The South Island, the first 2 days

So we've finally made it to the South Island. We started our nine day section with our heaviest packs yet, mine weighed 18.4kg and Dennis' weighed 20.8kg. They felt fine though, not nearly the insane burden that I was imagining it to be. We must be getting in shape!

We had a bit of a rough ferry ride from Wellington to Picton, Dennis spent half the time wandering around the windy decks trying to focus on keeping his breakfast down but we made it in one piece. We actually ended up having one of our longest days distance wise that day, making it 37km to Havelock and we didn't even start until 12:30. It was the promise of really good fish and chips at the Havelock Hotel for dinner that kept us motivated. We knew the kitchen was open until 8:30, we made it soon after 7.

It helped that the scenery was amazing, we were walking along a coastal road looking at the islands of the Sounds all afternoon. It was weird thinking that we were soon to be leaving the coast, and wouldn't come back to it until the bottom of the island, just before the finish.

We spent our second road day walking along the Pelorus River, a beautiful river that we actually followed right into the bush in the Richmond Range. It was probably the clearest river I've seen, with deep emerald green pools, waterfalls and cool boulders and rock canyons. We treated ourselves to an ice-cream at Pelorus Bridge, our last bit of civilisation before heading into the wilderness for a week... or so we thought.

On our way to the trailhead we met an American couple who lived at the end of the road, and another family who were staying with them. After chatting for a while about what we were doing we were offered a place to stay for the night. A comfy bed sounded way better than our tent so we accepted. And it got better, it wasn't just a comfy bed, it was a comfy bed in a treehouse! The treehouse was so cool, it was a big room way up in the air with huge tree branches coming through the middle of the room and a stairway leading up to it. Thank you so much to Dennis and Sharon Capell for your generous hospitality. We had a great evening with you all.

Alice

Photos:
Sounds with ferry
Capell family tree stump
Coolest tree house ever
Pelorus River