I had always wanted to visit Queen Charlotte Sounds and with an invitation from Wilderness Guides that ‘date’ was finally going to happen. This adventure would take 3days; a hike, a bike and kayak and as this title suggests it was the beginning of a real location romance.
Arriving in Picton, the heart of the Marlborough Sounds the air was unseasonably cool, but you were distracted from the lack of summer warmth by the absolute beauty of Sounds. We caught up at Wilderness Guides HQ and were fully and expertly briefed about our upcoming trip.
You know when someone looks at you and you can see doubt in their eyes? Martyn, our Wilderness Guide, looks at us with ‘professional’ concern as he explains day two’s 24km mountain bike ride.
“Just how much mountain biking experience do you have?” he asks dubiously.
We are 3 women in our 50s with varying levels of competence and Martyn obviously has doubts about our biking abitilies. He explains that this is a difficult ride, rated a grade 4-5, and we will likely be pushing our bikes up and down hills for a fair amount of the track. He offers us the easier option of riding along a road through Kenepuru Sounds, but we fail to take the hint and reply, It's OK, we'll be right, we'll stick to the track! How naive we were...
THE HIKE
As day one dawns, another unseasonably cold one, it’s an early start as we meet the guides for a final briefing at 7.30 am. With a pack lunch provided we board Beachcomber Cruises for our ride out to the start of the track at Ship Cove.
45 minutes into the journey a pod of dolphins appear alongside the boat, playing in the waves and wake of our vessel. They are so close we can almost touch them.
Denne historien er fra February - March 2020-utgaven av Adventure Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra February - March 2020-utgaven av Adventure Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Papua New Guinea
Four reasons to add Papua New Guinea to your bucket list
The benefits of being a Multi-Trick Pony
"A broad skill base and how you can draw from one platform to the next – women often pigeon hole themselves"
The RELUCTANT adventurer
An eighteen-year-old princess, who paints his (yes, his) nails and dyes his hair bleach blonde, embarking on an adventure trip with his family, sounds like a plot for a bad 80s movie.
The Meaning of Tramping
What does tramping mean to you?
Keala Kennelly owns Red Bull Magnitude
The North Shore season of 1957 is recognized in the surfing world as the start of an era. When Greg Noll, a young Mickey Munoz and company went out and rode Waimea for the first time, it was a glimpse of what could be in the world of big-wave surfing.
North West Circuit Stewart Island
I found myself in limbo during the winter of 2020, in between jobs in a strained covid economy. And so, I did what any outdoors person would do with a large amount of free time on their hands. It was time to pack up my belongings and hit the road. It was time to leave behind home comforts and go adventure-seeking.
Emilie's adventure to Angelus Hut
“I want to be the leader!” Miss Six announced, pushing past me in her determination to be in front. Momentarily off-balance with my heavy pack, I narrowly avoided twisting an ankle on the sharp rocks and silently swore while cracking a bright smile.
Nancy Jiang Breaking stereotypes
I recently watched a youtube movie entitled, “Her Way” (check it out on the Adventure Website) which introduced a woman who had an overwhelming passion for running. The preface at the bottom of the clip, read as follows:
Adversity at Altitude
The wind and snow is whipping at my face. I’ve readjusted the stiff frozen fleece buff around my neck and mouth, desperately trying to protect myself from the -20 degree bitter wind. Adrenaline is still pumping through my body but I know I’ll start to get cold soon.
Last Great Mountaineering Challenge
Ground-breaking mountaineer Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja MBE has attained an incredible new world record by submitting K2 as part of a collaborative team in the depths of winter. Until now, it was a record that was believed to be impossible to accomplish and was famously known as the ‘last great mountaineering challenge’.
