On Sunday morning, we flew in a small 10-seater from Wellington on the North Island, to Picton on the South Island. From Picton, we took a water taxi to our walking start point, at Ship's Cove near the mouth of Queen Charlotte's Sound. Captain Cook spent a couple of weeks here on each of his global circumnavigation voyages, as it was about halfway from London, and was a great place to get fresh water, fruits and vegetables, and wood for ship repairs.
We have been carrying day packs with bag lunches, and staying in pretty nice lodges each night. The vegetation is lush, lots of tree ferns, and lots of huge beech trees. We have been looking down onto beautiful coves and bays as we walk along the ridgeline. There hasn't been too much wildlife. Prior to Maori's showing up about 800 years ago, birds were at the top of the heap in New Zealand. Many of them were flightless because there were no predators on the ground. The only mammal was a bat, and the only reptile was an ancient lizard. Now there are wild pigs, goats, rabbits, and, of course, rats. But the biggest problem animal by far is a possum imported from Australia for it's fur. NZ is fighting with poisons, and until now is hesitant to try and introduce a predator that will hunt and eat the possums, since those plans always seem to backfire. In any event, they eat all sorts of vegetation, bird eggs and chicks, etc. We saw one ina tree the other night, and they are actually adorable, nothing at all like the nasty possums in North America.
We've also run across a flightless bird called a weka. They are a little smaller than chickens, and we understand that the Maoris used to eat them. They are fearless and pretty entertaining, and the ones on the trail seem to be very eager for a handout.
Tomorrow we finish walking, take the water taxi back to Picton to be reunited with our rental car, then heading south.
