New Zealand
Marlborough Sounds
Fifteen hundred kilometres of drowned coastline folded into bays reachable only by water.
Fifteen hundred kilometres of coastline fold into a space the size of a modest national park. The Marlborough Sounds on New Zealand's South Island are drowned river valleys — an intricate maze of waterways where some bays have been accessible only by boat for over a century.
Queen Charlotte Sound and Pelorus Sound are the two main waterways, branching into hundreds of sub-bays, inlets, and reaches. The Queen Charlotte Track links lodges along ridgelines over seventy kilometres, with luggage transferred by launch between overnight stops. Mail and supplies in the outer sounds are still delivered by boat. Havelock, at the head of Pelorus Sound, claims the title of green-lipped mussel capital of New Zealand — the marine farms in the sound produce much of the national harvest. The sounds were carved by rivers during ice ages, then drowned as sea levels rose.
Solo
Kayaking the outer reaches of Pelorus Sound, where the only accommodation is a tent and the only traffic is a weekly mail boat.
Couple
Lodge-to-lodge walking on the Queen Charlotte Track, with bags arriving by water taxi and dinner served overlooking the sound. Effort and comfort in balance.
Family
Water taxis from Picton make even remote bays accessible for day trips. The sheltered waters are safe for swimming and the mussel farms can be visited by boat.
Friends
Multi-day sea kayaking with camping on remote beaches. The sounds reward groups with boats, gear, and a willingness to navigate by chart.
- Fifteen hundred kilometres of drowned river valleys create a coastline longer than the country's entire east coast.
- Mail and supplies are delivered by boat — some bays have been accessible only by water for a century.
- Queen Charlotte Track links lodges along ridgelines, with luggage transferred by launch between overnight stops.
- Havelock, the green-lipped mussel capital of New Zealand, serves them steamed fresh from the Sound's marine farms.
Green-lipped mussels pulled from the Sounds' own farms — steamed in sauvignon blanc on the boat.
Picton's Le Café serves blue cod and Marlborough wine overlooking the ferry terminal.
Bay of Many Coves lodge serves a degustation using only ingredients sourced from the Sounds.
Península Valdés
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Right whales breach close enough to drench you while orcas beach themselves hunting sea lions.
Bocas del Toro
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Over-water bungalows on a Caribbean archipelago where sloths drift through mangrove canopies.
Attabad Lake
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Turquoise water filling a valley that was dry land until a 2010 landslide rewrote geography overnight.
Ilha Grande
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A car-free tropical island where former prison ruins dissolve into the Atlantic Forest.
Lake Matheson
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Tannic black water mirrors Aoraki so perfectly that reflections look more real than the peaks.
Ōpārara Basin
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Limestone arches span a black-water river in a forest so dense the canopy swallows all light.
Arrowtown
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A gold-rush town where autumn turns every tree amber and Chinese miners' cottages still stand.
Waipoua Forest
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A two-thousand-year-old kauri tree stands wider than a house in primeval darkness.