The Queen Charlotte Track

The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels which drowned a series of deep valleys after the last ice age around 10,000 years ago.

There are several Mäori legends about how the coastline was formed. Kupe, a great Mäori warrior, caught a giant octopus in Cook Strait and the ensuing battle formed the waterways and headlands of the Sounds. Another legend says the Marlborough Sounds was the ornately carved prow of a waka (ocean-going canoe).

The sheltered waterways and plentiful food attracted several Mäori migrations prior to the 1840s. Mäori were known to haul their waka over the saddles between the Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds to avoid long sea journeys.

On 31st January 1770, Captain James Cook proclaimed British sovereignty at Motuara Island, near Ship Cove. His ships and crews spent more than 100 days in the area in the 1770s and Cook wrote: "The number of Inhabitants hardly exceeds 3 or 400 people, they leive (sic) dispers'd along the Shores in search of their daily (sic) bread, which is fish and firn (sic) roots for they cultivate no part of the lands". (Journals of Captain Cook, 6 February 1770).

Prior to human habitation, most of the Marlborough Sounds was covered in forest dominated by beech trees (Nothofagus), with lush broadleaf forest in the moister gullies and on coastal flats. Today, the area's vegetation is a mix of original forest remnants, pasture, exotic plantations and regenerating forest. We hope you will choose to explore this natural playground with us.