Queen Charlotte Track from Clashed Bay to Davies Bay Campsite
Hiking time: 09:40a.m.-03:40p.m.
Daily/Total distance: 17km/68km
Steps: 28647
Weather: rain I’m the morning, drizzle afterwards and sun and wind in the afternoon

During the last night I woke up repeatedly during the night due to rain. It had started around midnight and the wind kept blowing more and more rain onto the tent. It hadn’t stopped at 7:30am. The wind continued to blow every now and then and blew more and more rain from the surrounding bushes onto the tent.

At 8:30am I started to pack all my things together in my tent as well as pop my blisters and wrap my toes in tape. Then I grabbed the whole lot and brought it to the cooking shelter to organise. There were also a couple from Germany there doing the same thing. We got moving very slowly, not wanting to set out in the rain, even though it had decreased to little more than a drizzle.

After eating breakfast, another serving of Nutella wraps, I went to grab my inner tent to pack it away. The edges were a bit wet so I wiped them down to have it dry. After that I carried my whole fly and groundsheet into the shelter during a short dry spell. At first I just wanted to strap it to the outside of my pack but then decided to wipe it down with my washcloth as it was dripping wet. Better to have met just damp instead of dripping.

At 9:40 the German girl and me set off for the 700m climb back up to the track. We went at a steady pace. Though by the time we reached the track I had to change clothes again, as I was wearing my leggings and rain jacket which was way to warm to hike in for me. So she and her boyfriend continued on ahead of me. By this time the drizzle had also stopped. Something at last.

So I got started with the actual track at 10am. At first it was all uphill. Unlike the previous days I did not have to take breaks every couple of minutes. I actually went At a steady speed without stopping for an hour. At this point is was still going uphill until I finally reached Shamrock Ridge.

That was the highest loint on the QCT. I didn’t stick around to long though as the wind was really strong and cold and I didn’t want to have to grab my jacket. After the ridge came the downhill section. The clouds were even clearing a bit and every now and then a ray of sunshine came through.

Some portion on this downhill track my knee started hurting. Right on the outside of the knee. I am unsure what exactly caused this, but I tried to prevent the pain. At some point I stopped to apply some Kinesiotape. It didn’t work to well though, so I need to see about reapplying it differently. On top of the knee, my blistered toes are also hurting. But not too bad. So I made my descend really slowly until I reached Davies Bay at 03:40pm. The shelter for cooking was 2 mins away from the beach, where I found a huge field for tents and hardly any wind. Very nice spot. The decision was now between staying here at this nice place for 6$ or continuing to anakiwa for 40$.

I decided to stay.

A short while later the older coupe from Germany also joined me. As the sun was now up and shining we put our wet tents up and aired out our quilts. Everything wet was dry in minutes. Very nice.

As tthe others went to the beach I went and finally ate my lunch. More crackers and cheese. As I still had Nutella I also made myself an after lunch treat of cheese and Nutella. I know there are people out there who won’t believe this is good (looking at the work group) but it is. Though it is better with good Gouda than the kind of cheese they call Tasty here.

Us three were alone at the camp ground for quite some time. Later towards the evening I went towards the beach. Other hikes had just arrived and were setting up their tents. It is pretty windy down here though. I mentioned the huge field by the shelter, but they didn’t seem to interested. Later on though, some came over and realised that the spot by the shelter was way better, even though at the beach you had the greater view.

I made my first dinner of the readymade pasta dishes here in New Zealand tonight. Mac’n cheese. Haven’t yet figured out the right water quantities in my pot though and the whole thing was quite runny. But it is a learning curve and by the time I’m in the Richmond ranges I should have it all figured out.

Went to bed at around 10pm after spending some time catching up on my journal if the last few days.