To Picton ~ Dec 16-21, # 12
Wellington
Our decision to take the train to Wellington turned out to be a relief in more ways than one. After just two hours, we were not only a day away from the South Island, we had shaved off 200km, saving Nivaun from trying to recover from a mild cold while cycling.
Surprisingly the train felt a lot like our Amtrak commuter but the train station in Wellington far surpassed the ones in Seattle or Portland in both size and architectural design. We rolled out into the lobby entrance and stopped to take a few photos just long enough to catch the attention of a kiwi couple walking by on their morning commute. After extending us a warm welcome to Wellington, her husband dashed off to bring us both back a coffee.
Our route to the bike shop took us along the waterfront lined with stylish buildings, waterfront restaurants, parks and street art.
On the other side of town, we pulled up in front of Get Lost Cycling dropped off our bikes to get re-shod and booked into a hotel just a few meters away. By morning, we would have new tread, ready to roll to the ferry terminal on the opposite side of town.
Over night, the wind roared harder than I had ever seen through the city streets, rattling our windows even though we were on the second floor facing a side alley, and blowing the trees lining the center island sideways on the main road around the corner. If not more fierce, these winds certainly rivaled any I could remember experiencing in the “windy city” of Chicago.
Thankfully the wind slowed somewhat by morning giving us time to explore the waterfront and enjoy a holiday “burger”, essentially a Thanksgiving meal in a bun, before heading to the terminal where we waited and waited and waited…. After arriving an hour earlier than the arrival time on our tickets, almost 3 hours of screeching train brakes going back and forth in front of the terminal later, we were finally able to board. Delays are not unusual given these ferries are navigating Cook Strait, one of the most treacherous channels across the Tasman Sea, but what we were surprised to discover is that these ferries also transport shipping containers on rail cars. After the last ones were loaded, the dock workers waved us on to find our place on the deck chocked full of shipping containers.
In hindsight, it was probably in our favor to cross the channel in the early evening rather than the afternoon, as the wind slowly continued to die down giving us smooth passage. By the time, the ferry reached the Queen Charlotte Sound it was nearing 9:30pm. As the metal doors yawned open, we launched ourselves into the darkness and onto the Picton waterfront to find our way to the caravan park where countless other TA hikers were spread out across the lawn.
Picton
Arriving in Picton
Picton is the launching point for hikers continuing on the TA route via water taxi to the furthest point on the Queen Charlotte Sound where they begin their 3-4 day trek. We had listened to TA hikers several weeks before in National Park on the North Island stressing over booking the water taxi and the huts along the way, worried about securing their camp spots in advance of the Christmas holiday season.
Then there was us…we had simply fast-tracked to the South Island to arrive before the holiday season after learning from locals that even though many campgrounds/caravan parks fill up over the next couple months in the North, we would have an easier time traveling down the West side of the South Island. The Queen Charlotte Track (QCT) wasn’t even on our radar until we arrived in Picton and discovered cyclists are now allowed on the first section of the QCT during the summer season. In just under an hour at the iSite Visitor Center, we left holding a full itinerary planned out for us by the lovely ladies behind the counter that were more than delighted to book everything for us. In just a few days, we would leave by water taxi to ride the QCT spending two nights at each campground with our gear shuttled by water taxi to docks near each site. After days spent wondering where we would camp over Christmas - in what felt like an instant, it was set, and more special than we could have ever imagined!
