Day 50: Picton, South Island … New Zealand

Saturday, 25 February 2017
At Sea — Pacific Ocean … En Route to Akaroa

From 26 February (Neglected to Collect on 2/25)
Stats @ Ship’s Time 6:30a (NZDT) … UTC 5:30p (25 February)
Temp: 57.6F (14.2C)
Position: 43.54.47S / 173.02.55E

Go well traveler on your journeys into the south
Take your memories with you and unpack them fondly, remembering this place …
~ On the wall of the iSite in Picton ~

Picton, located at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound, is the gateway to New Zealand’s South Island.  Most visitors come through this charming little town for one of two reasons — to hop on one of the ferries that ply the waters of Cook Inlet between South Island and North Island … or to go on a five-day tramp [hike] on the world-famous Queen Charlotte Track.

With Picton Harbor at my back.

We spent three days here in 2015 — two of them on the QCT, and another one visiting some of the local attractions on the very pretty Foreshore Reserve of Picton.  So today’s plan was to go tramping on one or more of the Victoria Domain tracks accessible from Picton.  Which one?  Well, we would decide that once we were on shore.

Insignia docked at the Waitohi Wharf, which gets its name from a Te Atiawa Māori settlement that was once situated in Picton.  When the ship was cleared just before 8:00a, we were off with a map from the iSite representative who had set up shop in the lobby on deck 4.  We would have walked the .4 mile (.6 km) into town, but were told that we had to take the shuttle since we were in a commercial port.  Luckily, the bus didn’t wait to fill-up.  In short order, we were walking to the trailhead for the Victoria Domain tracks by way of the scenic route through the Picton foreshore.

Looking out across the Picton Foreshore Reserve.

Perusing our map of the available tracks, we decided to piece together our own trail.  We started out on the Bob’s Bay Upper Track, connected to the second half of the Harbor View Track, walked a bit of the Snout Track, retraced our steps back to the Bob’s Bay Track to go down to the beach at the bottom, and finally climbed back up to return to Picton by way of the Bob’s Bay Lower Track, which follows the cliffs.  As seems the case with many of the tracks in New Zealand, we walked in the forest for the most part — something we appreciated this time for the shade the trees provided … the sun was hot even though the temperature was comfortable.  There were plenty of points along the way where the sound views were visible to keep us entertained, so what should have been two hours of tramping took twice as long.

For the most part we had the tracks to ourselves, which made it such a pleasure to be out enjoying nature.  When we did run into someone, it was usually a local taking a shortcut into town … how neat to be able to tramp to work.  There was no sign of the biting insects the iSite rep had warned us about.  But the cicadas were out in full force, their cacophony drowning out the noise of all but the big ferries as they followed the coastline out of the sound.

Glimpse of Picton from the Bob's Bay Upper Track.

Running into Solange and Aykan, shipmates from Turkey, we pause for
a photo op before heading off to hike a bit of the Snout Track.

Four hours after setting off on our tramp, we were back in town, crossing the Coathanger Bridge — so named for the steep curve of its design, which allows tall-masted boats to get into the marina beyond.  Here we found the stingrays that fellow-passengers had alerted us were in the water.  Yup, all that snorkeling for Mui and we saw the rays right in the marina!

Next on our day’s agenda was lunch.  In addition to its wines, the Marlborough Region is known for its green lipped mussels — a delicacy that is much sought after.  I had promised Mui that I would find a place for him in town that had them on the menu.  My research led us to Escape to Picton, a boutique hotel/restaurant/bar — it was a good choice.  Mui enjoyed a creatively presented bowl of mussels while I had the gourmet fish and chips.

We skipped dessert in lieu of a sweet treat later at Indulge, an ice cream parlor on High Street.  But first we made a quickie stop at the supermarket to pick up some apples.  Of course, no grocery shopping trip in New Zealand would be complete without some Whittaker’s chocolate bars … a few of them fairly jumped into our basket before we left the market.

We walked back to the shuttle stop by way of the foreshore.  The quiet park of this morning was now bustling with locals and tourists enjoying the spectacular weather as a band played in the background.  We dallied to enjoy the ambiance for a while before wandering over to the iSite to catch the next shuttle to the ship.  We were back on Insignia shortly after 3:00p, slightly tired, but very pleased with our day in Picton.

With the ship at a standstill there were no exhaust fumes to contend with, so we took advantage of that to enjoy the veranda for a while.  Even after Insignia left its berth, the wind cooperated by blowing from the right direction, so we were able to stay outside to enjoy the transit through the sound and into the open seas.  The scenery was lovely … and familiar to us from 2015.  Nonetheless, it was enjoyable on a beautiful afternoon where the sun kept the growing evening chill at bay.

At 6:30p, we joined the Zs for dinner at the Terrace Café.  The “All-Kiwi” menu featured — you guessed it — New Zealand green lipped mussels.  Another NZ specialty was also available to tempt the palate … braised lamb shanks.  Neither appealed to me, but Mui was quick to tell me later that both were excellent.

Tomorrow is another port day.  No rest for the weary, as they say.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate again as it has since our arrival in New Zealand five days ago.

To see more photos from our day in Picton, click here.

© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.