Wilderness Guides Picton hiking the Queen Charlotte Track
New Zealand

Wilderness Guides can show you the Queen Charlotte Track and Marlborough Sounds like no-one else!

We live, work and play in this fantastic place - your guides are local people, have grown up here and call this area home. The Queen Charlotte Track and the Marlborough Sounds is fast becoming the place of choice for visitors looking for wilderness and adventure - yet with all the comforts of home!
Join us for guided sea kayaking hiking on the Queen Charlotte Track - or a combination with our original adventure combo tours on the Queen Charlotte Track New Zealand.

Wilderness Guides can introduce you to the Queen Charlotte Track Marlborough Sounds New Zealand - by foot and by sea - as a leading provider of adventure activities from our centrally located base in the charming seaside port of Picton. Read on for more . . . this is where your adventure begins!

Walking

The Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds has rapidly become known as the finest and most diverse coastal track in New Zealand. Queen Charlotte Walking Track trips are also varied, to suit your particular level and taste. Queen Charlotte Track Guided walks are for those who want to combine their walking experience with the knowledge and security of a professional guide, great gourmet food and local wine, and top-notch track accommodation choices include the Four Day Standard Guided Walk or for those that can spare an extra day to enjoy the Marlborough Sounds the Five Day Standard Guided Walk, for clients wanting to experience the smaller sea side inns and lodges along the track the Four Day Boutique Lodges Guided Walk will better suit you, want to try some sea kayaking stunning coastal scenery from the water along with walking see the Four Day Standard Walk & Kayak and for those that have just a day to spare the One Day Guided Walk & Wildlife Tour offers a great introduction to the Marlborough Sounds

Unguided Queen Charlotte walking track packages are for more independent hikers, who wish to walk the track independently but with certain elements like accommodation, water transport and daily lunches pre-arranged, options include the Standard Four Day Independent self-guided Walking Package or with an extra day to relax and enjoy stunning surroundings the Standard Five Day Independent self-guided Walking Package and for clients wanting to experience the smaller sea side inns and lodges along the track the Boutique Lodges Five Day Independent self-guided Walking Package

Guided Walks
Independent Walks
History

Early Maori spoke of two different legends of the formation of the Marlborough Sounds and New Zealand.

One tells how Kupe, the Maori warrior god, fought with a giant octopus in the Pacific Ocean. As the battle raged, the octopus reached out with its tentacles and grasped at nearby land, gouging out all the intricate bays and coves of the Marlborough Sounds. Kupe finally overcame and slew the octopus and cut out its eyes and threw them into the sea nearby - today these are the Brothers Islands near the entrance to Cook Strait.

The other speaks of Maori gods who came down from the heavens in a great canoe and then found themselves unable to return. The canoe capsized and its keel rose to form the Southern Alps while its prow shattered and sank, its ridges becoming the network of waterways known today as the Marlborough Sounds.

Geologists tell us the Marlborough Sounds are a network of sunken river valleys, where the land has slowly sunk and the water level has risen, flooding a vast area over millions of years. This intricate land mass is not only spectacular but unique in New Zealand as it is the only large land area that is still sinking into the sea. Three main bodies of water make up the Sounds - Queen Charlotte, Kenepuru and Pelorus - and a number of islands are dotted throughout its expanse.

Maori have inhabited New Zealand for more than 1000 years and it is believed that they have had a presence in this area since that time. Mobility was crucial during this early existence as settlement followed food source. There were many small settlements throughout the Marlborough Sounds and a number of different iwi (tribes) have affiliations to this place.

The first known European to visit Queen Charlotte Sounds was the famous English explorer, Captain James Cook, on the HMS Endeavour. He sailed into Ship Cove, today the start of the Queen Charlotte Track, on January 17, 1770 and made this small cove his South Pacific base for the next seven years. He was to return many times. It was here the first social interaction between South Island Maori and the European took place.

Today visitors to the Marlborough Sounds generally arrive by inter-island ferry from New Zealand's North Island into the charming seaside port of Picton, the gateway to Queen Charlotte Sound. The larger centre of Blenheim is also just 20 minutes drive away with a domestic airport and the coastal train from Christchurch also provides links by rail to and from Picton.

The Marlborough Sounds - it is the ultimate place to hike, mountain bike and sea kayak with Wilderness Guides as you follow in the footsteps of those gone before.