Take a day cruise

Soaring through the Sounds’ shimmering waterways by boat is a choose-yourown-adventure day trip. Don’t feel like playing tourist? Join a rural postie on Beachcomber’s mail-boat cruise to, well, deliver mail. The daily mail run is the best-value way to explore the bays and coves of Queen Charlotte Sound by water. Pick a calm day, pack a sandwich, and sit on the top deck. Another option is the Sounds Nature Cruise (Marlborough Tour Company, marlboroughtourcompany. co.nz), a family-friendly outing with stops including Kaipupu Wildlife Sanctuary, the opportunity to take a 2.7-kilometre bush walk, and some fish-feeding at the sheltered Double Cove marine reserve.

Those holidayers who define peak holidaying as sipping wine and long-lunching can have all that, with views that double as dessert. Cougar Line operates day trips to the century- old homestead Furneaux Lodge (above) or Punga Cove’s jetty-side Boatshed Café & Bar. For more, visit marlboroughnz.com