Queen Charlotte Track: 73.5 km through the Marlborough Sounds
The Queen Charlotte Track runs 73.5 km from Meretoto/Ship Cove to Anakiwa, along the ridge dividing Queen Charlotte Sound/Tōtaranui from Kenepuru Sound. The Department of Conservation describes it as wide and benched, suitable for both walkers and mountain bikers, and puts it at three to five days walking or two to three days riding.
It is not a wilderness track and does not pretend to be. It crosses private as well as public land, it is served end to end by water taxi, and you can sleep in a bed with a restaurant attached every night of it. That combination — a genuine multi-day ridge walk with commercial beds at every stop and your pack carried by boat — is why it has the strongest accommodation demand of any route in this set.
DOC recommends starting from Meretoto/Ship Cove, and there is a practical reason beyond tradition: there is no road to Ship Cove. You arrive by boat from Picton whether you like it or not, which fixes the direction of travel for almost everyone.
The six sections, as DOC publishes them
Walking times and distances, north to south: Meretoto/Ship Cove → Resolution Bay, 4.5 km, 2 hr · Resolution Bay → Endeavour Inlet, 10.5 km, 3 hr · Endeavour Inlet → Camp Bay, 11.5 km, 4 hr · Camp Bay → Torea Saddle, 24.5 km, 8 hr · Torea Saddle → Mistletoe Bay, 7.5 km, 4 hr · Mistletoe Bay → Anakiwa, 12.5 km, 4 hr.
Those six legs total 71.0 km against DOC’s own 73.5 km headline for the track. The discrepancy is in the source and we have not tried to resolve it — plan on 73.5 and treat the leg figures as the shape of the days rather than an exact tally. Herenga ā Nuku publishes 75 km for the same track; DOC governs, so 73.5 is the figure this page uses.
On a bike, DOC gives three legs rather than six: Ship Cove → Camp Bay, 5 hr, Camp Bay → Torea Saddle, 4 hr, Torea Saddle → Anakiwa, 4 hr.
The Camp Bay to Torea Saddle leg is the one to plan around. At 24.5 km and eight hours it is more than a third of the track and roughly double any other day, with the highest and most exposed ground on the route.
