December 31, 2025
Ship Cove to Endeavour Cove
TA km marker 1740.7 to 1758.0
Hiked today: 17.3 km

As predicted, it was still raining when we woke soon after 7. After packing up, we headed out to find  an indoor sit down cafe for brekkie, and then proceeded to the wharf to check in for our ferry ride to Ship’s Cove and the start of our hike.

While waiting, we met Curtis – another TA hiker who has completed the traverse of the North Island and is starting his South Island hike. He is from Illinois and has hiked many of the trails that we have hiked so it was fun to chat and we expect to see more of him as we continue.

John, the captain of our ferry boat, apologised for being unable to point out the sights due to the cloud and misty rain obscuring our view. Nevertheless,  the wind had abated and the rain was only light as we began our hike.

After an hour or so the rain had stopped altogether, and, although the sun remained hidden, we began to see glimpses of the beautiful turquoise water as we wound around the coast, in and out of the many coves. One consequence of yesterday’s downpour was a slippery muddy path and we were glad of our rain pants to keep the mud off our hiking clothes.

This section of trail is one of New Zealand’s Great Walks and is very popular at this time of year. We were not surprised to find we were walking with about a dozen others from our ferry, and we passed a large group of scouts from Australia and New Zealand who are also doing this section.

In the early afternoon, we saw a sign advertising a cafe which was just a short detour off the trail. We gave in to temptation and enjoyed coffee/ice cream and a short break.

It was 2 o’clock before we stopped to eat our sandwiches so we weren’t really hungry on arriving at our campsite. We set up the tent promptly as we felt a few drops of rain but it has held off long enough for us to cook and eat an early dinner.