Queen Charlotte Track Cont'd

Day 3, Punga Cove to Portage Bay. Kilometres walked: 25

The alarm clock went at six and we swung into action. The longest day of the hike! Bleary-eyed children were soon roused with bits of carrot cake and banana bread, and forced to down big bowls of chewy oatmeal and more water than they really wanted. Today was going to be reeally long, and we wondered how it would go. 

The first leg was pretty smooth. We climbed up to Kenepuru Saddle, treated ourselves to some brownie as a 7:30am second breakfast, then kept ascending the ridge. On we went, telling stories and playing silly quiz games. The morning was thankfully overcast, so we stayed cool for a little while. 

Then the other trail hikers started flying by us, much earlier than we'd expected. We consulted the map and realised we were going a fair bit slower than usual. The signs don't always list accurate distances, but Tamar and Aurora extrapolated that our current pace would get us there by...11 pm?! Hearts sank. Tova got chastised and on we slogged. 

Turns out the sign was slightly wrong, and their math was also a bit specious. Anyway, by noon we had made a sizeable dent in the trail and the sun came out. The ridge views were gorgeous, with lush green coastline curving like a ribbon along the sound. From two o'clock onwards we waited for the meltdowns to start, but they never came. Tamar gave Tova a two-kilometre piggyback around four, and at half past five we victoriously tramped into Portage Bay and instantly indulged in overpriced fancy ice creams all round. 

The girls were so great it's humbling. They walked for 630 minutes with at most a half hour break in total, and hardly a word of complaint. Sophia's got bandaids on both feet but is the most cheerful of us all. Aurora rated the day's difficulty a 6/10 and was hyper at the end of it. Tova, of course, gave it a 1/10 and claimed she could do it sixty times because, well, she's Tova. Zadie was mighty patient being smooshed up against Tamar's back all day, only crying when I carried her in the afternoon. I was expecting to have to push the girls to the end but they had energy to spare. Kids have a lot of stamina!

Although there are still two days left of the walk, a different voyage came to an end today. I read chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of The Last Battle out loud as we walked, with only two twisted ankles to show for it. So we have finally (finally!) finished the Chronicles of Narnia, which Sophia has rated her favourite story of the year. Will she end up at Comiccon or a convent in ten years? Only time will tell. Tamar read a few kids' stories to Tova on the kindle, and entertained her with stories, songs and silliness. 

Reaching our room at six, I expected a crash. Instead, we had a light dinner of pasta, chips and salad while the girls played Battleship (Sophia cunningly moved her boats several times throughout the game, earning a draw). Then we all had a dip in the pool (Tova learned to cannonball and took her first proper breath swimming unassisted, Aurora invented a new swimming stroke using one's bottom), and then it was cocoa with marshmallows plus growing spongy animals in glasses of water (the day's prize). 

I found today really inspiring. If the girls can do this, what else can we do? I asked them what a really big adventure would look like. Sophia said "travel the world and explore it!" So then Aurora said "discover a new planet in space!" Then Tova says, "go into space and discover ALL the planets!! Sixty times!!" If she ends up Prime Minister, it'll probably be in order to one-up her big sisters. Heavens knows what Zadie will come up with. 

Lunch break fun

Oh New Zealand, your views just win