ESSONS VALLEY, PICTON
Country Park and Home stay

What else is there to do in the Picton and Marlborough area ?

Picton is named after a general who became well known at the battle of Waterloo, this area is generally named after people, events and places of that period such as Wellington, Blenheim and Marlborough. It once was earmarked as capital of the region but was pipped to the post by Blenheim. The town is laid out in the shape of the union Jack and has generally British street names like Oxford street, York Street, Canterbury Road.

Picton is a small sea side town where about 4000 people live, it has the flavour of a small provincial town, and if you stay for a while sooner or later you see many familiar faces in the shops, pubs and places where the people meet each other. It has an active social agenda with a sailing regatta, scouts, theatre group, RSA and any more social gatherers as well as Church groups, volunteer fire service, coastguard etc. Picton is almost seamlessly connected to Waikawa Bay and crosses over in many ways like the schools where Picton students go to the Waikawa schools and visa versa.

Waikawa Bay has a Maori "village" called a Marae where the traditional Maori gatherings and ceremonies take place.

The focal point in Picton is the foreshore, a small beach connected to the town where you can find attractions like the Sea-horse Center a great local aquarium with the representative marine life of the Marlborough Sounds www.seahorseworld.co.nz . You can also book seal swimming trips from here www.sealswimming.com You can also find the Inter Islander Ferry to the North Island and the Edwin Fox there, the remains of an impressive sailing ship and the local museum. This is also the former site of the train station and it now makes a great place for a dip in the water or sitting in the sun with a coffee or ice cream watching kids play on the play ground, having a ride on the steam train or a go at the mini golf. Along this strip there is a plethora of cafe's and pubs and restaurants, varying from the Irish Pub with genuine Irish hospitality,  a Scottish one and even a Kiwi bar. Restaurants vary from Indian food to steaks and chips in a variety of prices and qualities. There is a shopping street with many galleries and shops with local crafts and gifts as well as the hardware shop, supermarkets and stationary shop.

You get access to the Marlborough Sounds by joining an organized boat trip, get on a water taxi www.cougarlinecruises.co.nz or charter your own boat with or without a skipper. The  attractions in the Sounds apart from the obvious fishing and sailing are the many small beaches, double cove fish reserve, Ships Cove the original James Cook landing place, Motuara Island bird reserve, Long Island Marine reserve, Mistletoe bay and some more secluded spots I rather keep to myself and my guests to discover.

The Queen Charlotte track www.qctrack.co.nz is a walking path starting from Ships cove to Anakiwa ( or the other way around ) it takes about 3 or 4 days to complete and you can stay in B+B, cabins, hotels or DOC campgrounds on the way all in a variety of comfort and prices, you can also just walk sections of it and be picked up or dropped off by water taxi where the path goes near the jetties. It is a stunning and varied piece of New Zealand you will walk through, that is still not to busy to enjoy the silence or not too quiet to meet others. Places like Furneaux Lodge www.furneauxlodge.co.nz become great social watering holes.

If you do not want to get on a boat you can go and take a trip by car or bike along the Port Underwood road and see some spectacular views towards the North Island and catch a glimpse of it when the weather is clear, discover Robin Hood Bay, the caves and beach at Rarangi.

Even nearer are Karaka point or the Queen Charlotte drive to Havelock with many lovely places between Picton and Havelock. 

To bypass Picton is simply missing out on a great bit of Kiwi life, and make sure that whatever you do you visit us at Essons Valley !

Picton By foot a quick guide to Walking and Mountain bike tracks in the Picton area

 

Attractions in Picton

www.seahorseworld.co.nz an aquarium with local marine life, from sharks to blue cod and lots of seahorses

 

Queen Charlotte Walking Track
www.qctrack.co.nz all about the queen charlotte track
www.southernwilderness.co.nz

Queen Charlotte Sound Cruises
www.cougarlinecruises.co.nz largest water taxi firm in town
www.boatrides.co.nz water taxi
www.westbay.co.nz water taxi

Sea Kayaking/Mountainbiking
www.marlboroughsounds.co.nz

Sailing
www.compasscharters.co.nz
www.charterlink.co.nz
www.affinitycruises.co.nz
www.sailmarlborough.co.nz
Galleries
www.orielgallery.co.nz
www.jadegallery.co.nz

Ecotours
www.eco-tours.co.nz

Other Useful Resources
www.marlboroughtravel.co.nz
Marlborough New Zealand

SPECIFIC LERMONTOV DIVING  INFO

http://www.sealswimming.com Seal swimming and scuba diving

http://www.godive@xtra.co.nz Dive Marlborough

http://www.freewebs.com/cossackdivetours/index.htm Lermontov info from Kevin Dekker

http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/lermontov.htm Lermontov info from Maritime Museum

http://orpheusandlyra.homestead.com/Lermontov.html poetry from Mikhail Lermontov ( which the ship was named after )

http://www.namdar.dircon.co.uk/aaRussian/Lermon/lermon.htm more poetry info

GENERAL DIVING AND BOATING INFO

http://www.nwff.com.hk/english/knowmoreabout/kmanff105000.asp Flags used in boating

http://www.metservice.co.nz/default/index.php?pkey=191620&ckey=211042 The NZ Weather 

http://www.nzunderwater.org.nz/ New Zealand Underwater

http://www.sealswimming.com Seal swimming and scuba diving

 

DIVE ORGANIZATIONS

http://www.padimembers.com/cgi-bin/enter.exe PADI members portal

http://www.danseap.org/ info about DAN SEAP

DIVE PRODUCTS

http://www.seaandsea.com/ sea and sea camera's

http://www.sealife-cameras.com/ sea life digital camera's

http://shop.divebooty.com/ all sorts of dive bargains

http://www.apeks.co.uk/ the APEKS website

DIVE MEDIA

http://www.duiken.nl/ Dutch Dive Magazine

http://www.divernet.com/index.shtml   UK Dive Magazine

 

ALTERNATIVE ACCOMMODATION

 

www.essonsvalley.com Essons Valley Homestay

www.thevilla.co.nz The Villa Backpackers

www.theyachtclub.co.nz The Yacht Club

www.stcatherines.co.nz St Catherine's Bed and Breakfast

www.parktostay.co.nz Parklands Marina Holiday Park ( nearest campsite to the Waikawa Bay Marina )

www.pungacove.co.nz Punga Cove Resort

www.bayofmanycovesresort.co.nz Bay of Many Coves Resort

www.furneauxlodge.co.nz Resort, backpackers on the Queen Charlotte track

Other Dive Operators and Dive Resources of Interest


www.sealswimming.com Seal swimming and scuba diving 

Scuba diving resource Scuba diving in New Zealand

www.diverarotonga.com Dive Rarotonga, Cook Islands, South Pacific 

Useful links and Directories


www.marlboroughtravel.co.nz Marlborough Travel

www.picton.co.nz All about Picton

www.marlborough.co.nz Marlborough, New Zealand

www.marlboroughweb.com Regional Information on Marlborough

www.nzpages.co.nz NZPAGES - Your New Zealand Web Site Directory

www.newzealand.com Destination New Zealand 

www.soundsair.co.nz Soundsair

www.theinterislander.co.nz Information about Ferry Services between Picton and Wellington.

dive site directory directory of dive sites all over the world

 

Map to Essons Valley

 

 

 

  Marlborough Sounds scuba diving new zealand water sport mikhail lermontov divers world blenheim waikawa picton

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