Sandy Bay

The Queen Charlotte Track (QCT) stretches 71km from Anakiwa to Ship Cove. The latter is where Captain Cook landed to explore the island.

Several campsites, including start and finish, are accessible by water. So water taxis make it easy to get dropped off and picked up. They will even transport your bags for you so you don't have to carry them. That was a little much for us (and our budget). Instead we teamed up with Sonny and Anna to shuttle ourselves by car. We shortened the trek to 44.5km, to the furthest road access on the track, Camp Bay. We figured we would have no problem doing it in 2.5 days (3 nights).

The pictures speak for the scenery. It was very peaceful to hike through the forest with regular views of the Queen Charlotte Sound down below. The company was also great. Sonny and Anna are both really smart and love being in nature. They were both involved in scouts. In short, they were a great match with us and we had lots to talk about.

The QCT is part of the Te Araroa Trail, the trail from the North to South tip of NZ. We met a guy named Sebastian, who had done the QCT in almost two days. He was unofficially competing with other people we would later meet. People doing the Te Araroa trail log where they stay in guestbooks. Besides being good for safety, it's a fun way for hikers to see how far behind they are other people.

We also met lots of Weka (the bird, not to be confused with Weta, the insect). We were excited to see them at first. But they are quite used to people and are very quick if you leave any food unattended.

We were determined to cover some ground the first day. But we hadn't planned enough time to make it straight to the second campsite. So we decided to just camp on the path. It was quiet enough anyway.Read more