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At the visitors centre six of us piled into a minibus to be ferried the short distance down to the marina to a water taxi which took us out to Shag Point for the start of the 3km road that would take us to the start of the track.
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Landform and seascape
The Marlborough Sounds have formed over millions of years as rising seas and a constantly sinking landmass combined to flood ancient river valleys. This is the only part of New Zealand where the land mass, weakened by several long faults, is sinking. There are few big rivers or valley flats in the sounds; all that remains above the sea is the mountain peaks. If the sinking continues, today's headlands, linked by narrow necks to the mainland, will be islands tomorrow.
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At 10.20 we reached the car park at the start of the Nydia Walkway and set off on a track, turning off left onto a grassy track after 10 minutes to climb up to the first saddle and out into the open where we met wind and a shower.
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Descended into a plantation of pines and eucalyptus and up again through bush to reach the Kaiuma Saddle to be met by wind and sun. Through the trees we could look down to Nydia Bay.
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Down through more bush and a clay path that had become slippery in the rain. At 1.15 we reached Nydia Bay to find that the path across the southern end was completely covered by the sea, apparently we had arrived at the spring high tide with a north-westerly wind blowing to give it an even extra push.
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Fortunately we found a way around by going through a field and over a gate to get back on the path. And then we came to a stream, again this would normally only be ankle deep but we found it to be up to our knees as we waded across to the opposite bank.
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Although we were not far from our destination we weren't sure what else was in store for us and so we stopped for 20 minutes while we dried off our feet and ate lunch.
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As it turned out there were no more track problems and 10 minutes after setting off we came to Driftwood, which offers refreshments and so we diverted off to enjoy a drink and apple cake. Sat on the veranda relaxing and chatting to the owners while the rain started to fall steadily. After about an hour it eased a bit and so we completed our journey to Te Mahoerangi Backpackers, which was just the next section along the bay.
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Immediately we were welcomed with another hot drink and another piece of cake as well as a warm fire so we put our rucksacks down and pulled up a chair.
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And there we stayed until about 9.30, chatting reading and dozing while the wind blew and the rain lashed outside.
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Te Mahoerangi Backpackers
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The backpackers is a rustic design more on the style of a hut with basic amenities but no electricity or hot water. The accommodation was in separate cabins, our contained two single beds down starts, one of which was used by a girl who walked in with us, and our double bed upstairs which was reached by a log ladder in the corner between the two single beds. But all was clean and water tight and so we were able to have a good nights sleep.
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Woke to clear blue skies and no wind, After a while a few clouds appeared along with a gentle breeze. At 10.20 we set off making our way around the bay past a number of water front houses until we reached the DOC camp site from where we turned inland and started to climb.
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Reached the Nydia Saddle at 12.10 and dropped down the other side for a few minutes to get out of the wind before stopping for lunch for 20 minutes at a spot with views over Ngawhakawhiti Bay. Continued on down, the wind of the previous day had brought down many small branches, a few larger ones which we were able to clear and one large tree which we had to climb over.
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Nydia Bay
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At 1.30 be reached Duncan Bay and circled around it passing Pipi Beech until we reached Tennyson Inlet, the end of the track, at 2.10.
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Our transport wasn't due until 3.30 and so we wandered up and down the road looking for a good spot to sit. In the end found that the first place we had come to was the best and so sat around until the minibus showed up early at 3.00.
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An uneventful return to Havelock with most of us dosing occasionally despite of the many bend in the road that swung us about.
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After cleaning up and relaxing at the hostel we finished the day at the Mussel Boys Restaurant with a meal of 'catch of the day' - blue cod. Very good.
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