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Cowshed Bay to Davies Bay.
An easy 19km today and finally some sunshine but oh the humidity.
We had a 600m uphill climb from camp and to our surprise sitting at the top was a man and his little dog in a fluro life vest called, Opo - the dolphin slayer. Opo lives on a boat with Peter who was quite the character! Man I love random encounters with people. Pete or 'Black Pete' as he referred himself as asked where we were headed. 'to Bluff!' was our reply. 'I got a mate in Bluff! Peter dejon is his name. Dutch Kiwi bloke. Look him up when you're there, tell him you know Black Pete. He'll let you stay and drive you to Fiordlands'. Pete then gives me his number for when I'm in Bluff. 'i'll let him know you're coming.'
And this is why I always talk to strangers! Pete lives on an old grey boat on the Sounds which he bought after working and touring with the circus for 45 years. 'Been in New Zealand all my life', beautiful country. I bet he has been everywhere here though!
We continue on climbing up to the highest peak on the Queen Charlotte track. The rain over the last week made the dirt track just a path of slippery sticky mud. Not far up we come across 2 older British couple literally stuck in the mud. They weren't dressed for the track but hey at least they were out giving it a go. We tried helping them up the slippery hill but with Laura trying to pull and push them up one by one, they all went down flat on their fronts. Laura even asked one lady 'should i give you a push?' then upon getting the ok, proceeds to push which just caused the ladies legs to slide straight out from under her and down she went. It was so funny I couldn't help but laugh. It was going to be a long slow 15kms ahead for them.
We said good luck and have fun to the oldies and continued on and spent most of the day hiking with Laura and Conny. We got some of the best views of the hike today. I keep looking out at the views in disbelief that I'm really here. Or moreso in disbelief at just how beautiful this country is.
The sun eventually came out turning the Sounds turquoise blue and the bush an iridescent green. After summiting the hills it was to be a gentle downhill walk to Davies Camp, where we set up our tents by the water in just enough time for a storm to come over. It quickly passed and out came the sun again.
We've just had Christmas Eve dinner altogether with our TA hiker fam. A few having brought tinsel, a manger, fairy lights and a candle. It was special, all sitting down to our camp meals. Mi goreng Christmas special with added peanut butter.
The man camped next to us also brought us a bucket of shots. So of course we had one to celebrate Christmas.
I have been walking with a few other TA hikers and one of them is a Dutch lady, Astrid. On the first day, I thought to myself she looks familiar, do I know her? I wondered where from and then I thought perhaps I met her when I walked the Camino but then dismissed that idea because what are the chances?! At dinner tonight, I thought, nah I'll ask Astrid if she has done the Camino. She had! And would you believe it, we started from the small french town, St Jean Pied de Port on exactly the same day - 1 September 2017. I had met her on the Camino! How small is my world?! That we would meet 5 years later on another thru-hike at a camp site in the Queen Charlotte Sounds. We got our phones out to look at our Camino photos and sure enough, she knew the people in mine and I, hers. We couldn't believe it! I'm so glad I randomly asked, it made my day.
Ren x
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