Marlborough & Kaikōura

Best time to visit Marlborough & Kaikōura

October to April is the best window, though the region works year-round. Marlborough is one of the sunniest corners of New Zealand, with 24 to 27 degrees normal in summer and rain uncommon. Harvest runs from late February into April, when the wineries are at their busiest, and for working holiday travellers that is when the region has the most work going. Kaikōura follows its own logic: sperm whales are present all year because the deep-water trench sits right off the coast. What matters is not the season but the swell. December to March has the calmest sea and the fewest cancellations; winter loses more trips. Dolphins and seals are there year-round. The whales that pass through in addition, humpbacks and blues, come between June and August.

Arriving in Picton

The ferry berths in the middle of town, and your first metres on the South Island run straight into the Marlborough Sounds. After the crossing, plenty of people are simply glad not to have far to go. The town is small, with a supermarket, fuel and several campsites within walking distance of the terminal.

If you arrive in the morning, drive on. If you arrive late in the afternoon, stay. The road towards Kaikōura is better in daylight, and the Sounds roads are unpleasantly narrow in the dark.

Practical note on the ferry: campervans are charged by length and travel on the vehicle deck, which you cannot access during the crossing. Take everything you need for three and a half hours up with you, and gas bottles must be turned off.

• Book the ferry ahead, weeks in advance in peak season
• Charged by vehicle length, not by passenger
• No access to the vehicle during the crossing
• Turn gas bottles off before check-in
• Arriving in the evening, stay in Picton rather than driving into the Sounds after dark

Whale watching at Kaikōura: what is realistic

Kaikōura is one of the few places in the world where sperm whales are reliably offshore all year. The reason is the Kaikōura Canyon, a deep trench that drops past 1,000 metres only a few kilometres from the beach. The whales do not have to migrate to it; they live there.

A boat trip costs around 165 NZD and runs 3 to 3.5 hours. Operators quote a high sighting rate and normally refund 80 per cent if no whale is seen. What they cannot refund is your time: trips get cancelled at short notice in swell, and that happens more often in winter than in summer.

The cheaper alternative is the flight: about 20 minutes in a light aircraft for roughly 180 NZD, from which you often see several animals at once and cannot get seasick. Entirely free is the Point Kean seal colony at the end of the peninsula, where seals lie on the rocks within a few metres of you.

Wineries with a campervan: who drives?

There are over 140 wineries around Blenheim, most of them within cycling distance of one another on the Wairau plain. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is what New Zealand is known for worldwide, and a tasting costs 10 to 25 NZD depending on the estate, often credited against a purchase.

The problem is obvious: you have one vehicle and both of you want to taste. The limit is 0.05 for drivers over 20 and zero for anyone younger, and enforcement in the region is frequent. The sensible answer is a bicycle. Several operators in Blenheim rent day bikes for around 40 NZD, and the plain is flat.

If you would rather not cycle, leave the campervan on a Blenheim campsite and take a guided tour for 100 to 150 NZD per person. Either is a great deal cheaper than losing your licence in a foreign country.

The Sounds and the Queen Charlotte Drive

The Sounds are drowned river valleys, a maze of bays with over 1,500 kilometres of coastline. By campervan you only reach the edges; the rest is boat or walking track. That is not a limitation, it is why it stays so quiet out there.

The Queen Charlotte Drive from Picton to Havelock is the road worth driving: 35 kilometres over ridges with the bays below, narrow, winding, and without barriers in places. Fine for our campervans but not for hurrying. Allow an hour and plan photo stops, there are plenty of bays for it.

The Queen Charlotte Track runs 70 kilometres through the Sounds and is usually walked over three to five days. As a day walk, take the section from Ship Cove to Furneaux Lodge, using a water taxi from Picton at around 100 NZD return.

Where to park up between Picton and Kaikōura

The Marlborough District allows freedom camping for self-contained vehicles at several designated spots but is strict in central Picton and Blenheim. The signs are unambiguous and patrols are regular through summer.

Along the coast between Blenheim and Kaikōura are several DOC campsites at 8 to 15 NZD per person, including Rarangi Beach and sites near Ward. They are basic, often just behind the dune, and a far better night than the holiday parks.

Kaikōura itself is tighter, because the town is small and everyone arrives for the same whale trips. The campsite on the peninsula sits so that you can walk from the van to the seal colony in the morning. Book ahead there in January.