Life's a Stitch

Last night's sleep was really good. Lulled by the sound of the water in the bay it was like sleeping on a ship, only better still, it wasn't moving. Brekkie was once again, an OSM bar and yogurt. The owner of the resort dropped us off at the track, saving us we figured an additional 90 minutes of uphill walking on a narrow asphalt road.

The most beautiful day yet on the Queen Charlotte Track.

Reasonable ups and downs and some geocaching thrown in for more fun. C pointed out this trip has included all my favourites: hiking, geocaching, painting and knitting. Met up with Norm, from the Colorado couple. Lynette went ahead by water taxi as her knee was bothering her. Have to admire her fortitude hiking two days five months post knee replacement.

Arrived in Anakiwa, the end of our four day New Zealand tramp, and feasted on potato chips while waiting for the water taxi back to Picton. The available flavours were chicken, salt and vinegar or “salt added," our choice. 

Although short as compared to our previous treks, the Queen Charlotte Track was worth the hauling of an entire suitcase of hiking gear on our flights. The surroundings are exotically beautiful, and although consistently hilly, it's not a difficult track. The five day experience cost more than we are used to, but for those of you coming from the US, the NZ dollar is strongly in your favour. Even the Canadian dollar provided a slight advantage. 

Back in Picton, continuing our habit of travelling through our taste buds, I was determined to try fresh green lipped mussels. At home I've only experienced the frozen, imported variety. C ordered blue cod and I the mussels. He convinced me to get a large order and we could share our plates. The large bowl held about 20 5” green mussels (laid end to end, that’s 100 inches of mussel!), some with white meat and some orange (male and female). They were served in a light garlic and white wine sauce. I generally like mussels, but these were much different from their wee blue cousins of the northern hemisphere. They tasted like steamed calamari, but with a stringy and chewy texture. Probably won’t order them again, but I hear they taste better topped with cheese and bacon. This culinary experimentation didn’t work out as well as our time with percebes (goose barnacles) in Spain.

Tomorrow we fly to the North Island to Auckland and board our ship, which will circumnavigate New Zealand prior to heading across the Tasmin Sea to Tasmania and the Australian mainland.

(11-4-17)