The night in Picton was characterised by nice accommodation and gale force winds outside. Thankfully the wind eased off at dawn and our stroll down to the pier to check in was accompanied by a gentle ‘fresh’ breeze rather than anything to be particularly concerned about.
Check in for the boat transfer to Ship Cove was at the civilised hour of 9am for a 9:30 departure. Which didn’t stop people forming a queue to get on from 9…. We didn’t bother and went for coffee across the road. Somehow we still got on the boat 🤷.
It was a smooth run to Ship Cove. A change of seating happened early as our position at the stern was subject to inundation as the boat hit cruising speed. 🌊 The transfer was a bit under an hour in duration including a stop at an Island which was a bird sanctuary- we picked up a few Twitchers who had been dropped off earlier that morning. The island is cleared of the predators (stoats, rats etc) which otherwise wreak havoc on NZ’s native bird life. The Twitchers were very happy with the sightings and bird song they encountered.
Ship Cove was used over the years by various Māori iwi as they went about their business in the sounds area. A beautiful, sheltered bay with fresh water available and an abundance of fish etc. From European times it became famous for its use by James Cook RN during his several and varied voyages to NZ. In all he spent around 100 days there across several voyages. He also lost a few crew when one of the local tribes ‘invited’ them to be the central element of a hangi at one point…
The first day’s walk involved crossing two ranges from Ship’s Cove via two Saddles and skirting around several bays. The distance to travel was a smidge over 17km and our destination was the Furneaux Lodge at the head of Endeavour Inlet.
The first hour and a half -ish was a steady climb up rather gentle switchbacks to Ship Cove Saddle. Great views of the sound materialised as we rounded the various corners.
Once down off the first range you skirt around Schoolhouse and Resolution Bays , which face south-ish). We paused for lunch at the former and encountered the first of many friendly and relatively fearless Weka who were on the bot for food ( they were unsuccessful).
After skirting the rest of the bay the track heads up the next range to Tawa Saddle. The saddle is named after the Tawa forest below, on the western slopes of the range.
After Tawa the track descends and sidles around a few coves before it takes a turn northward along the Eastern shore of Endeavour Inlet. It was getting warmer and these last few km started to seem unduly long – we were clearly anticipating a cool drink at the lodge. About 4 km on a series of Bachs and private jetties were passed, and a kilometre or two later we were at Furneaux Lodge.
New Year’s Eve was pleasantly quiet . We had a hot tub in front of the bay to relax aching muscles ( we will spare the reader the photo). We then had an early dinner and turned in to the sound of the waves on the Inlet shore.
Ness’ and Mark’s Wandering 