lavici

to all my fodorite late night companions: first of all i thank all of you from the bottom of my heart,'cause thru your notes, reports, commentaries and suggestions have helped me so far figure out this very important soul searching solo trip april/may down under. after weighing in the facts + options +circumstances i have reshuffled, figured and pared down to this itinerary, but please advise my several indecisions yet, before commiting definitely:
APRIL 5th lax- melbun 3 nghts B&B
10th melb-hobart 1 night
11th-14th freycinet walk with group [OR stay in B&B or self contained cottage and go solo]
- my basic problem with staying around exploring tassie afterwards beyond freycinet? i'm not familiar with driving aussie style, and from what i've read here, don't think that tassie roads are the ideal place to start practising driving around by myself? but i would love maybe staying and exploring around the perimeter from the 15th-16th either hobart? or in something like:
http://www.greenwoodguides.com/displ...ntry=australia
or fly to wellington NZ
17th-20th wellington
20th ferry to picton
22nd-25st- 4 day tramp queen charlotte's track
25st-27th craiglee ldg, bay many coves or similar visit around marlborough wineries etc
28th-30st take the tranzscenic train picton to christchurch stay for 2 nights? and back up the 30th to just explore around the nelson, abel tasman area taking my R&R time from 30st-2nd MAY around the north of the S.I.? which looks to be beautiful.
MAY 2nd early ferry to wellington to fly out to sydney either that day or the 3rd of may.
3rd- 'feel' sydney staying in the chelsea B&B in darlinghurst. walk around,explore add day trip to the blue mountains etc till-7th may
7th-10th day long conferences in darling harvour convention center.
11th leave sydney for USA, stay visit grandchildren and kids for a week, before heading back to caracas, vzla:´(

ps: i love mixing city/nature, when both are interesting, and so very different culturally from my own everyday environment.i'm coming from a looong way from south america, so i want to get the taste of as much as possible, factoring that i'm traveling single, so that's why i'm considering doing those walks in freycinet and QCT with a group as i'm gregarious and a people person, and like i said, i've never drived on the right hand side. i have traveled alone thru europe and also asia for 2 months, so i know there's always a first for everything...i'm in pretty good shape, fit for my age(at 55, at least i think so) i walk 20-25kms a week outdoors, practice daily qi gong,5 tibetan rituals, and pilates...thanks thanks thanks for all your input and opinions, janine

lavici

[sorry... i'm not sure it came across very clearly when i meant to say either go by train to christchurch for 2 days, ( it seems beautiful but i'm not sure i'll appreciate it's "colonialist side"?) or just stay around R&R in the north side of the S.I. exploring whatever comes up around that area]

Melnq8

Hi Janine -

First thing that pops out at me - you've got four days allocated to walk the Queen Charlotte Track AND two days to spend in the Marlborough Sounds.

Craglee Lodge is a one hour walk down to the water from the Queen Charlotte Track (a heck of a steep walk I might add), and would make a good overnight during your four day walk if you're not adverse to walking back up that incredibly steep hill. Bay of Many Coves is a short distance by boat (or a much longer walk) from Craglee Lodge and is also a fantastic place to stay.

My question - where are you planning to spend the four nights during your walk?

PS - It's 7 am Wednesday here in Indonesia.

lavici

hi melnq!! here it's tuesday 9:45 pm imagine... no, i'm sorry i must have expressed my self incorrectly... i'll do the 4 day track, then plan to stay 2-3 nights in marlborough
(maybe blenheim?)AND 2 or 3 more days in nelson for the abel tasman etc...
i meant after those 4 days spent around the mrlb/nelson area, should i? A)grab the transcoastal down to christchurch for 2 nights and up again to wellington for my flight to OZ, or try to leave for sydney from christchurch?
or B)just spend those 4 extra days exploring further the north of the SI instead of taking the trip to christchurch?

during the tramp i would like/love to stay at 'no road inn' or fourneaux, 'craglee ldge'( i was thinking of skirting the steep climb up with a water taxi to bay of coves?) or stay at 'bay of many coves',and 'lochmara ldge'.
what do you think... sorry about my typos mmm i wish i could eat a rambutan, gracias janine

Melnq8

You can bypass the steep climb back up to the QCT from Craglee Lodge by taking a boat to BOMC.

If you stay at Craglee Lodge, they may very well take you over to BOMC themselves. It's a short hop via dingy.

BUT, it's a longer, steep hike from Bay of Many Coves back up to the QCT via a "locals path" that may not be well maintained. It will add about 90 minutes to your walking day.

Suggest you check conditions of the side paths before you set out.

Neither Craglee Lodge or BOMC is directly on the Queen Charlotte track.

lavici

ok... i will check the state of the side tracks,and i'll check the QCT site you sent me. what i'm having trouble deciding is if i'm doing the tramp on my own, could i arrange for transport of my luggage (a duffle bag) by boat from lodge to lodge? lochmara looks besutiful and the price is perfect $130. no road, bomc and craglee of course are more expensive...but after a whole day of walking, at my wonderful age, i'm past sleeping on a cot. my daughters all think i'm absolutely crazy by going at it alone...but(sigh)

Melnq8

Yes, you can arrange luggage transport via the Cougar Line (and others)

http://www.cougarline.co.nz/Default.asp?page=41

lavici

thanks again melnq...i already checked it out and it's perfect!
i found a place called "el retiro"14 kms from nelson and 100kms from blenheim, just beautiful, they even have llamas. it includes breakfast, and dinner is optional since one of the hosts is a chef. i would stay in a converted barn, turned into a self catering apartment so i can fix myself x, they tell me i can go to blenheim/nelson by bus and that either of them would drop me off in nelson/abel tasman whenever they went into town. originally i had thought it would be good for the 4 days i wanted to stay around nelson. but i would be touring the wineries maybe for one day or two, so probably it would be a good idea to stay the whole week there as a base of operations, and just go with the flow? by bus...
TAS: are familiar with tannara? further down south from freycinet?
;> jjj

lavici

hi melnq... i'm checking the blue moon, school house and the maple grove cottages which look super nice and wrote asking for quotes.
this is the one for "el retiro":
http://www.greenwoodguides.com/displ...ry=new-zealand, it looks to be close to that same area.
my idea of staying in mostly one place that's almost central to the abel tasman, and nelson area is because not having a car,i can come and go without having to pack and unpack and cart around my stuff on buses, more than necessary.

Melnq8

Sounds like a good plan to me lavici - Retiro Park looks nice. Not familiar with Tannara.

lavici

there's also a place on takaka on the beach very nice self conatering B+B... i'm waiting for all the availability replies, thanks.
in one of my other threads i was wondering out loud mel, after reading many itineraries from other fodorites, that maybe i'm staying too concentrated on one particualr area in the north of the S.I.(practically 15 days) including wellie. it's just that i don't feel --right now at least-- like jumping around all over the country in a bus or train...jjj

Melnq8

Well, you can always wing it and decide as you go. You probably don't need to book accommodation in April anyway. I suggested earlier that you book accommodation along the QCT, primarily because options are limited and I assume you'll have a pretty good idea of how much you want to walk in a day. You could probably wing that too though if you're so inclined.

With 15 days, you can really see quite a bit - just depends on what you want to do.

It's all good.

lavici

ok... will do. jj