Day 107 | Portage
28 January 2023 | 19°C | 12km
The day starts like the previous one ended: no rain, cloudy skies but with quite a bit of wind. The trail is sheltered by the trees though, so the wind is not a big issue.
We stop at a viewpoint for a snack and observe one of the big ferries from Wellington entring the sind into Picton. One of the these we will take in 3 days to go over to the North Island again. This ferry looks strangely slow when it starts turning towards Picton, is what we think observing it. (We would learn the next day that one of the ferries had a technical problem and was stuck for several hours in the middle of Cook Straight 😱)
Portage, a small town or resort, is our envisaged destination today and around midday there is the option to either walk the trail along a ridge and then take a side trail down or take the road. We opt for the latter primarily as walking a ridge during a windy day is not that enjoyable and the views seem to be blocked by trees anyway.
After being so long in the mountains, the road walk is quite enjoyable, a lot of nice houses are tucked away in the trees of the bay and boots are moored all along the bay. Quite a picturesque scenery.
At 4.30pm we stop at the .. for a beer. It’s about the only accommodation here but when asking at the reception for the price of a room, we feel it’s a bit too much. We have our beer in he lounge with views over the bay when a lady (apparently the manager) approaches us offering a cheaper room that we could look at. After seeing it we don’t think twice and decide to stay. The trail provides?
After dinner we google up the case of two young people that disappeared 25 years ago during a New Year’s party at the Furneaux Lodge … our destination for tomorrow. 😲
