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Theme Week New Zealand – The Marlborough Sounds

Sunday, 12 April 2015 - 04:08 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: New Zealand / Neuseeland
Category/Kategorie: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels at the north of the South Island of New Zealand. According to Māori mythology, the sounds are the prows of the sunken waka (canoe) of Aoraki. The Marlborough Sounds are connected to the Cook Strait at the north-east extreme. At this point, the North Island is at its closest to the South Island, and the inter-island road, rail, and passenger ferry service between Picton and Wellington travels through the sounds.

Marine farming, especially of salmon and mussels, is increasingly common, having started in the 1960.

Covering some 4,000 km² of sounds, islands, and peninsulas, the Marlborough Sounds lie at the South Island’s north-easternmost point, between Tasman Bay in the west and Cloudy Bay in the south-east. The almost fractal coastline has 1/5 of the length of New Zealand’s coasts.

The steep, wooded hills and small quiet bays of the sounds are sparsely populated, as access is difficult. Many of the small settlements and isolated houses are only accessible by boat. The main large port is Picton on the mainland, at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound. It is at the northern terminus of the South Island’s main railway and State Highway networks. The main small boat port is Waikawa which is one of New Zealand’s largest and provides a base for leisure sailors and vacationers.

The main sounds, other than Queen Charlotte Sound, are Pelorus Sound and Kenepuru Sound. Tory Channel is a major arm of Queen Charlotte Sound, and between them they isolate the hills of Arapawa Island from the mainland. Other islands in the sounds include D’Urville Island.

The Sounds are home to the entire breeding population of the rare and vulnerable Rough-faced Shag (also known as the New Zealand King Cormorant) which nests on a small number of rocky islets there. The DOC manages a total of over 50 reserves in the area.

Tourists like water sports, such as sailing, scuba diving or kayaking, the most, while the hikers prefer the Queen Charlotte Track.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on Wikitravel Marlborough Sounds and Wikipedia Marlborough Sounds. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.

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