Photo: Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 3.0 
Photo: Weldon Kennedy from London, UK, CC BY 2.0
Queen Charlotte Track
A 73.5 km walking and biking track along the ridges and bays of Queen Charlotte Sound, from Ship Cove to Anakiwa in the Marlborough Sounds.
At a glance
- Starts in
- Meretoto / Ship Cove
- Ends in
- Anakiwa
- Length
- 74 km
- On foot
- 3–5 days
- Countries
New Zealand
About the trail
The Marlborough Sounds are drowned river valleys at the top of the South Island, and the Queen Charlotte Track follows the long arm of Queen Charlotte Sound from its outer end to Anakiwa. Māori used these waters for centuries, hauling canoes over saddles such as Portage, and Captain James Cook made Meretoto, which he called Ship Cove, his New Zealand base, spending 170 days there between 1770 and 1777.
From Ship Cove, reached only by boat, the track climbs through coastal forest of nīkau palms and tree ferns to ridges of beech forest, with views over both the inner and outer sound, and drops to bays with campsites, lodges and homestays. It also forms part of Te Araroa, New Zealand's long trail.
The Department of Conservation gives 73.5 km and three to five days for walkers, or two to three days for mountain bikers on this shared-use track. Much of the route between Kenepuru Saddle and Anakiwa crosses private land, for which a Queen Charlotte Track Land Cooperative pass is needed, and the six DOC campsites must be booked in advance.