We slept like the dead after our long day of the ferry trip, and woke up at 8:30 in the morning. A good night’s sleep, thankfully! Leaving Picton, today’s route started along Queen Charlotte Sound, looking down at the ferry terminals, and offering beautiful views along the way, especially where the land has given way next to the road. There are a lot of orange cones in our pictures!
Picton looked like a really nice town, but we have made our reservations for a number of days so we needed to keep moving. The road climbed out of Picton and then leveled out as it hugged the coast. If all of South Island is as nice as this, we’ll be very happy! The traffic was light, the road smooth and the views amazing.
It was a perfect day. We stopped in Havelock for lunch, self-proclaimed as World Famous for its Green Shelled Mussels. Chris loves mussels and we had time! We ate and drank leisurely and fully enjoyed our meal and the lovely setting on the outside patio. Today was not too long at 34 miles and 1,775 feet of climbing. The winds were light and mostly behind us.
The mussels were amazing. I had grilled mussels with several types of sauces/toppings and Chris had steamed mussels with garlic and tomato. We usually split our meals, but this time we both ordered (and ate) a full meal by ourselves! And sides of fries and homemade bread.
After lunch, we ambled down the road to Pelorus Bridge, staying in a nice campsite with many hikers who are walking NZ top to bottom like us, but on their own paths. Pelorus Bridge seems to be a popular delivery point for re-supply packages, and hikers opened their boxes of goodies with glee, eating all they could so they could carry less the following days. People said that they would be away from any services for 5-6 days once leaving Pelorus Bridge. Some hikers told us that they hiked between 18-36 miles a day, depending on terrain! I learned quite a bit about ultralight gear from a German woman camping next to us – they really need to keep it light and small.
After our gluttonous lunch, we skipped dinner, but had a can of wine near the river and then went to bed early. Super nice day.
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