07 May 2022 - Marlborough Sounds & Wine Country - Flipbook - Page 4
Day 3: Monday 09 May: Blenheim - Picton
10:00am Hotel check-out. This morning is free time.
1:30pm You will be picked up from the hotel by Marlborough Shuttles and transferred north to Picton, to join Heritage
Explorer. The captain and expedition team will be waiting to welcome you aboard Heritage Explorer and show you to
your cabin. You will have the opportunity to familiarise yourself on board then join the captain on the bridge or fellow
travellers on deck as we set sail along Queen Charlotte Sound this afternoon.
Days 4 & 5: Tuesday 10 May & Wednesday 11 May: Queen Charlotte Sound : Q
First sighted in 1642 by Abel Janszoon Tasman while seeking shelter for his ships Heemskerck and Zeehaen from a storm
near d’Urville Island, it was Captain James Cook who would first set foot here aboard the Endeavour during his five visits
to Ship Cove, his New Zealand base between 1770 and 1777, in what he would call Queen Charlotte Sound.
We spend two full days exploring the waterways and islands of scenic Queen Charlotte Sound with opportunities to head
ashore and walk a section of the Queen Charlotte Walkway as well as search for birdlife on the predator free islands.
A visit to Tory Channel brings the whaling history of the Perano Whalers to life. We also plan to visit Ship Cove and learn
of its history, exploring the region and visiting Captain Cook’s memorial inaugurated in 1913. Another conservation
success story, Blumine Island has seen the translocation of several rare bird species including the once widespread
Orangefronted Parakeet, now New Zealand’s rarest parakeet, which were translocated to the island between 2011 and
2012. Also thriving on the island are South Island Saddleback, brought back from the brink of extinction last century from
just 36 birds rescued in 1964, descendants of these birds were translocated to Blumine Island in 2009.
