|
| |
Marlborough Sounds
|
The myriad islands and intricate
coastline of the Marlborough Sounds present limitless possibilities for the
boat-owner and the camper. Here the sea claws with long fingers into the
north-east tip of the South Island, creating innumerable sheltered coves and
blissful vistas of vibrant greens and blues. The complex configurations of
land and sea are the result of the area being depressed, allowing the sea to
drown an elaborate network of branching river valleys. At times the land
drops so steeply to the sea as to give the appearance of glacier-formed
fiords. |
How The Sounds Were Formed
|
The Marlborough Sounds is a
network of fjiord-like waterways, sheltered by steep hills, most clad in
native and timber forests. Geologists would describe the Sounds as ‘drowned
valleys’, where in past millennia, the mountains sank in earth movements and
the sea flooded into the valleys. Maori legend tells a more exotic story of
their creation, how as Kupe wrestled with a giant octopus he grasped at the
South Island for support, his fingers digging deep and carving out the
waterways. |
| |
|
