WHY START IN MARLBOROUGH?
Endless sunshine. Wine country on one side, and a thousand hidden bays on the other.
Marlborough is where many South Island road trips begin, and for many, it’s often an unexpected highlight.
Picton is the gateway to the South Island. Every ferry sailing from Wellington arrives here, and the last eighty minutes of the crossing thread through stunning Marlborough Sounds, with bush-covered ridge-lines dropping straight into the emerald waters. Dolphins, seals and tiny blue penguins are regulars, with the occasional Orca too! It is one of the most memorable ferry approaches anywhere in the world.
Blenheim sits twenty minutes south, out on the Wairau Plains among the vineyards that put New Zealand wine on the map. If you enjoy a Sauvignon Blanc, there is a good chance you’ve enjoyed a bottle from this region. Mountains shelter the Wairau Valley on three sides, which is why the sun keeps shining here when the rest of the country is under cloud. It’s a short, flat, easy drive from the ferry, so it makes a gentle first leg if you’ve never driven a campervan before.
Collect from your van owner and get comfortable with your chosen camper. Then pick your direction: cellar doors and a cold beer, a boat ride into the Sounds, or hikes in the Richmond Range mountains, before heading west to Nelson or south along the coast towards Kaikōura and Christchurch.
DISTINCTIVE MARLBOROUGH DAYS
48 hours in Marlborough: A simple plan
After your personal handover, stock up in Blenheim, then pick the Marlborough experience that suits you.
01
Taste the Wairau Valley
There are dozens of cellar doors within a few kilometres of Blenheim, and the Wairau Plains are so flat and quiet that hiring bikes beats driving between them. When you’ve had your fill of Sauvignon Blanc, the region pours a serious pint too. The Moa tap room sits among the vines at 258 Jacksons Road with a sunny deck and bean bags, Dodson Street Beer Garden runs around twenty-four taps out of an 1858 malthouse, and 5Tapped on Scott Street is the place in town for a drink and some live music.
02
Get out on the Sounds
Park up in Picton and let someone else do the driving. Water taxis run out to Ship Cove/Meretoto, where Captain Cook anchored five times in the 1770s, and to the lodges strung along Queen Charlotte Sound. Walk a single section of the 73km Queen Charlotte Track between Furneaux Lodge, Punga Cove and Lochmara Lodge, or make it a long lunch and a boat ride home. Many of these places have no road access at all, which is rather the point of them.
03
Biplanes, ridgelines and a stony beach
The Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, five minutes from Blenheim, holds Sir Peter Jackson’s Great War aircraft collection in dioramas built by Wingnut Films and Wētā Workshop. It’s extraordinary even if aviation isn’t your thing. Walk off lunch on the Mt Vernon track from Redwood Street, where the golden hills look out from Cloudy Bay to Tapuae-o-Uenuku, then drive out to Rarangi, a long curve of smooth grey stones where the Wairau meets the sea.
Start your trip in Marlborough
Quirky Campers connects you with privately owned, handcrafted campervans based in Blenheim, twenty minutes from the ferry in Picton, and the sunniest corner of the country. Every hire includes comprehensive insurance, 24/7 AA roadside assistance, unlimited kilometres and a personal handover from the van owner.
✓ Real vans, real character
No depot and no anonymous fleet vehicle. Choose a one-of-a-kind campervan designed and cared for by its owner.
✓ Straight off the Picton ferry
Step off the Interislander or Bluebridge ferry and you’re on the South Island. Pick up your camper directly from the owner with all the handover details confirmed before travel.
✓ The sunniest place to set off
Blenheim averages over 2,500 hours of sunshine a year, and in 2024 it topped the national table giving it the reputation as the sunniest spot in the country. Wake up to blue sky, roam the vineyards, the Sounds or the Richmond Ranges without kilometre limits.
Happy campers hiring in Marlborough
Independent Google reviews from people who have travelled with Quirky Campers NZ.
THINGS YOUR GUIDEBOOK MAY NEGLECT
A little Marlborough background
Marlborough holds a rich history and rewards a bit of curiosity. Here are a few things worth knowing before you visit.
Older than most
At the mouth of the Wairau River, just along the coast from Rarangi, sits Te Pokohiwi o Kupe, the Wairau Bar. East Polynesian voyagers settled it around 1300, making it one of the earliest known human settlements in New Zealand. Excavations have turned up thousands of artefacts and the bones of more than 4,000 moa, ancient birds which stood more than 3m tall!
The names came much later. Both the region and its main town are named for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and his victory at the Battle of Blenheim which was fought in Europe in 1704. Before that, settlers called Blenheim The Beaver, because of how often it flooded. Its Māori name, Waiharakeke, means flax stream.
From a small beginnings to global recognition
As wine-growing goes, Marlborough is a young region on the global stage.
Modern Marlborough wine-growing began in 1973, when Montana started planting at Brancott, with the first Sauvignon Blanc harvest in 1979. Since the early days wine drinkers have become more and more fond of wines from the little known Wairau Valley. Marlboroughs unique climate, with significant temperature variations between day and night all year round, help give Marlborough wines their distinctive taste. Marlborough now produces roughly three quarters of all New Zealand wine, with expansion into the neighbouring Awatere Valley.
Classic planes and a young Hillary
The Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre opened its Knights of the Sky exhibition in 2006, built around Sir Peter Jackson’s collection of Great War aircraft, staged in dioramas by Wingnut Films with mannequins by Wētā Workshop. The WWII hall, Dangerous Skies, followed in 2016. Every second Easter the Classic Fighters airshow fills the same sky with triplanes and re-enactments. Check the calendar to see when the next one is!
In 1944, a young airman training at RNZAF Woodbourne just outside Blenheim climbed Tapuae-o-Uenuku alone, the 2,885m peak you can see from the Wither Hills and the highest in New Zealand outside the Southern Alps. “I’d climbed a decent mountain at last,” he said. Nine years later Edmund Hillary was the first person to stand on top of Mt Everest.
TRAVEL DIFFERENTLY
Easy first nights in Blenheim and Picton
Ferries land in Picton through the day and into the evening, so plan your first night around when your arrival time.
If you’ve come off a late sailing, Picton offers holiday parks within a few minutes of the terminal and the town is small enough to walk end to end before dinner. With a little more time and light, you could head into the Marlborough Sounds to find a DOC Campsite for a night by by the water.
Collecting your camper in Blenheim instead? There are no shortage of camping options in and around the town, putting you within easy reach of the cellar doors.
Prefer to freedom camp? You can, in a Quirky certified self-contained campervan, at one of the district’s designated sites.
Good to know before you go
One-way hire options and a note on roads around Marlborough
Because every Quirky van is privately owned, one-way hires need to cover the cost of getting the van home. We also need to check in with our owners to make sure they can accommodate collecting the vehicle.
Marlborough sits conveniently close to Nelson and within a comfortable day of Christchurch, so one-way options from Blenheim tend to be more workable than most. Get in touch and we’ll quote your route before booking.
For longer trips, some travellers prefer a South Island loop that starts and finishes in Picton, which keeps the ferry at both ends and avoids a relocation fee.
Please talk to us first if you are interested in a one-way option.
Roads to plan around
Our campervans are for sealed roads, and a few Marlborough favourites don’t qualify. The Kenepuru and Port Underwood roads run to gravel in places, and French Pass is a long way out on a narrow unsealed road. If a route you’ve set your heart on turns to gravel, check with us before you set off.
Queen Charlotte Drive between Picton and Havelock is sealed and spectacular, but it is narrow, steep-sided and relentlessly twisty. Allow more time than the distance suggests, use the pull-over bays, and enjoy the views.
Freedom camping around Blenheim and Picton
All Quirky campers are certified for freedom camping. NZ’s freedom camping rules can be complex, and vary by region, change frequently, and rangers do enforce them.
Under the Responsible Camping Control Bylaw, only certified self-contained vehicles may use the district’s designated sites, and the Blenheim and Picton urban areas are off-limits. Those that remain include the Wairau Diversion near Blenheim and Taylor Dam Reserve on Taylor Pass Road, both for a maximum of two nights. Infringement fees apply, so please be kind to your pocket and read up before you park up ;).
For more details, see Marlborough District Council’s responsible camping rules and map. We also recommend the Rankers or CamperMate apps, which are great for planning ahead.
A few things about the Sounds
The Marlborough Sounds are drowned river valleys, flooded as the sea rose at the end of the last ice age. They are the Richmond Ranges continuing out to sea, tipped over and half submerged, which is why the hills behind Blenheim and the islands out in the water share the same bones.
They cover roughly 4,000 square kilometres and, by most local reckonings, about a fifth of New Zealand’s entire coastline. Over forty islands sit scattered through them, and the land is still slowly sinking. In Māori tradition the Sounds are Te Tauihu-o-te-waka, the shattered prow of the canoe in which the gods came down from the heavens.
QUICK ANSWERS FOR MARLBOROUGH HIRERS
Marlborough campervan hire FAQs
Where do I collect my campervan in Marlborough?
At the campervan owner’s home. Our Marlborough campers are based in and around Blenheim, about twenty minutes from the Picton ferry terminal. The listing shows the approximate location before booking, and the exact address is confirmed before your trip. If you would like to collect your campervan in Picton, please let us know and we can discuss this with the owner before booking.
Can I collect my campervan straight off the Picton ferry?
Blenheim is around twenty minutes south of Picton and there are regular shuttle, bus and taxi connections between the two. Some owners may be able to meet you closer to Picton by arrangement, so please ask us when you book.
Can I take a Quirky campervan on the Cook Strait ferry?
Yes. You’re not limited to the island you collect from, so you can take your van between Picton and Wellington and explore the whole country. The crossing takes around three and a half hours, with the last stretch winding through the Marlborough Sounds. Book the vehicle crossing well ahead over summer, and check the van’s length and height on the listing first so you select the right vehicle category.
What is the weather like in Marlborough?
About as good as New Zealand gets. Blenheim averages a little over 2,500 hours of sunshine a year and recorded 2,769 in 2024, the highest of anywhere in the country. Mountains shelter the Wairau Plains from the worst of the weather, so summers are warm and dry and winter days are often clear and still, with frosty mornings. It’s a good region for travelling outside the peak months.
What is included with Marlborough campervan hire?
Every booking includes comprehensive insurance, 24/7 AA roadside assistance and unlimited kilometres. Each camper also comes with all the cookware you need, plus bedding and towels at no additional cost.
Can I stay off grid in a campervan from Blenheim?
Yes, Quirky Campers NZ vans are set up for off-grid travel, with solar panels, lithium leisure batteries and inverters that keep your lights, fridge, water pump, phones and laptops running without needing a powered campsite. The exact off-grid duration depends on the specific van’s setup and the time of year, and is detailed on each individual van profile.
What happens if my ferry or flight is delayed and I’m late for my pick-up?
Cook Strait sailings do get cancelled or delayed, and we understand travel doesn’t always go to plan. If you’re running late, please contact your van owner directly as soon as possible. Quirky NZ owners are generally flexible and will do their best to accommodate a later collection, including evening pick-ups where reasonable. If a same-day handover isn’t possible, we’ll work with you and the owner to arrange collection the following morning. Get in touch if you’d like to discuss specific arrangements.
Plan with confidence
Useful reading before you collect your campervan in Marlborough.
Driving a campervan in New Zealand: what it’s really like
by James O’Hern
Driving a campervan in New Zealand is easier than most first-time visitors expect, and it’s one of the best ways to experience the country.
Is it safe to hire a campervan in New Zealand? How Quirky Campers NZ protects you on the road
by James O’Hern
Every campervan in the Quirky Campers NZ fleet meets the same safety and compliance standards as the largest commercial campervan operators in New Zealand.
Campervan insurance with Quirky Campers NZ: explained
by James O’Hern
Every Quirky Campers NZ booking includes fully comprehensive insurance with Vero and 24/7 AA roadside assistance as standard. We offer three protection plans (Ready
Choose your Marlborough-based soul mate of a camper
Each Marlborough campervan comes decked out with its own unique personality. So check availability, find your perfect match and book your ideal travel companion today!
