Adventure Magazine: Issue #218

We are all so swift to jump on a plane and fly to another country boasting amazing views and stunning activities; but there are few destinations that can rival what we have right here on our doorstep. I had always wanted to visit Queen Charlotte Sounds and with an invitation from Wilderness Guides that ‘date’ was finally going to happen. This adventure would take 3days; a hike, a bike and kayak and as this title suggests it was the beginning of a real location romance.

Arriving in Picton, the heart of the Marlborough Sounds the air was unseasonably cool, but you were distracted from the lack of summer warmth by the absolute beauty of Sounds. We caught up at Wilderness Guides HQ and were fully and expertly briefed about our upcoming trip.

You know when someone looks at you and you can see doubt in their eyes? Martyn, our Wilderness Guide, looks at us with ‘professional’ concern as he explains day two’s 24km mountain bike ride.

“Just how much mountain biking experience do you have?” he asks dubiously.

We are 3 women in our 50s with varying levels of competence and Martyn obviously has doubts about our biking abitilies. He explains that this is a difficult ride, rated a grade 4-5, and we will likely be pushing our bikes up and down hills for a fair amount of the track. He offers us the easier option of riding along a road through Kenepuru Sounds, but we fail to take the hint and reply, "It's OK, we'll be right, we'll stick to the track!" How naive we were...