We set off from Picton in glorious sun for Ship Cove. This is a cove where Captain Cook came in and took on water for his ship. It was an important meeting point between Cook and the Maori people of the area. Cook had a great respect for his hosts eg sailors were not allowed to fraternise with locals for fear of spreading venereal disease. Cook's interests were exploration and mapping. His charts of Marlborough Sound are the basis of the modern ones.

We left Picton for Ship Cove in a powerful motor boat going at about 25 knots, a bit faster than Lady Kay's six. The boat had about 20 people on board going to various destinations on the Sound. Bikes were dropped off at one point, garbage bins at another.

The sound is basically flooded river valleys. High ridges create fingers of land which pierce the sea, creating beautiful limpid bays and coves. In quite a few of these bays there will be a lodge or a few cottages. Some doing a brisk business catering for walkers and kayakers others at the end of long walks hoping to snare a passing walker. Development is generally limited to proximity to the one road, the Queen Charlotte Drive. Our final lodge was the most developed since it had road access. The first two lodges were only accessible by boat or by walking.

By Ship Cove there were perhaps a dozen or so people left on the boat. Being gluttons for punishment we set off the opposite way to everyone else to visit a beautiful twin waterfall. We could see why Cook liked the place. We retraced our steps to the Cove and then set off for Furneaux Lodge. Everyone else having left ahead of us we saw almost no- one all day. The track climbed out of the cove, and gave us fine views through the bush across the cove. Furneaux Lodge is a rather Surrey like country house set on the shore with sweeping lawns dotted with specimen trees, quite a few northern hemisphere. The accommodation was spacious but the best thing was that change of clothes etc was already there - carried by boat in advance. We just carried a daypack with water, rainwear and a picnic. A further bonus was the meal with lashings of NZ wine to help us on our way.

The second day was half the length only 12km to Punga Cove, so we slept in and arrived just after lunch. Punga Cove had the bonus of a hot tub to ease aching limbs and a stunning view from our large balcony. We ate well again and prepared ourselves for the longest day the journey to Portage Resort on Christmas. Eve, 24.5km. We woke in the night to the sound of pounding rain which sadly had not abated by morning. So after a full breakfast we put on our wet weather gear. The views were tremendous but not many photo opportunities. Islands appeared to be floating in the air, held up by clouds of mist and rain. The scenery was even more magical but cold and wet. We pressed on - only stopping at a DOC shelter for lunch where surprise surprise all our fellow walkers were sheltering. Other days picnics were taken on the track. We me a couple there who were a fair bit older than us, but they were camping and carrying all their gear with them. We really felt for them setting up camp on Christmas eve in the cold, pouring rain. Eventually, damp and exhausted we headed down off the ridge walk to Portage.

Portage was the most developed of the lodges. It is on the Westerns side of a narrow peninsula. The boats from picton come to the East side and goods and luggage are carried over the top about 2km, continuiing the Maori tradition of portage at this spot.

Our clothes mostly stood up to the weather with the exception of Michael's map pocket but we were muddy and exhausted. Thankfully the lodge was very civilised and we had planned Christmas day as a rest day. The rain finally stopped that night.

We had a wonderful surprise on Christmas day. When we returned from breakfast there were three bottles of good wine sitting on the table in our room, a sparkling, a sauvignon blanc and a pinot - a Christmas present from Fiona, Kerry, Justin & Poppy. This saw us through the day very nicely. We booked a hot tub before lunch which was a good start to the day.

The Christmas lunch was really excellent, with wonderful starters including oysters as part of a great selection of local sea food. The mains were excellent too, with turkey, lamb, ham etc. After pud and cheese we were well and truly stuffed. We got together with our co-walkers over coffee and spent a pleasant afternoon. We had come across them from time to time on the track and got to know them. There was a young couple who had moved to NZ last year from Scotland. He was a chemical engineer working with an oil company and she was a lawyer. There were also a couple from NZ and two from Australia who were all nearer to our age.

The last day had probably the best views of all - and perfect weather once more. This seems to be the pattern of Kiwi weather three good days to one atrocious day. The path circled through the bush around cove after cove before gently dropping us at our final destination of Anakiwa. We waited with our fellow walkers for the boat that was to take us back to our campervan on the wharf in Picton. We felt a great sense of achievement at completing the 73km.