Westport to Furneaux Lodge

Our morning in Westport began with a light breakfast, mostly leftover vegetables from the last night. After checking out of the hostel, we made a quick visit to the Tauranga Bay seal colony. It required a short walk after our arrival, but eventually, we ended up on a cliff-side viewing platform, looking down on the colony itself. We were lucky enough to be there when all of the young seals were still nursing, but also starting to explore their swimming abilities. The longer we looked, the more seals we noticed, and they seemed almost exclusively to be tired mothers, babies searching for mothers to nurse upon, and babies swimming around in the somewhat protected waters of the bay. Some of the mothers had managed to find rocks high and steep enough that they could rest undisturbed by the hungry children. With my binoculars, I was able to see some of the children’s playful swimming, flipping over themselves and idly sticking their fins into the air. After some time watching them we worked our way back to the car and began the drive to Nelson, where we had plans to stay two nights with some of my grandmother’s long-time friends, Sid and Sue.

Despite more beautiful scenery along the way, we made the drive to Nelson with only a single stop for lunch in a small town along the way. Interestingly, the cafe where we stopped had an impressive collection of foreign currency (some/all may have been fake, I’m no expert). When we arrived at Sid and Sue’s place, they greeted us both warmly and showed us to our two separate rooms, feeling like quite a luxury after so many nights in the same room and sharing public bathrooms. Sue made hot tea and brought out some delicious hors-d’oeuvres and we all chatted in the dining room for a few hours. Eventually, we transitioned to a wonderful dinner of lamb, greens, roasted root vegetables and local red wine. It was delightful to have a home-cooked meal from such a good cook and such gracious hosts. After dinner, we watched a short documentary on the beauty of the Fiordlands. Sid and I enjoyed some time in their hot tub, complete with jets and colored lights. Sue made me some hot chocolate (with foam!) and I took a shower, reveling in the privacy and luxurious evening, before making my way to bed.

The next day we had a great breakfast of eggs and some toast with homemade black currant jam. Sue put together a picnic for lunch and they drove us over to the beautiful Te Waikoropupu Springs. A beautiful natural spring with an average output above 10 cubic meters per second, Te Waikoropupu was once a popular diving attraction. Since 2007, however, the springs have been protected, and swimming has been prohibited, because of the sacred nature of the spring to the indigenous Maori. We took a short walk around the spring, peering past to moving water as well as we could and into the vibrant aquatic world beneath (great time to have polarized sunglasses!). Of course, the world above the surface was incredible as well, filled with beautiful plant life and birds enjoying the pools and flowing water. After enjoying the springs and surrounding nature, we brought out our delicious picnic, prompting some nearby Weka to get particularly close and inquisitive. I got some good bird pictures and enjoyed the meal while keeping a close eye on the would-be thieves.

As I was hoping to get a little more exercise after all the driving, we drove a little further north to the beginning of the Abel Tasman Track. Not wanting the others to wait around for me, I ran a few kilometers down the track and back along the beach. It felt great to tire myself out a little and made the cool beach air even more pleasant. When I got back to the car, we began the drive back to Sid and Sue’s house on the outskirts of Nelson and even enjoyed some ice cream along the drive. That evening, grandma and I took our hosts out to a wonderful Thai dinner, before another very pleasant shower and restful night’s sleep.

The next day we started off a little before 10 am, hoping to arrive in Picton for our scheduled 1 pm ferry to the Furneaux Lodge with plenty of time to check in and bring our bags. When we arrived, we were lucky enough to find free street parking fairly close to the ferry terminal and brought our bags to the loading dock with almost an hour to spare. I grabbed a small local lunch while we waited, but the time quickly arrived and we clambered onto the boat with all sorts of luggage. The boat then took off into the Marlborough Sound, leaving the town of Picton in the distance and weaving its way between various stops along the coves and inlets. After an hour and a half on the water, unloading various passengers and cargo along the way, we finally arrived at the Furneaux Lodge. I had already been uncertain of the quality of the supposed backpacker’s lodge that required a boat (or significant hike) to even arrive at. Just before we had left Nelson, my grandmother and I had discovered that the lodge didn’t have the self-service kitchen she remembered from her time there more than 30 years ago, instead, there was simply a restaurant where meals could be purchased three times per day. When we stepped off the boat it quickly became clear that this was an entirely different type of accommodation from what I had become accustomed to in New Zealand– more reminiscent of the resorts of French Polynesia than even the fanciest of the hostels and motels we had visited. A man in a golf cart came to take our bags from the boat to our room, and a perfectly manicured lawn contrasted the white buildings and blue water that surrounded us. Things seemed a little more in line with my expectations when we checked in and I realized we had space in the backpacker’s bunks, small rooms with 4 beds each, and of course, shared bathrooms and showers. Not terribly glamorous but the surroundings more than made up for it, and this was far closer to what I had been expecting. To take advantage of the relative strengths, I decided to take a short evening jog. This brought me to a massive and ancient Rimu tree, a New Zealand species and one of the largest remaining of its kind. After admiring it I continued onward until I found a small trail to a dock. Wanting to make it back in time for dinner, I took a short rest there to take it all in before turning back towards the lodge. Dinner, unsurprisingly, was quite fancy and all took place within a historic lodge, the oldest building on the property, though I’m sure it has been maintained and modified with time. I had a local beer and split a delicious gnocchi dish and raw fish salad (surprisingly similar to the ones I so enjoyed in French Polynesia, presumably an artifact from the Polynesian culture before diverging so many years ago). Thrilled to be in such a beautiful place, I enjoyed some tea and the scenery just a little longer before retiring to bed.