April 10, 2016
While the Portage Resort was a disappointment, it was still well worth coming to lovely Portage Bay. We had one more thing to do: a hike over the hill to Queen Charlotte Sound’s Torea Bay.
Torea was the bay we’d opted to pass on in the Queen Charlotte Sound, mostly because we knew we could eventually visit it from Portage Bay. There’s a small road that leads from the Portage Resort to Torea Bay. It goes over a low saddle in the hills so it’s not very steep, and the walk only takes about half an hour each way. Thus, people staying in Picton can be dropped off by a water taxi in Torea Bay and walk to the Portage Resort. The Queen Charlotte Track also connects to this road.
(Below, an interactive map shows the road from Portage Bay in Kenepuru Sound to Torea Bay in Queen Charlotte Sound. Click on the markers to see what’s what.)
We headed up the road to the saddle. There’s a war memorial there, plus some nice views of Portage Bay (and Legacy). We then headed down to Torea Bay, walking out on its small pier. The bay was pretty, very green, but with a clear view down to Queen Charlotte Sound it lacked the cozy, enclosed feeling of other bays. Plus the pier gave the feeling that there’s a lot of water taxi traffic. Looking around now we felt we’d made a good decision passing on this bay.
After walking around, we headed back up the saddle. Pausing again by the monument, I was excited to hear the song of a bellbird coming from the bush right next to us. These are rare birds in New Zealand, and it’s always thrilling to get an close-up view of one. After taking a small detour down the Queen Charlotte Track to make sure we weren’t missing any incredible views (we weren’t), we headed back down to the hotel.
Back on our boat, we checked the weather. We knew winds were due to arrive the following afternoon and had thought we’d sit them out in the Kenepuru Sound. Now, it seemed they were going to be stronger than initially forecast. We made the decision to head to the little town of Havelock at the end of Mahau Sound the following morning. We could sit out the winds in comfort, plus rent a car to drive to the Nelson Marina to pick up a couple of packages we’d had delivered there. –Cyndi
Below, a gallery of photos from our walk to Torea Bay. Click to enlarge and scroll.
