottage type building with a hot spa, free bike rental, hot water bottes, satellite tv and free apple crumble in the evenings!
As it was already 1pm, I went straight out on a walk past the marina and along the coast to Bob's Bay. Picton town is really quaint and delightful, with beautiful green hills in the background and a very nice marina. It's main attraction is the Marlborough Sounds forming the coastline from Picton, which are fingers of heavily wooded peninsulas standing from turquoise ocean. From Bob's Bay I walked along the snout trail to a viewpoint of Queen Charlottes Sound, which is just beautiful. I decided I would walk further to the end of the peninsula and ended up with a view right up close to the sounds, all to myself. I was pleased with myself I made the effort to see it, despite the walk being quite tiring and taking me about 4 hours in total. I must say it is quite lovely being able to take a walk in the countryside and not having to worry about snakes or landmines!
Cooked dinner and had a chat with Thumper outside the hostel, being the only Stray member remaining at present. I found his talk quite amusing and ultimately irritating as it didn't take long for me to determine that this man has a severe case of 'short man syndrome' - he told me how every girl wants to be with the bus drivers and all the guys wanted to be them and even likened the career to God himself! Soon it was apple crumble time and spent the evening watching tv and marvelling at how few backpackers are in the hostels!
