Local Walks Queen Charlotte Track

Take a short walk from the hotel to Torea Saddle, then onto the Queen Charlotte Track to the Black Rock Lookout, here you will see across to both Sounds. Along the walk is a variety of vegetation with ferns, manuka stands and beech trees. [2 hour walk]

A good half day’s walk starts from The Portage with a 15 minute boat trip to Te Mahia Bay in Kenepuru Sound. Walk up from the wharf to Kenepuru Road, 300metres along the road is the entrance to Mistletoe Bay on Queen Charlotte Sound and the Queen Charlotte Track.

At the Mistletoe Bay junction its a scenic walk back to The Portage along the ridge line. A side walk leads to a lookout just after joining at the Mistletoe Bay saddle. [3 – 4 hours]

A longer day includes a walk down to Mistletoe Bay and returning via the James Vogel Nature Track up through a fern and beech forest. [45 minutes return]

The Portage reception staff will book the boat for your and also provide a packed lunch on request.

Start from the hotel and wander along the road – first to Cowshed Bay, the site of the original old dairy and the beach where local farmer used to disembark their stock off the punts on their way to market in Picton. It’s a lovely beach, reached through the DOC campground and easy to imagine a Maori waka dragged through the scrub to go fishing. We’ve tried to find a totora tree [used to make canoes] in the bush with no success – let us know if you do.

Once you have skipped a stone or three on the beach, head back past the hotel, along the road and round the point. There is a beautiful house on the point with a marvellous view and just past it is a track leading down to The Cut [opposite the entrance to Portage Heights Estate]. The Cut was made around 1900 to make it easier for local people to reach Picton as the wind around Pine Tree Point is sometime fierce. It sliced off Portage Island which is now a conservation area for plants and birds. Imagine the women of the Sounds dragging a boat through the Cut on their way to shop in Picton.

Our chef tells us down by The Cut on the far side is a good fishing spot. We just like it because you can see a different view across the Sound to the farming land at Waitaria Bay.