Today was a shorter walk day from Furneaux Lodge to Punga Cove (about 4 hours) and it was overcast and raining lightly when we woke up so we decided to wait to see if it would stop before we started our walk.

We had our breakfast and went off to the dining room to collect our pre-arranged lunch which consisted of a sandwich, fruit, fruit juice, brownie and a bar.

Lots of sugary things to eat for someone on a low sugar diet. But it was that or nothing.

The rain was reduced to a fine drizzle by 9:30am so we left and hoped it would stay relatively dry for the duration of the walk.

The terrain was supposed to be relatively flat almost all the say but judging from yesterday’s hike, the track could be slippery when wet and it could make walking a bit of a challenge.

Overcast morning

Restaurant/bar

Fortunately, the track was not that rocky and the elevation was low for the entire walk but with walking at such a low elevation, unless there is some clearing in the bushes, it was mostly forest.

Yesterday we saw some wekas (flightless birds in New Zealand) but nothing today.

We were cautioned yesterday not to leave things like food, sunglasses or any small items lying around when stopping for lunch because they are likely to stealthily approach, nab your things and make themselves like arrows and head straight into the bushes with your sunglasses, never to be seen again.

We were relatively incident free; nothing stolen or nabbed.

Trail path

We crossed over a suspension bridge which was not too high and with ample railings since Robin doesn’t like heights.

The trail passes through privately owned property which the owners have graciously allowed people to use so some of the paths were very flat, prairie type grasslands.

I think we saw a couple of houses along the way and a few gates that we had to open and close (looked like they were more for property demarcation) but really not much else.

Some of those areas were hot because they were wide open and not sheltered from the sun.

Then we came up to this little cutie in the grass – a fantail bird – named so because it looks like a tiny peacock when it spreads its tail like a fan.

It was a bit of effort to capture it with the tail fanned out in the tall grass.

Fantail bird

Most of the walk was looking for different kinds of trees including white birch which is plentiful and this purple bush which is really wild blueberries.

The berries are a brilliant purple. Then there were the giant tree ferns – easily 40 feet tall.

Tree fern

We could see Punga Cove Resort but it took about 45 minutes more of walking from the time we saw it.

Because it was overcast for most of the day, the clouds were so low that they were sitting on top of the mountain ridge for the entire day – making for a very relaxing and slightly magical walk.

Our accommodation was quite lovely. We had a two-bedroom chalet all to ourselves, with a balcony taking the entire front of the chalet, overlooking the Queen Charlotte Sound. The kitchen didn’t have a stove or cooktop but we had no food to cook anyway.

Kitchen

Living room

View from bedroom

Large bedroom

Balcony view

Terrace seating

Terrace

Snack bar/pub

The resort had a hot (warm) tub and pool and we took advantage of both; after two full days of walking, my feet and shoulders felt good.

Hot tubbing and swimming

Map of resort chalets

Wild blueberries

Hammocks for a siesta

I walked up to the restaurant at the very top of the hill which was probably another 100 or more feet in elevation but the scenery was worth it.

The resort is well kept and some of the flora is very unusual.

View from the restaurant

Walking, hot tubbing and cool weather was a recipe for an early evening.

Tomorrow we were supposed to have the longest and most challenging day ahead of us – 23 km (8+ hours of walking mostly at a high elevation with little shade)

We knew there was an option of water taxi for those who didn’t want to walk every day but we as a group had not discussed anything other than walking.

After yesterday’s walk, I was getting the distinct feeling that my two walking partners were not keen to do the long walk.

During today’s walk when I had some time to think, I considered the options for walking or not, who would be walking and who would actually want to walk. I wanted to walk the distance but I knew that Sabena and Robin were not keen so if I went ahead, they’d either feel obliged to come with me or Robin would come with me if Sabena decided to take the water taxi.

He’d do that mostly because he’d be worried about me walking alone on the track (especially given that we had not met many walkers for the first two days).

I finally came up with a revised plan so I could walk and they could water taxi.

The revised plan that I proposed and we all agreed to was that the three of us would take the water taxi from Punga Cove to Portage Resort and then walk part of the track for about one and a half hours toward Punga Cove and back track to Portage Resort.

That would satisfy everyone. We could spend 3 hours on the track instead of 8 and I would get to experience part of the Day 3 track.

We were all comfortable with that decision so we arranged for the water taxi to pick us up at 9:00 tomorrow morning when they made their stop at the resort.

Time to do some reading and go to bed under a nice warm blanket (as the night had cooled off considerably).