Late post due to all the catching up from lack of internet! This post should have been posted at the end of Wednesday, March 29th.
Morning at Lochmara Lodge
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| Breakfast with Ros and Geoff |
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| Walking past feeding time as we head back up to the track |
QCT, Section 5
Actually, most people call this Section 4 but our package was five days, so Wilderness Guides split Section 4 (7 hours) into 2 hours yesterday (plus an hour to Lochmara Lodge) and 5 hours today (plus an hour from Lochmara Lodge).
Today we walked from Lochmara Lodge, back up to meet with the track (1 hour), and then onwards to Anakiwa (5 hours). The water taxi at Anakiwa was scheduled for 3:30 pm, so there was a bit of a time concern but we also had a built-in safety net: If we got to Te Mahia and felt crummy (Mike's blisters and my knee), then we could turn off to Mistletoe Bay and take the water taxi from there. Te Mahia is 4 hours from Anakiwa. Turned out that we felt fine. Mike had properly protected his toes today, and my knee wasn't too bad. Plus, by the time you get to Te Mahia, most of the rough track is behind you!
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| Te Mahia - we opted to keep going and finish the track |
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Mistletoe Bay, below us, had kayakers and turns out to be a popular place for class trips. A group 7 or so of preteen girls with a couple guides biked from Mistletoe Bay to Anakiwa, passing us on the trail a couple times. (We passed them when they stopped for lunch.)
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| Horses |
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| Geoff, Ros, David, Christiana |
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| Davies Bay |
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| Such clear water |
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| Almost finished! Glad we got this photo since there's no post for 0 km. |
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Anakiwa! That's the Cougar Line taxi picking up the girls who biked from Mistletoe Bay to go pick up the rest of their classmates who had chosen other activities (like kayaking).
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| The sign at the end (or beginning) |
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| Mike got a coffee to celebrate |
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| Since we were all early, the water taxi was able to depart early. We boarded ... |
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| ... just as it started raining! Lucky! |
Picton
Upon returning to Picton, Wilderness Guides brought us all back to our respective accommodations. We were back in the Beachcomber Inn and got a room on the second floor with a not-as-great view, but still a great room.
Dinner with new friends!
Ros and Geoff treated us to a wonderful dinner at Cafe Cortado. I'm so happy to have met them and really hope we don't lose touch. They have a beautiful love story of twists and turns and challenges and reconnection which sounds like a movie. Not all romances are straight lines.
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| Creme brulee since we missed it at Lochmara Lodge |
Dinner with Ros and Geoff was the perfect way to end our big hike. We're going to be like them someday -- grandparents who stay active and walk the Camino. Mike and I are already talking about doing (parts of) the Camino and (some of) the Great Walks of Tasmania.
Onward!
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