Thursday March 23, 2023 - Kaiteriter to Ta Mahia Bay Resort

Deb here. We had breakfast and said our goodbyes to our new friends from Houston and Quebec. Staying at this Air BnB in Kaiteriteri was a great move, convenient to water shuttle access, the beach, and a chance for some fun conversations. We headed out by 9 am, still not sure how we were supposed to reach our destination for the next 2 nights, Te Mahia Bay Resort.

When we had lunch with Sally and Eric a few days ago, Sally had recommended a stay at a lodge on the Marlborough Sounds. As she said, sometimes you just "need a day staring at the water", and after being on the go so much for the month we were both ready for some down time. She gave us the names of 3 different lodges, all accessible by water shuttle/taxi only, and I was able to find a spot at Te Mahia Bay Resort. Shortly after I booked the lodge, an email came through letting us know that we'd have to schedule water transport to get there. This started a chain of emails and calls with no results, so we took off not sure how we'd get to Te Mahia.

Anyway, after a stressful morning of trying to find a way to reach the lodge (I'll spare you the details!), we landed a spot on a 2:30 pm shuttle boat on Cougar Line out of Picton. It turned out to only be 4 of us on the boat, along with a bunch of luggage, and we had a delightful time on our 45 minute trip out through the sounds. We learned the Marlborough Sounds have the most coastline of anywhere in New Zealand, with over 3,000 km of coastline. It's hard to describe this area, with fingers of land jutting out into the water. Apparently there used to be a road to Te Mahia Bay Resort from Picton, but after some weather events a few years ago the road was knocked out and it's all boat access only now. And as a side note about the Marlborough region, this is where all of those delicious Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc wines come from, my personal favorite. On the way to Picton we passed vineyards as far as the eye could see.

We first dropped off the other couple on the boat, and then stopped at Lochmara Lodge to unload a heap of luggage and backpacks. The Queen Charlotte Track, a 60 km walking trail, travels throughout this area. One of the pluses about the trail is that one can stay in lodges along the way and have your bag moved for you. Pretty sweet.

After dropping off the other passengers and the stop for the luggage, we were the next drop off. The skipper and his assistant were a regular comedy duo. Both are probably in their late-50's and appeared to be best friends. Their comedy routine was just what we needed after our rough morning! They dropped us off, we left our bag in a shed nearby, and then we walked the 50 minute road to the lodge. 

We're in a beautiful location, overlooking the water. This is a self-contained unit, so we'd brought some groceries with us in our backpacks. After checking in, we spent the rest of the day checking out the property, cooking a pasta dinner, reading, and crashing early. So peaceful here, with complete darkness at night and no noise... ahhhh.