Start – Cow Shed Bay
Finish – Anakiwa (Smiths Family Holiday Park)
Daily Distance – 24 km
TA Distance – 1804 km
War, famine, disease. Terrible afflictions that have blighted mankind since the dawn of time. However,
some days, crawling from a toasty sleeping bag and shimmying into a pair of clammy shorts seems worse
than them all. And then come the moistened socks…
Today I bade a fond farewell to the Queen Charlotte track. It has been a wonderful combination of easy
walking, stunning views when the weather was cooperating and many chickenbird amusements. It is
talked about as one of the highlights of the South island and it has certainly been some of my favourite
walking to date. Even better, there was a kiosk at the end of the track for a celebratory coffee and Mars
bar. If only all sections could end in such a civilized fashion.
Fueled by caffeine, sugar and the sense of a job well done I sauntered off in the direction of my
accommodation. I had heard that the Smiths family holiday park is a nice place to stay and take great
pleasure in confirming that the reports are true. Really, they had me with free use of a big, fluffy towel
and a warm blueberry muffin on arrival. Such are the keys to the heart of every TA walker. Better things
were to come though. With every check-in comes a free bag of animal feed! While trail hunger means my
first instinct is to consume anything even remotely edible in an unedifying display of gluttony, the
prospect of making new friends won out (this time). So it was that I spent considerable time making
friends with 2 festively plump pigs, 1 broadly spherical goat and a small flock of big boned sheep. Cute
little things that will happily take food from the hand and avail themselves of a good scratch behind the
ears. Such a life. They even smelled better than me!
Anyway, a nice warm shower awaits. Maybe tomorrow my shorts will even be dry…
