The outer Queen Charlotte track
The day starts at 5 am. We had to be in the harbor at latest 8 am. We were there at 7:30 so there was time for a coffee. At 8 we stept on the endeavour express to bring us to ship cove, the start of the track.
The first section is a walking-only route that takes you from Ship Cove to the Lodge at Anakakata Bay. Mostly it is a natural forest walk, there are some outstanding views from the more open areas. You don't have to be in an excellent condition, but sometimes the path is very steep! At some places the route is marked with orange triangles, just to be sure you are not walking off the path. At the top, after a 2 hours walk you have a nice overview over the queen Charlotte Wilderness. The top is 688 Meters high and called Oterawhanga. If you walk normally and take your rest than you can walk to the lodge in 6-7 hours.
We continue and walked down and up again to the next 'top' Jacksons head at 543 meter. We were there at 2:15 pm. We had some olther people and younger girls and they had some problem with the steep hills. But finally we arrive at the lodge at 5:30 pm. Jos and I were lucky, we had our room only 2 meters from there living room. So if we would drink to much we could roll into our beds...
