Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand

Becks Bay in Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.

Queen Charlotte Sound is the easternmost of the main sounds of the Marlborough Sounds, in New Zealand's South Island. It is, like the other sounds, a drowned river valley (or ria), and like the majority of its neighbours it runs southwest to northeast before joining Cook Strait.

The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the north end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels at the north of the South Island of New Zealand. According to Māori mythology, the sounds are the prows of the sunken wakas of Aoraki.

The steep, wooded hills and small quiet bays of the sounds are sparsely populated, as access is difficult. Many of the small settlements and isolated houses are only accessible by boat. The main large port is Picton on the mainland, at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound. It is at the northern terminus of the South Island's main railway and State Highway networks. The main small boat port is Waikawa which is one of New Zealand's largest and provides a base for leisure sailors and vacationers.