Insider Guides

Describe yourself and what you do in 3 words/phrases

A passionate community focused Marlburian with a deep affinity with the Marlborough Sounds  and its people. Employed as Operations Manager at Waikawa Marina, Picton.

Where is your favourite place in Marlborough?

It’s hard to be specific but anywhere in the Marlborough Sounds gets my tick. Quite a few places provide the X factor due to their isolation, raw scenic beauty and immediate sense of history. D’Urville Island, Meretoto/Ships Cove or Cape Jackson with an ebb tide running at full strength spring to mind.

If you had only 3 days in Marlborough, how would you spend the time?

I have vivid memories of arriving in the Marlborough Sounds to work in the early 1980’s and standing on the deck of the Interislander ferry as it travelled up the Sounds towards Picton. The feeling of being on a boat but safely cocooned between bush clad hills was incredibly powerful and it generated a sense of belonging and sanctuary that has never left me. So, my three days would be spend cruising and sailing the waters of the Queen Charlotte Sound/ Totaranui waterways out towards northern Cook Strait and across to D’Urville Island. With no fixed agenda I would harness the wind and sail our yacht, savouring the beauty of any wild life that decided to check us out, stopping to catch a fish and snorkel for some Paua for our dinner, rowing ashore to fossick along a beach for a few hours and then finding a sheltered bay to anchor for the night with a panoramic view to enjoy over a glass of Marlborough wine at sunset.

Describe your perfect day in the Marlborough Sounds

Sharing a day with friends and family boating on the Marlborough Sounds. Visiting historic locations such as gun emplacements sites from world war two on Blumine Island, the Perano whaling station near entrance to Tory Channel and tracing the commemorative plaques located at many sites where early Marlborough Iwi lived and Captain Cook visited is fun and powerful. As this early history of the Marlborough Sounds only spans 250 years it’s an emotive experience to trace and visit these important sites and you immediately feel connected to the places, people and history that has occurred.

You meet visitors to our region every day on the water - what is it about the Marlborough Sounds that makes it such a special playground for boaties?

The diversity and vastness of the area always impresses people. From open challenging waters such as Cook Strait to cross to get here, the wide open spaces of the outer sounds, the tranquillity of a sheltered bay, isolated and private beaches to explore with bush growing to the water edge, interesting and welcoming resorts to visit and which cater for all ages and budgets, the unique wild life, ability to catch and cook yourself a blue cod for dinner, bush tracks that traverse the area, the raw natural beauty of the area just produce an overall package that bring people and their families back repeatedly. The Marlborough Sounds is a region that creates and builds memories.