We were anxious to walk a bit more on the Queen Charlotte Track where it dips down near sea level by the Furneaux Lodge. The vegetation along the track changes with it’s altitude: dense and jungle-like near sea level, drier and more open along the high ridges. We’d done some walking along the ridge and now looked forward to walking closer to shore level.
As expected, this area of the track was thick with ferns and trees draped with plants like kiekie (looking a bit like spider plants growing along the trunks and branches of trees) and viney supplejacks. We detoured off the track to visit the Rimu Viewing Platform. It was a short hike up a trail thick with tree ferns to the viewing platform. Since the forest has grown up around the platform, the view wasn’t very impressive. What was impressive was a giant tree right next to the platform; it was massive. It was worth it to come up here just to see this tree!
After our detour, we walked another mile or so, seeing some pretty little bays with boat houses near an area with vacation homes. It would be neat to stay another day and head the opposite direction on the track, but we planned to head on tomorrow.
Below, a gallery of photos from our hike. (Click to enlarge and scroll.) -Cyndi
