Marlborough is a province that occupies the northeastern section of the South Island of New Zealand. It has many hills and few lowlands. To the north, the Marlborough Sounds, which consist of hundreds of miles of submerged coastline, provide one of New Zealand’s chief tourist areas. To the south, the Kaikoura ranges are covered with snow for half the year.
Land and climate.
Marlborough has a series of active geological faults that run in parallel lines from the northeast to the southwest, resulting in alternating mountain ranges and fault valleys. The Wairau, Awatere, and Clarence rivers are in three of the valleys. The Seaward Kaikouras, rising to almost 9,900 feet (3,015 meters) in the south, provide spectacular views from Kaikoura Peninsula. The next parallel range is the Inland Kaikouras, which rises to more than 9,900 feet (3,015 meters). This system of ranges and valleys eventually forms the Marlborough Sounds, where the sinking land has produced one of the best examples in the world of a ria (submerged coastline).
There is a wide regional variation in Marlborough’s predominantly sunny climate. Picton has an average annual rainfall of 64 inches (163 centimeters), and nearby Blenheim has 26 inches (66 centimeters). Blenheim’s average temperature for July is 45 °F (7 °C), and the average for January is 64 °F (18 °C).
People and economy.
Blenheim is Marlborough’s chief town, followed by Kaikoura and Picton. Blenheim is the regional center and has food-processing, winemaking, horticulture, and vehicle repair industries. The number of vineyards in the area has increased rapidly. The Royal New Zealand Air Force and air freight and air passenger services operate from Woodbourne, 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Blenheim.
Kaikoura is the center of a small mixed farming area, with fishing and tourist industries. Picton, at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound, is the chief port and tourist center. It has a freezing works. Two other important industries in the Marlborough Sounds are forestry and mussel farming. In Grassmere, sea salt is manufactured by taking advantage of shallow tidal waters, drying winds, long hours of sunshine, and low rainfall. Most of the land in Marlborough consists of large sheep and cattle stations (ranches).
Transportation and communications.
Marlborough’s isolation has limited development in the region. The Picton to Wellington ferry service carries passengers, freight, and rail cars. The chief rail and road routes link Picton with Christchurch by way of Blenheim and Kaikoura. Woodbourne, near Blenheim, is the main airport.
Things to see and do.
The Marlborough Sounds provide New Zealand’s finest natural facilities for a variety of water sports. Hundreds of secluded beaches are fringed by bush-covered hills. The many sheltered bays are ideal for water-skiing, swimming, yachting, and fishing.
History.
The Dutch navigator Abel Tasman was the first European to visit what is now Marlborough. He anchored his ship in Admiralty Bay, on the northern coast, in 1642. At that time, many Māori lived in the area. Tasman did not go ashore. In 1770, the British navigator Captain James Cook landed at Ship Cove, on the western shore of Queen Charlotte Sound, and raised the British flag.
Sealers and whalers were Marlborough’s first white settlers. The Wairau incident, a confrontation in which 22 colonists and at least 4 Māori were killed during a dispute over land, took place on the Wairau plains of Marlborough in 1843.
See also New Zealand, History of
