The convoluted maze of Marlborough Sounds waterways are a South Island spectacle. Picton is the gateway to the island and a prime spot for walking, sailing, kayaking and exploring Sounds’ hideaways. A cork’s pop south of Picton is agrarian Blenheim, and the world-famous Marlborough Wine Region.
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Splashed across the northern end of the South Island, the Marlborough and Nelson regions are many travellers’ first southern contacts after crossing Cook Strait from Wellington. The South Island’s population only recently topped one million, but less people doesn’t mean less action: there’s just as much to do here, and more room to do it!
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Further along the coast from Kaiteriteri and 18km north of Motueka, Marahau is the main gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park. From here you can book water taxis, hire kayaks, swim with seals or wander off on foot into the park. Marahau itself doesn’t really feel like a town – more like a loose affiliation of houses and businesses.
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Known simply as ‘Kaiteri’ to locals, this tiny hamlet 13km from Motueka on a sealed road (continuing to Marahau), is the most popular resort town in the area. On a sunny summer’s day, Kaiteri’s gorgeous, golden, safe-swimming beach feels more like Noumea than NZ, with more towels than sand. The tourist-driven economy has boomed over the last decade. Kaiteri, it seems, was the place to invest in real estate, which these days will set you back millions.
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Take SH1 132km southeast from Blenheim (or 183km north from Christchurch) and you’ll wind around the coast to Kaikoura, a picture-perfect peninsula town backed by the snowcapped 2610m peaks of the Seaward Kaikoura Range. There are few places in the world with such awesome mountains so close to the sea, and such a proliferation of wildlife so close at hand: whales, dolphins, seals, penguins, shearwaters, petrels and albatross.
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Kahurangi, meaning ‘Treasured Possession’, is the second largest of NZ’s national parks and undoubtedly one of the greatest. Its 450, 000 hectares are a hotbed of ecological wonderment: more than 100 bird species, 50% of all NZ’s plant species, 80% of its alpine plant species, a karst landscape and the largest known cave system in the southern hemisphere (explored by local caving groups, but only for the experienced).
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The highlight of tiny Havelock is its industrious harbour, which helps the town maintain the title of ‘Greenshell Mussel Capital of the World’. Havelock sits at the confluence of the Pelorus and Kaiuma Rivers, 36km west of Picton, and makes a practical base from which to explore the more remote parts of Pelorus and Kenepuru Sounds. Online resources include www.have locknz.com and www.pelor us.co.nz.
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Far-flung Collingwood is the last town in this part of the country, and has a real end-of-the-line, frontier vibe. It’s busy in summer, though for most people it’s simply a launch pad for the Heaphy Track or trips to Farewell Spit.
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Blenheim (pronounced ‘Blenum’) is a dead-flat, agricultural town 29km south of Picton on the Wairau Plain, between the Wither Hills and the Richmond Ranges. Aside from banks, supermarkets and couple of good eateries, Blenheim doesn’t offer much to enthral or distract, but you must come here to check out the sensational Marlborough Wine Region just over Blenheim’s back fence.
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The accessible, coastal Abel Tasman National Park is NZ’s most visited national park. The park blankets the northern end of a range of marble and limestone hills extending from Kahurangi National Park; its interior is honeycombed with caves and potholes. There are various tracks in the park, including an inland route, although the Coast Track is what everyone is here for.
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